First-time buyers at a 12-year high

THE number of mortgages being handed out to first-time buyers jumped to a 12-year high in August, figures from a trade association show.

Housing market experts suggested that stamp duty relief, reduced competition for homes from buy-to-let landlords and a sense of urgency fuelled by Brexit fuelled the rise.

Some 35,010 first-time buyer mortgages were completed in August, 0.7pc higher than a year earlier and the most for any month since August 2007, UK Finance said.

But the number handed out to existing home owners who were moving house was down.

There were 35,380 home mover mortgages completed in August, 5.5pc fewer than in the same month a year earlier.

Some 5,900 new buy-to-let home purchase mortgages were handed out in August, a 3.3pc decrease compared with the same month a year earlier.

There were 13,800 remortgages in the buy-to-let sector in August, 0.7pc fewer than in the same month in 2018.