Mortgage interest taking smaller chunk of income - CML

Interest payments typically consumed 18.2% of a first-time buyer's income in November, the lowest proportion since February 2007. Home movers in November typically spent 14.4% of their income on interest payments, the lowest proportion since April 2006. The CML highlighted that with lenders tightening their lending criteria, borrowers able to obtain credit are lower risk and less stretched. There were 12,400 loans to first-time buyers worth £1.4bn in November, compared with 15,400 loans worth £1.8bn in October. The average first-time buyer put down a deposit of 18%, the largest in 35 year...