HSBC looking to help first-time buyers
HSBC has today announced additional funding of £500 million which will be targeted at the first-time buyer market, an area of the UK mortgage market which has remained an outcast for some time. This follows an earlier move by the bank to inject a further £1 billion in loans to customers who were unable to raise deposits of more than 10%.
While the move has been well received by potential first-time buyers in the UK, it is worth remembering that for those unable to collate a house purchase deposit in excess of 10%, the best two-year fixed rate available with HSBC is 5.99% against UK base rates of 0.5%. When you also add in a £599 arrangement fee the offer does look a little less impressive although to be honest it is still one of the best available at the moment.
Despite the fact that first-time buyers are the lifeblood of the UK property market there has been little in the way of action with regards to attractive offers and attractive deals in the short to medium term. This will need to change before the UK property market can fully recover from the woes of the last 24 months but what comes first, increased liquidity or a recovery in UK property prices?
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