First-time buyers should still get a mortgage now, says expert

People looking to buy-to-live should not be put off by the current uncertainties in the housing market, Key Financial Consultants has said.

Dominic Mansley, managing director of the firm, said the current climate may raise the risk for buy-to-let investors, but not for those whose purpose of purchasing a house was live there and leave rented accommodation behind.

He said: "It doesn''t really matter what happens in the market, as long as the mortgage is affordable."

The most important issue, he said, was that buying was fulfilling the ambition of owning a home rather than making money on an investment.

Figures for the second quarter of 2007 from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed that the average first-time buyer is aged 28, has a salary of £35,000 and takes out a mortgage worth 90 per cent of the value of a property.

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