First time buyer mortgage completions fell in 12 months to March 2019

The number of first time buyer mortgages completed has fallen for the first time since September 2018 and the buy to let lending market is continuing to contract, the latest industry figures show. There were 28,800 new first time buyer mortgages completed in March 2019, down 2.4% year on year and the first fall in eight months, according to the data from industry body UK Finance. The data also shows that there were 25,280 home mover mortgages completed in the month, down 6% compared with the same month last year but there was a 4.1% rise in remortgages, the 12 month on a row of growth in this sector.