First-time buyers ’still struggling’
First-time buyers are not finding it any easier to purchase property, one expert has claimed, despite news this week that house prices are falling.
Chief economist of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) Simon Rubinsohn stated that turnover in the mortgage market is being depressed by the reduction of loan-to-value ratios.
Mr Rubinsohn noted that it was not all bad news for the property market, remarking: "The level of buyer enquiries is still more consistent with the 2004-05 experience rather than the collapse in the market in the early 1990s."
A "modest pick up" in activity may be experienced in the second half of 2008, he added, as the Bank of England Special Liquidity Scheme comes into effect and the credit crunch is more likely to ease.
In other news, the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association echoed this positive prediction from Rics by suggesting most mortgage lender are confident about the future of the economy.
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