First-time buyers in Scotland typically borrowed 79% of their property’s value in the final quarter of the year, compared to 80% for the UK as a whole.
The number of first-time buyers in Scotland in the final quarter fell 4% to 4,500, down from 4,700 in the third quarter, but up from 4,200 in the fourth quarter of 2010. By value, first-time buyers in Scotland borrowed £410 million in the last quarter, a decrease from £440 million in the third quarter but an increase from £370 million a year earlier.
The number of loans to Scottish home movers dropped 10% to 7,200 in the last quarter of the year, from 8,000 in the third quarter of 2011 and from 7,500 in the last quarter of 2010. By value, they borrowed £950 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, down from just over £1 billion in the previous quarter and £970 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.
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The average Scottish home mover borrowed more of their property’s value in the last quarter (72%) than seen since the final quarter of 2008. This compares to the 70% seen in the UK as a whole.
Overall, there were 11,700 loans worth nearly £1.4 billion taken out for house purchase in Scotland in the final quarter of 2011, down 8% by volume and value on the third quarter and down 1% by volume but up 1% by value on the last quarter of 2010. The UK as a whole fared slightly better than Scotland. The number of loans for house purchase decreased by 5% from the third quarter but increased by 1% from the last quarter of the previous year.
For remortgage, 9,100 loans, worth £870 million, were advanced in Scotland, a drop of 6% by both volume and value from the previous quarter but a rise of 15% by volume (14% by value) from the last quarter of 2010.
By contrast, remortgaging in the UK fared slightly worse. The number of loans taken out declined 9% from the third quarter but grew 8% from the previous year.
Over 2011 as a whole, Scotland accounted for 9% of the total UK house purchase market and 10% of all UK remortgaging.
The number of house purchase loans in Scotland declined 7% to 44,500 in 2011 but remortgaging increased by 18% to 36,900 loans.
Jim Dunn, chair of CML Scotland, commented: "Scotland, as well as the rest of the UK, continues to see a constrained mortgage market. However, it is encouraging to see positive signs, such as better affordability for first-time buyers and a decrease in average deposits for home movers, emerging.
"2012 will still be a challenging year but we hope to see the slight easing of constraints continuing throughout the year."
(GK)
