Firstrung: House price correction good for first-timers

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Firstrung: House price correction good for first-timers

Fri 29th Feb 2008

The chief executive of Firstrung has suggested first-time buyers have everything to gain from a house price correction.

Paul Holmes suggested periods of house price dips are when first-time buyers "excel".

He explained that the majority of first-time buyers hope to buy property in the dips because they want to purchase a home they can actually live in.

"And they can only buy a place to live – as opposed to investing – when they can afford it," Mr Holmes said.

He added that while some people predict first-time buyers are going to find it increasingly difficult to buy property, the reality is that "as house prices fall, they won't".

Earlier in the week, a spokesperson for the Association of Residential Letting Agents said the buy-to-let market is not to blame for first-time buyers' struggles to get onto the property ladder.

Malcolm Harrison said such claims were "rubbish".

Research by the Council of Mortgage Lenders recently showed that at the end of 2007, there were more than a million outstanding buy-to-let mortgages.

This indicated a rise of almost 23 per cent from 2006 statistics.

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