Existing homeowners have been the winners of the market boom created by the stamp duty break and lockdown-inspired lifestyle switches. Not only have they managed to bank bigger gains by selling their properties into a bullish market and felt the most benefit from the tax holiday, but they have largely avoided the threat of lenders pulling up the drawbridge on higher loan-to-value mortgages.
Unsurprisingly, mortgage completions among movers leapt an annual 82 per cent during the first quarter of this year, according to UK Finance, bringing volumes roughly back to the same level as 2007. Meanwhile, first-time buyer numbers rose by just under a third.
That marked a reversal of a trend established since the 2008 financial crisis. Up until this year, home mover numbers had been running at around half of the typical level, while first-time purchases had been boosted back to pre-crisis levels by 2018 thanks to successive government initiatives.
The skew towards existing homeowners has been most pronounced in London and the south east, as movers have cashed in equity gains made over the last decade and traded-up for space in the outer suburbs. Up to 60 per cent of borrowers in London and the south own at least half of their home’s equity outright.
However, the price inflation that has boosted equity stakes has also provided a further impediment to first-time buyers, one that is hardest to overcome in the acutely unaffordable London market. A greater balance between the two market segments is needed for a healthy and sustainable housing market.
