This has remained high since the start of the year, which saw 43% of searches in January from first-time buyers. And with mortgage rates on high loan-to-value products also starting to become more competitive since the beginning of the year, 2010 could turn out to be the year of the first time buyer.
Other significant advice drivers in February 2010 included remortgaging, with nearly a third of consumers (32%) searching for a whole of market mortgage adviser who specialises in remortgage advice. In addition, just over one in five (21%) of all searches on the ‘find a mortgage adviser' search were by consumers looking for residential property advice.
Karen Barrett, chief executive of unbiased.co.uk, commented: "It is encouraging to see first-time buyers are back out in force looking to get their foot on the property ladder. Especially as they've been given a helping hand by those lenders who've now re-introduced competitive mortgage rates on high loan-to-value products. This is a positive move, which suggests lenders now have a renewed appetite to compete at the bottom end of the market, after first-time buyers were all but shut out by banks almost two years ago. Hopefully we may see more lenders follow these footsteps, in which case 2010 could turn out to be the year of the first-time buyer. First-time buyers, in turn, appear to now feel they are in a position to dip their toe in the mortgage pool, and take the important first steps by seeing a whole of market mortgage adviser to advise them on their mortgage options, and ensure they remain within their financial affordability limits.”
