First-time buyers bolstered the mortgage market in August, with the number of loans issued to them at its highest level in more than a year.
There were 35,500 new first-time buyer mortgages completed in the month, 2% more than in August 2017 and higher than any volume recorded since July 2017, according to UK Finance. The £6.1bn of new lending to the group was 5.2% higher than the previous year.
Strains were showing in the rest of the mortgage market, according to the FT. The number of homemover mortgages completed in August fell 2.3% year-on-year, while remortgages were also down by 0.3% and new loans for buy-to-let property purchases tumbled 13%. The value of mortgages to homemovers held flat.
