More buying first homes than moving

FIRST-time buyers are outnumbering home movers for the first time since 1996.

The total hit 345,000 in the 12 months to March compared to 344,000 who were moving, said the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The number getting on the housing ladder is also the highest since the financial crisis of 2008.

A shortage of properties plus high costs, such as stamp duty and legal fees, are ‘subduing’ the number of movers, said the council.

Householders are also helping to ‘buoy the market’ by taking advantage of low rates to remortgage.