First time buyers 'are settling for less'

06-Jul-2007

First time buyers are paying less heed to the quality of their first home in favour of simply getting onto the property ladder by any means necessary, a new survey suggests.

The Alliance & Leicester study indicates that such tendencies also appear to be causing first time buyers to move home faster than others in the market. With those looking their first home expecting to stay for less than three and a half years.

By contrast, many homeowners expect to stay for 20 years or more despite a lack of emotional attachment being increasingly evident among all homeowners, the research found.

"It seems people are happy to move into a property that isn't their ideal, in order to move up the property ladder and reap the benefit of rising house prices. More and more people seem to be looking for property on the basis of an investment, rather than buying their dream home," advised Alliance & Leicester director of mortgages Stephen Leonard.

First time buyers in the capital now pay up to half of their take-home income on their mortgage, it was revealed earlier this week.

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