By Enzo Mora 

Enzo Mora, CEO and founder of The Mortgage Brain, takes stock of current trends in the housing market.

It's been a roller coaster of a ride since the end of the pandemic for anyone involved in property whether you decided to up sticks and make that longed for move or took the plunge as a first-time buyer. Everyone in the industry has been busy trying to get customers over the line, juggling many balls in the process.

According to property portal OnTheMarket (OTM), the frenzy of the last two years is now changing into a "new normal" as stock levels begin to improve and buyer/seller confidence is maintained.

The rising cost-of-living and the potential for further interest rate rises from the Bank of England appear not to have impacted buyer and seller sentiment yet with 76 per cent of active buyers in the UK confident that they would purchase a property in the next three months and 82 per cent of sellers confident that they could complete a sale.

OTM esearch also showed that buyers are confident about getting a mortgage. While there have been four interest rate rises, taking rates up to one per cent from the low of 0.1 per cent seen during the height of the pandemic, mortgages do not seem to be a concern.

More than a third of buyers already had a mortgage agreement in principle in place in April, with only one per cent of movers reported to be 'very worried' about mortgage availability.

Meanwhile, a Nottingham Building Society survey has found gaps in first-time buyer borrowing awareness with 15 per cent of those intending to buy their first home saying that they knew nothing about mortgages and 31 per cent saying they knew very little.

Estate agent Savills also reports that a third of first-time buyers said their budgets had decreased because of interest rate rises and 47 per cent said their budgets had decreased because of the rising cost of living.

While many first-time buyers may think that buying a house is out of their reach, we encourage them to get in touch with The Mortgage Brain as we can look at all their finances and search the whole mortgage market to show them a range of potential deals.

It takes an expert to fill in the knowledge gaps and we're confident we can source the best mortgage deal wherever you are on the ladder.

To find out more about The Mortgage Brain, visit www.themortgagebrain.net  or call 0333 340 8888.