Looking at activity in the housing market the Ntionwide Building Society sees that the most popular type of property for a first time buyer is the traditional terraced house.
Figures show that approximately 38 percent of people looking to get on the property ladder go for a terraced house, preferring these over other types of accommodation. In the housing market as a whole just over 25 percent of houses bought are terraced so the preference for terraced houses for first time buyers is considerable.
Logically it makes sense that this is the case since terraced properties tend to be both smaller and less expensive to buy than larger places. This means they can be better suited to a first time buyers requirements and also easier to get a mortgage for since the cost is less. The Nationwide Building Society has seen that prices for terraced houses are rising quickly though.
The recent suggestion about the Alliance and Leicester being taken over by a larger European financial institution has been seen as both a good and bad thing by some experts.
On the one hand the Alliance and Leicester having strong financial support from a much bigger player would instil confidence in customers and probably drive more people to use them. That is a short term scenario though, with the potential longer term one being a market that has less choice.
When organisations join together there is a natural culling of duplicate products and a streamlining of the range – this would be no different with the Alliance and Leicester it has been suggested. Less choice means limited options for mortgage buyers and the likelihood that costs will ultimately be higher.
A new range of Alliance and Leicester mortgage products has just been announced with flexibility built in to suit different customer needs.
There are different fixed term periods available, fee or no fee mortgages and also a base rate tracker. Some excellent rates are available, with a maximum loan of 75 percent of the property value enabling the Alliance and Leicester to offer these rates. One of the most popular mortgage options is expected to be the 2 year fixed rate with a 5.99 percent interest rate.
One of the Alliance and Leicester tracker mortgages that customers will find interesting is currently quoting a rate of 5.89 percent for the first 2 years, this is base rate plus 0.89 percent. After 2 years the tracker works at base plus 1.49 percent.
