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Written by rosalind renshaw

A strange year for first-time buyers saw numbers hit 24,200 in March 2012 to beat the Stamp Duty deadline.

The following month, however, numbers virtually halved to just 12,200.

Ironically, those first-time buyers trying to save Stamp Duty on their purchases really paid for it: March’s average purchase price of £147,713 was the highest that first-time buyers paid all year.

Had those first-time buyer waited another month and paid Stamp Duty, they could have been quids in, with the average price tumbling to £123,694.

The average first-time buyer in March also had to find the biggest deposit as they struggled to beat the ending of the Stamp Duty holiday: typically, they had to put down £29,435 compared with £24,842 a month later.

The figures are all from LSL, using data from its own estate agency chains of Your Move and Reeds Rains, which says that December was the second best month in terms of first-time buyer transactions after March.

In the last month of last year, there were 21,900 first-time buyer transactions, with an average purchase price of £134,616.

Noticeably, after the March and April blips, first-time buyer numbers started to pick up steadily from May, falling back only in September to 17,500.

According to the LSL figures, last year also ended on an upbeat note for first-time buyers in terms of mortgage rates which fell to 4.60% – although higher than 4.36% in December 2011.

However, while 26,400 more first-time buyers secured mortgages last year than in 2011, tight criteria meant that the average LTV in December was 78.8%, leaving the average deposit size for a first-time buyer at £28,525.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, nearly half of all first-time buyers in December needed family help.

LSL also reports that prospective first-time buyers see saving for a deposit as the biggest obstacle to buying. While 89% of registered tenants would like to buy, only14% believe they will do so this year.

Comments

  • icon

    The powers that be will stop at nothing to reinflate the property bubble, and the Stamp Duty holiday was just one of a succession of ruses to prevent houses finding their true (sustainable) value.

    The latest wheezes are the Pay Too Much for New Builds scheme the Funding for More Irresponsible Debt, and as usual the gullible first time buyers are swallowing it hook line and sinker!

    The problem, of course, is that the authorities have run out of ammunition. The government doesn't have the money to keep throwing at the property market (which is why they've finally started making noises about house price falls being a good thing) and there's little more the Bank of England can do now that QE's becoming less effective (as drugs always do) - and interest rates can hardly go any lower.

    The first time buyers rushing in now will had better like their new rabbit hutches (and not plan to have children in the next ten years or so....)

    • 01 February 2013 11:39 AM
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    Total non-story.

    Unsurprisingly, the property purchases above the stamp duty threshold were pulled forward, skewing the average price figure.

    While those with no rush to complete, ie, the cheaper ones below the threshold, went through as normal in the following months.

    • 01 February 2013 11:39 AM
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