FIRST-TIME buyers continue to make up the majority of the Northern Ireland housing market with the costs of a new home becoming increasingly attractive.
Around 60 per cent of all residential mortgages in the first quarter of 2013 were to those buying their first home, according to figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders in Northern Ireland.
However, lending to first-time buyers, home movers and those looking to remortgage all eased in the first quarter
First-time buyers accounted for 1,200 loans over the three months to March, although this was 8 per cent down on the same period last year.
The amount lent - £90 million - was also down by 10 per cent year on year and by 18 per cent compared to the fourth quarter in 2012.
Three quarters of first-time buyers bought property valued at less than £125,000, and borrowed an average of 80 per cent the home's value.