Average house deposit rises to £59,633

 The average house deposit has reached nearly £60,000, figures show.

Analysis by the conveyancing firm My Home Move found that the average deposit had increased by £6,850 over the past year and reached £59,633, up from £52,783.

However, the deposit as a proportion of purchase price fell by 0.21 per cent.

Doug Crawford, the chief executive of My Home Move, said rising house prices were generally behind the jump in the size of deposits. He said: “For many, this amount will have been funded from the equity increase in the home they were selling.

“However, for first-time buyers and those whose homes haven’t increased in value as quickly as the one they want to purchase, the need for additional funding suddenly becomes very real.”

In London the average deposit size fell by 1.2 per cent, from £124,085 to £123,347 despite rising prices.

Mortgage rates fell to record lows last year but have since risen slightly.