50% of income going on mortgage
July 5, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Mortgages
Some Londoners are spending as much as 50 per cent of their take-home income on their mortgages.
New figures from Woolwich highlight the precarious situation that many homeowners find themselves in and things could get worse with the Bank of England widely expected to announce a 0.25 per cent interest rate rise today (July 5th).
The average first-time buyer in the UK is said to be forking out 32.4 per cent of their take-home income on mortgage payments as property prices boom and people become evermore desperate to get onto the housing ladder.
The figures are a concern for many industry figures and Andy Gray, head of mortgages at the Woolwich, said further rate rises are likely to have a massive impact on the housing market.
“We fully expect the average age of first-time buyers to go up until people are well into their 30s,” he revealed.
“For those lucky enough to be on the ladder, the data suggests that in certain areas of London they are already stretched. The last thing any of them need is a further increase in base rates.”
First-time buyers, many of whom are understandably desperate to get onto the property ladder, are advised to carefully calculate their finances before taking out a mortgage to ensure that they are financially prepared for any future rate rises or changes to their circumstances.
