According to many reports now is actually one of the best times to purchase a home in the UK – though only if you can afford to made a sizable enough deposit to successfully lock in a decent fixed mortgage for your home. The reason for this is that many experts feel that the continued low mortgage rates that have helped drive the strong housing market in the past few years coupled with the continued strong growth of housing supply may be near a tipping point in terms of shifting lending institutions away from a strong buyer-friendly scenario.

One of the leading factors of making now a strong time to buy than in the past when the real estate market first released many of its incentives to stimulate growth is that only in the past few days has the cost of a regular monthly mortgage payment actually been reduced below that of renting. In fact for first-time buyers in particular this is a great sign as the continued stamp duty holiday for first-time purchases means highly favourable conditions that allow for a strong buy now rather than in the future where these benefits may be changed.

Nevertheless the current time being seen as the best time to buy is highly dependent upon whether or not individuals can make a high enough down-payment in order to get the best interest rates possible on loans. A deposit of 25% and a total loan-to-value ratio of 75% will, for instance, yield significantly better interest rates than even a deposit of 10% and especially a low deposit of 5%. This equates to a total savings of hundreds of Pounds each month in mortgage payments or thousands over years of repayment. Unfortunately for most given the high cost of houses throughout the country making a sizable contribution at this time is difficult at best and may not be possible without help from friends or family – something that is a going concern with many economists given the need for extended debt for many pensioners looking to support their children’s purchases through re-mortgages.