Just 18% of people think that now is a good time to buy a property, research published by the Building Societies Association (BSA) has indicated.
This is the lowest figure reported by the BSA since its Property Tracker Report began at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.
The BSA’s latest report also highlighted that around half of people (48%) say affordability of monthly mortgage repayments is a barrier to buying a property – a significant increase from 39% just three months ago.
According to the findings, which were based on a study among 2,271 UK adults, the majority of those with an existing mortgage (90%) say they are confident they will be able to meet their regular mortgage payments over the next six months, a figure broadly unchanged from 92% who said the same in March 2021. The BSA suggested this could be due to 81% of all UK mortgages being on a fixed rate and therefore protected, for a period, from rising interest rates.
However, the research revealed a different story for those trying to get a foot on the housing ladder, with mortgage payments as a share of take-home pay higher now than the long-run average – despite relatively low mortgage interest rates. Raising a deposit continues to be the biggest barrier to buying a home with 59% of respondents citing this, an increase from 55% in December.
BSA head of mortgage and housing policy, Paul Broadhead, commented: “It’s good to see that despite being in a rising interest rate environment, the majority of mortgage holders remain confident that they will be able to continue to make their mortgage payments.
“However, the increase in the number of people citing mortgage affordability as a barrier to buying a home is likely to continue if we continue to see high demand and low supply in the housing market.
“Price growth at the current pace is clearly unsustainable and a much higher volume of new build and resale homes coming to market is needed to change this dynamic. Whilst lenders expect some flattening of new mortgage demand as the year progresses, we anticipate that the remortgage market will remain buoyant.”
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