First Time Buyers

First time buyers have found it increasingly difficult to get on the mortgage ladder in recent years.

Even with the recent falls in property prices, the number of years and percentage increase each year in the previous decade or so has still made an awful lot of property in many areas of the country outside the reach of the first time buyer. Typically first time buyers have found that they are able to save less each year than property prices go up, meaning that they never seem to get any closer to being able to buy: particularly as rents are less affected and therefore considerable sums are poured out on rent making it harder to save.

So, if you are a first time buyer, then you may be bemused. Affording the deposit can be very daunting for the reasons outlined above, but the good news is that there quite a few different products out there on the market in terms of mortgages, so with a little creativity you can still achieve your aspiration of owning your own home, which still for most Brits (much more so than many Europeans for instance) is an earnest goal in life.

One way to achieve this is through products whereby you pool resources with friends to take out a mortgage together, another way is through having the involvement of your parents - not in terms of directly giving money but through for instance having some of their savings promised to the lender in the event that the children are unable to meet the payments themselves.

There are also some government schemes to help particular parts of society (such as 'key workers') to achieve ownership, and various schemes where you can part-own a property and then increase your holding over the years as required or desired.

The articles in this section look in a little more detail at some of the options that are available to first time buyers looking to get onto the property ladder and get their first home. The feeling of entering a house for the first time with the keys and knowing it is yours is exhilirating for many, and makes the slightly daunting struggle worth it in the end.

Buying Property

Mortgages

Buying Overseas

Tools and Resources

Property Forums

First Time Buyers