The price that first time buyers are willing to pay to get their feet on the property ladder is coming down. The average price being searched against on Moneyextra by first time buyers in March 2005 was £145,4651, the lowest level since September 2004 but still well above the new stamp duty threshold of £120,000.
At the same time, the average mortgage being searched on Moneyextra’s website comparison tool by first time buyers fell back in March to £125,488, down by 2.4% on February’s £128,522.
The overall average property value being searched on the website rose by just £450 to £202,644 in March, still well below the peak of £208,617 seen in October 2004.
The average value of loans actually completed via Moneyextra Mortgages in March was £139,632.53 while the average value of loans completed over the past three months (Jan-Mar. 05) was £132,751.27, compared with £103,277.21 in the first quarter of 2004.
The most popular mortgage lender in the month of March was Intelligent Finance. For the second month in a row mutual lenders are in a minority in the top ten for the month and there are also only three mutuals in the top ten for the first quarter of 2005.2
