It’s easy to think that once you’re on the housing ladder, it will be plain sailing from then on. However, second steppers, those looking getting a second mortgage and moving to their next home, are also facing problems.
Whilst first-time buyers have benefited from government initiatives like Help to Buy and Starter Homes, the problems of those who already own a property have been largely overlooked, as it’s often assumed that they have sufficient equity in their property to comfortably afford their next move. But this doesn’t reflect the realities of today’s housing market.
FAMILY-SIZED HOMES
Making the transition to a reasonable-sized family home with a garden can represent a huge jump in price and mean a borrower needing to practically double their mortgage. Wages have risen only slowly over the last few years, house prices have remained high and there are new lending criteria following the Mortgage Market Review. Getting a much bigger mortgage can prove a real problem for some.
BANK OF MUM AND DAD
Lloyds’s estimates that second steppers need on average a hefty £125,694 to buy their next home. Little wonder then that almost one in five ‘second steppers’ ask for a cash injection from the Bank of Mum and Dad to move further up the housing ladder, often needing around £22,000 to complete their purchase.
However, on the plus side, second steppers are usually in a more favourable financial situation than first-time buyers.They tend to be older, often have a partner who also works, meaning there are two incomes making the mortgage repayments more manageable.
As a mortgage is secured against your home, it could be repossessed if you do not keep up the mortgage repayments.
Clifford Osborne are independent mortgage advisers based in Eastbourne, East Sussex. We serve clients in Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, Lewes, Uckfield, Hastings, Bexhill, Seaford, Newhaven and further afield. Please contact us for more information or to book your free initial review or find out more about our mortgage advisers.
