Two big national survey and valuation firms have said that first-time buying activity is showing some signs of strength as the end of the Stamp Duty holiday nears.
Connells Survey and Valuation said while demand from first-time buyers was down 2% on a monthly basis, it was up 52% over the year. Last month, valuations completed for first-time buyers represented 32% of all valuations completed by the firm.
The total number of residential valuations it conducted last month was 15% down on December, although 43% up on January last year.
Remortgaging valuations accounted for 26% of all valuations.
Meanwhile, e.surv, part of LSL, forecast that 15,329 first-time buyers were lent mortgages in January – the highest since March 2008 and a 31% rise from January last year.
It based the forecast on its own activity.
The firm is forecasting an overall 58,610 mortgages in January.
However, e.surv’s Richard Sexton said that year-on-year comparisons were misleading: “The early months of 2011 were so weak that the year-on-year growth in January is more an indictment on how suppressed lending was a year ago than a sign of a vibrant market.
“First-time buyers are still low by historic standards.”
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