According to Mortgage Advice Bureau’s (MAB) National Mortgage Index, the average purchase loan in October stood at £174,544, a nominal decrease from September’s £175,454 but a 2.2 per cent increase on the £170,799 seen in October last year.
The average purchase price for a residential property was £246,758 in Oct 19, a reduction of 0.7 per cent from £248,560 in September. However, this was a two per cent year-on-year increase from £242,035.
The average salary for those buying a property in October was £36,888, while the average applicant age was 36.
For buy-to-let purchases, the average age was 42 years, with 43 years for a residential remortgage and the average first-time buyer applicant was 31-years-old.
Remortgages
The average remortgage loan in October was £176,674, broadly similar to September’s £176,008 but a 2.4 per cent increase on last year’s £172,616.
Some 98.3 per cent of remortgage customers opted for fixed rate products while the typical loan to value (LTV) was 57.2 per cent.
The average property value for a remortgaging customer was £309,062, a 1.3 per cent increase on September’s £305,226 and a 1.1 per cent increase on last year’s £305,551.
Buy to let
A typical buy-to-let purchase loan dropped slightly as in October, the average was £123,899. This was a 0.8 per cent decline on last month’s £124,901 and a sharper 3.78 per cent decrease on last October’s £128,770.
The average purchase price for a buy-to-let property also dropped by 0.5 per cent to £177,148 from last month’s £178,049.
Nearly all buy-to-let borrowers went for a fixed rate product in October with 98.6 per cent choosing this option. This was unchanged from September.
First-time buyers
The average loan for a first-time buyer in October was £161,379 – not too different from September’s £161,859 but a 4.95 per cent year-on-year increase on last year’s £153,390.
Some 99.4 per cent went for a fixed rate product, up from the 97.4 per cent of first-time buyers who chose fixed products in September.
The typical LTV was 73.3 per cent, a moderate increase on the previous month’s 72.5 per cent and only slightly lower than last October’s 74.2 per cent.
The average purchase price for a first-time buyer fell 1.3 per cent from £233,674 to £220,674 in Oct 19. However, this was a 6.3 per cent year-on-year increase from £206,625.
No huge changes
Brian Murphy (pictured), head of lending at MAB said the “marginal changes” seen at the start of the year continued into October and described this as a positive as the consumer appetite for property was consistent despite ongoing uncertainty.
He added: “The forward momentum we’ve seen for most of this year in many parts of the country was still very much in evidence.”
