It’s latest Advice Drivers report shows that first time buyer mortgage enquiries saw a massive spike in January, triggering 41% of the total number of searches compared to just 36% in December 2011.
First time buying enquiries have seen a dramatic rise since November last year and remain the number one advice driver for consumers looking for whole of market mortgage advice according to unbiased’s find a mortgage adviser search.
The professional advice website's data shows that buy to let enquiries dropped off in January, falling to 19% despite ending the year on a high, generating 25% of all enquiries throughout October, November and December 2011.
However, year on year searches still remain up from last year, from 14% in January 2011, reflecting an increased appetite from consumers for this type of mortgage advice.
Interest in re-mortgage advice crept back up again in January to 30% having dipped last year from 36% in November to 29% in December.
‘We are seeing an increasing number of high loan to value mortgages return to the market which can only be good news for first time buyers trying to get their foot on the ladder,’ said Karen Barrett, chief executive of unbiased.
‘However, at the same time we are also hearing George Osborne announcing there may be a cap on LTVs going forward. Our latest figures reveal that enquiries for first time buyer advice reached a 23 month high in January, suggesting real momentum in the first time buyer market and a real consumer demand for whole of market mortgage advisers to guide them on all the options available and help them to find the best solution,’ she explained.
‘There has been a lot of attention on buy to let recently and it will be interesting to see what the gross lending figures look like for the end of 2011. Demand from tenants and rising yields are giving strength to the rental market and more people seem to be looking to buy to let as an option to generate income,’ she added.
