Tayside expert urges 90% mortgages for first-time buyers
The UK Government should force banks to make 90% mortgages more readily available to first-time buyers, the new chairman of the Tayside Solicitors Property Centre has said.
- By Stefan Morkis
- Published in the Courier : 31.07.10
- Published online : 31.07.10 @ 11.40am
Hugh McKay, managing partner with Dundee solicitors Lawson, Coull and Duncan, said the Tayside property market remains more stable than other parts of the UK, where the recession has made prices increasingly volatile.
Over the last year the average price of a house in Dundee has risen by 2.5% to £127,015 according to the Registers of Scotland.
Mr McKay said, "I don't see the market picking up dramatically but hopefully it will continue to remain stable.
"The market has always been fairly conservative — we've never had the massive booms so we don't suffer the same sort of busts."
Mr McKay said sellers are prepared to wait for the right price for their house, rather than selling in a panic.
He said, "My experience of the market is the majority of sellers are very patient."
However, he acknowledged that the collapse of the banks and subsequent recession has made it harder for first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder.
Mr McKay said, "I think there is realisation from first-time purchasers that they might need to get help from their families, either as guarantors or with the deposit.
"That is okay for the majority of the population, but not everyone."
He added, "In the long run there has to be more done by central government.
"There should be more of a return to 90% mortgages — I don't think that is over the top."
Mr McKay said, "We are not going to see a return of 125% mortgages but there needs to be competitive products available at 90%.
"It's all very well to say customers can have them, but not if they are paying double the normal amount of interest."
04.03pm - 31.07.2010 Daz Hales - Koblenz, Germany Report This
Maybe if banks and building societies d offered more for savers, then people might be persuaded to buy. But they are too money orientated, like solicitors who live in a protected house sales market. They haven`t realised that the public are fed up with both of them taking their money.
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