First-time buyers have seen a 21% hike in property prices over the last 10 years, with the average price climbing from £172,659 in 2008 to £208,741, the Halifax First-time Buyer Review has found.
First-time buyers have seen a 21% hike in property prices over the last 10 years, with the average price climbing from £172,659 in 2008 to £208,741, the Halifax First-time Buyer Review has found.
The increase is more than double the 10% rise for all buyer types, and across Britain the average price of first-time buyer properties has outperformed the overall housing market.
In London, the average first-time buyer property price has seen the greatest increase (48%) during the last 10 years to £419,608, followed by the South-East (37% to £275,632) and East Anglia (30% to £210,639).
Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax, said:“First-time buyers are having to dig deeper than ever to get onto the property ladder. With the average price now over £200,000 and deposits at £33,000 it’s not surprising that the average age of a first-time buyer has crept up to 31.
“Despite these increases, and the concern many young people feel about home ownership, the number of first-time buyers continues to grow and is nearly back to the peak seen of 2006.
“Government measures, such as Help to Buy, and record low mortgage rates continue to make buying more financially attractive than renting, with savings of £900 a year.”
There were relatively modest price rises in the North (8%) and Wales (9%) and in Northern Ireland the average first-time buyer price is a third lower (down 33% to £124,035 and the lowest in the UK) than in 2008.
First-time buyers are now putting down record deposits for their first home. Nationally the average deposit is £33,127, an increase of 71% from £19,364 in 2008. In London, the average first-time buyer deposit is £114,952 (27% of the purchase price) and a three-fold increase from £38,335 in 2008.
With property values and deposits at elevated levels, first-time buyers have become reliant on family assistance. The latest ONS figures show that more than a third (34%)of new buyers receivedfinancial help from parents either as a gift of money or a loan.
Owning their own home remains a dream for many young Brits though, as half of 18-34 year-olds think it’s harder than ever to get on the housing ladder and almost one in five say they believe they’ll be renting forever.
Older renters are less hopeful than younger ones at owning a home – one in four (26%) 31-34 year-olds say they’ll never be able to buy a home.
A third of young people think the only way they’ll get on the property ladder is by inheriting the cash, while more than one in 10 (16%) would consider upping sticks and moving abroad because of high UK property prices.
A third (35%) of 18-34 year-olds intend to stay at home until they can afford to buy. Men are much more inclined to at 49% compared to 31%.
The number of first-time buyers increased by around 3% in the first six months of 2018 to 175,500 compared with 171,200 in the same period in 2017.
The number of first-time buyers has more than doubled since dropping to a record low of 72,700 in the first half of 2009, and is now just 8% lower than at the peak of the last boom in 2006 (190,900).
The growth in first-time buyers means they have increased as a proportion of all mortgage financed house purchasers from 38% in 2008 to more than half (51%) in 2018.
This share has picked up since 2013 when the Help to Buy Scheme was introduced, which has given 128,317 first-time buyers (81% of total purchases under the scheme) a step on to the housing ladder over this period.
