Thursday, 31 October 2013

Paul's Weekly Column 30th October 2013 - 'To buy or not to buy?'

In Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', the hero famously reflects on 'to be or not to be?'.  These days, he could just as usefully reflect on 'to buy or not to buy?'.  And Santander research would provide the answer.  It would all come down to geography.

The research highlights that, for potential first-time buyers in London, the South-East and Scotland, continuing to rent is a cheaper option than buying.  Santander has been conducting this research annually since 2010 when London was the only UK location where it was cheaper to rent than to buy.  

In London, it now costs ?478 more each month to buy than to rent.  An average monthly mortgage repayment in the capital is a whopping ?1,342 - compared with an average monthly rent of ?864.  In the South-East, the average first-time buyer would have to pay ?56 more a month to buy a property than rent one; the comparable figure for Scotland is ?84.  

In spite of this, the market for first-time buyers is particularly buoyant.  According to LSL Property Services' 'First-Time Buyer Monitor', 26,100 first-time buyers took out loans in July.  This is both a six-year peak and a 45% increase on the same month last year.

Figures from mortgage brokers show how: record numbers of young people are relying on the banks of mum and dad, grandma and grandpa, auntie and uncle to grab a rock-bottom mortgage rate.  In London, such buyers are casting their family net high and low to find an average deposit of ?64,000.

Is it any wonder that the average age of a first-time buyer (without parental help) is now nearly 40?  With parental help, it's just short of 30 - as it has been for many years.  I sometimes think that the very best thing we can do for our children is help them onto the property ladder, not as an investment, but as a first step towards them owing their very own castle: the English man and woman's home.  If you share that aspiration, the doors at Gibbs Gillespie are ever open.
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