First time buyers will become even more disillusioned by figures recently released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The share of first-timers paying the government stamp duty has jumped from 48 per cent to 56 per cent within a year. Michael Coogan, the CML's director-general reports “Overall, affordability has worsened, especially for first-time buyers,"
Luxury property in London
Primelocation.com the property web site indicate that in London luxury property has hit new record highs rising by 11.7 per cent annually, to reach an average of £969,288
Rightmove house prices
Rightmove property web site director Miles Shipside said: 'London hasn't been affected by seasonal factors and is not experiencing the traditional highs and lows of the summer property market. 'We expect prices to slow down due to increasingly stretched affordability constraints, the rise in utility bills, the higher interest rates and the massive increases in Tube fares. 'However, some affluent London buyers are not subject to the usual financial restrictions, so prices in some parts of central London could continue to rise while everywhere else is standing still.
Property in Scotland
The First time buyer misery is not a Southern phenomenon speaking at the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Scotland annual conference in Edinburgh yesterday, Tim Crawford, HBOS's group economist, said first-time buyers in Scotland now have to find deposits of around £16,000, up from less than £6,000 five year ."If someone in Scotland saved 15 per cent of their average earnings each year, they would have to save for about four years to be able to put down a deposit. Only 25 per cent of home buyers were first-timers in Scotland in 2005 - the lowest ratio in the UK." This is despite the average home in Scotland now costing just over £120,000, £57,000 less then the UK average
Fresh calls for help for first time buyers
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors called on the Government to raise the threshold to £150,000. "The structure of stamp duty is antique," Jeremy Leaf, its housing spokesman, said. "This tax needs to catch up with the property market and house prices."
The Treasury said the CML's figures were wrong as they were based on homebuyers who were not also selling, which includes divorcees and second-home purchases.
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