Our eyes are on what the upcoming Budget will mean for you

Our eyes are on the upcoming Budget when a brand-new scheme to help first-time buyers will be announced, says Enzo Mora CEO and founder of The Mortgage Brain.

Most of the property industry has been pleasantly surprised with the news that the government is planning to launch Your First Home, a new version of the discontinued Help to Buy scheme. Full details will emerge in the Budget at the end of this month, but we already know that it will offer a government-backed equity loan of 20% along with a deposit of just 2.5% to first-time buyers buying a new build home, allowing a 77.5% loan to value mortgage. As the equity loan will have an interest-free period this could help thousands of aspiring homeowners without the help of the Bank of Mum and Dad to get on the ladder. We’re already working with our house building partners across the country and lender panels to offer mortgages via Your First Home once it’s available. The former Help to Buy scheme supported around 387,000 house purchases and was successful in driving home ownership, increasing much needed housing supply and generating positive returns for taxpayers so far to the tune of £1.74bn, so not a bad investment all round.

Homeownership wins out over pensions

New research from PensionBee reveals that for most UK adults, owning a home outright is considered more important than a pension and is worth sacrificing retirement years to achieve. When forced to choose between the two, 51% said they would delay retirement to own their own home outright. The average first-time buyer is now 32, taking out a mortgage with an average term of 31 years, clearing their mortgage at 63, four years before the current State Pension age. This means that their retirement and mortgage payments could overlap. We offer regular mortgage reviews for these customers to see if they can decrease the term of their mortgage as their affordability improves, avoiding this scenario.

Heat treatment

Our long hot summer is already a distant memory, but it’s been a wake-up call to housebuilders. With hotter summers expected to become more frequent, developers are changing their plans according to a report from Shawbrook Bank. Some 43% will allow more time for completion and plan to introduce extra health and safety measures to protect workers during heatwaves. More than a third (37%) will improve natural ventilation and shading on site. Two in five (41%) plan to invest in climate-resilient building materials or technologies and 36% expect to raise the budget allocated to climate-proofing. Asked which measures they will prioritise over the next 12 months, 52% said they plan to install air conditioning or cooling systems in their developments, sustainable drainage systems (47%), water management policies (46%), measures to make developments compatible with electric vehicles (41%) and solar power (36%).

Are you a property traitor?

While the nation is gripped with the current Celebrity Traitors series, Zoopla has leapt on the idea that when it comes to property, we have secrets to hide. Nearly 72% of people who think they may buy within the next one to three years have already taken at least one property action without telling the people they live with. Five per cent would go as far as viewing a property before revealing they were serious about moving. If you’re serious about getting a mortgage, then the best place to start your search is our Mortgage Finder. Spoiler alert. If you’re buying with someone else, our advisers will need to speak to them too!