If the small deposit mortgage guarantee appeals to you, it is vital you check out the criteria. At Stones Residential, we are here to assist you with this, and any other property market question you might have.
According to Rightmove, as of the end of March, the Stanmore property market can be described as such:
“Properties in Stanmore had an overall average price of £607,204 over the last year.
The majority of sales in Stanmore during the last year were semi-detached properties, selling for an average price of £591,945. Flats sold for an average of £388,908, with detached properties fetching £1,125,603.
Overall, sold prices in Stanmore over the last year were 2% down on the previous year and 5% down on the 2015 peak of £642,015.”
The average price of property in Stanmore doesn’t come under the threshold for the small deposit guarantee scheme. However, you will see that the average price of flats and semi-detached properties do come under this price barrier. You will also see the average price of detached properties being much higher, causing the overall average price to skew.
Therefore, if you are looking to buy property in Stanmore, and you wish to benefit from the small deposit mortgage guarantee scheme, you should be able to.
Andrew Harvey, chief economist at Nationwide, said: “We have seen a significant widening in the gap between the least affordable and most affordable regions. London has been the least affordable region for most of the past 40 years - the house price to earnings ratio in the capital reached a record high in 2016 of 10.2 and remained elevated at 9.2 at the end of 2020. Scotland currently has the lowest house price to earnings ratio at 3.2, closely followed by the North at 3.3. Looking over the longer term, Northern England and Scotland have historically seen lower house price to earnings ratios than Southern England, Wales and Northern Ireland.”
Buyers still need to save
Given the cost of buying property, it is no surprise that many first-time buyers need help to save for their deposit. Nationwide says around 40% of first-time buyers required help to save a deposit in 2018-19. In the mid-1990s, this was around 25% of these buyers.
Monthly mortgage payments affordable for most outside of London and South East
Andrew Harvey also said; “Affordability improved significantly between 2007 and 2009, primarily due to the fall in house prices in the wake of the financial crisis, and remained low, thanks to the decline in borrowing costs to all-time lows. Over the past decade, an increasing proportion of first-time buyers have been opting to take out long-term mortgages to further lower their monthly repayments - though this increases the total amount repaid over the life of the mortgage.”
Andrew Asaam, mortgages director at Halifax, said: “We know that lockdown restrictions have made it more practically challenging for those buying and selling, but the stamp duty holiday has helped drive record levels of mortgage approvals as those held back by lockdown race to make savings. Raising a deposit is still the biggest struggle for those looking to take their first step on to the property ladder. We know that first-time buyers will benefit from steps that make a deposit more attainable and we’re committed to lending £10 billion to help people buy their first home this year.”
Zoopla’s head of research, Gráinne Gilmor spoke about first-time buyers returning to the market. Gráinne said; “Our data suggests that first-time buyers are returning to the housing market. The level of interest from people looking to step onto the housing ladder was up 5% in the first six weeks of this year compared with the last three months of 2020. We’ve also seen a 18% increase in the number of sales agreed on homes worth between £100,000 and £250,000, a price band typically associated with first-time buyers, in the first seven weeks of this year.”
Whatever your circumstances are, or what move you would like to make next; we are here for you. Stones Residential prides itself on offering the best standard of service to our clients, and we work hard to help you achieve your property goals. If you would like to arrange an appointment or get more details on how we can help you sell your property, contact us today online or by calling us on 020 8954 0045.
