Before the credit crisis that crept in 2008/2009 the number of first time UK mortgage borrowers was in millions.A large range of mortgage lenders competed aggressively for first time buyer mortgage business, in the hope that once someone takes out a first time buyer mortgage, they may remain as a customer for many years.The total UK mortgage market is influenced by the first time buyers.To maintain the momentum of sales further up the property ladder, there must be a flow of first time buyers moving onto the bottom of the ladder to keep the cycle going.It is no coincidence that now first time buyer activity has decreased, house prices have stagnated or even started to fall in many areas of the UK. 

It was possible to obtain first time buyer mortgages prior to the credit crunch, with little or no deposit.Actually in the before periods ranging from 2005 to 2007 there was a 100% mortgage lending that was provided where the customer need not have to pay anything to take the mortgage.At this time the lender were more particular about numbers and not about the quality of the loans being given as they were willing to risk with the high value loans.This does not mean that UK mortgage lending was done relentlessly as the observations show that for the pat 24 months the loans that were issued were at an acceptable rate.

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Consumer confidence has increased for the first time since February, according to one report, raising hopes that High Street spending could help the UK avoid a ‘double-dip’ recession.

Market research firm GfK NOP said its consumer confidence barometer – which analyses retail patterns to produce an index of shoppers’ optimism – increased by four points in August to minus 18, the first increase since the second month of the year.

The report takes in consumers’ feelings about the economy now and in the next year, based on their feelings about job security, personal debts and the economy in general.

Some analysts have feared that the UK could fall back into recession in the coming year, particularly with large-scale cuts in the public sector on the horizon but Nick Moon, managing director of GfK NOP, said the government would read the figures with ‘a great deal of relief’, adding that ‘a further fall would have made a double-dip recession seem a very real prospect’.

But despite the encouraging index figure, there were signs that shoppers are shying away from big-ticket items.
GfK NOP’s ‘major purchase Index’ was the only measure examined that fell, down four points to minus 20.

The number of people being declared insolvent fell in England and Wales for the first time since 2007 whilst the number business insolvencies also fell.

There were 34,743 personal insolvencies in the second quarter of this year, which includes bankruptcies, individual voluntary arrangements and debt relief orders, representing a fall of 3% from the first three months of the year.

The number of firms going into insolvency fell again in England and Wales, down 2% from the previous quarter to 1,311.

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