First-time buyer numbers double

HOUSING: First-time buyer numbers have nearly doubled in the last decade, analysis suggests, despite warnings that aspiring homeowners still face an uphill struggle to keep up with surging property prices.

For the first time since 1995, those taking their first steps now account for the majority of home purchases.

FIRST-TIME BUYER numbers have nearly doubled in the last decade, analysis suggests, despite warnings that aspiring homeowners still face an uphill struggle to keep up with surging property prices.

For the first time since 1995, a review by the Halifax has found those taking their first steps on the housing ladder now account for the majority of home purchases with a mortgage. But this is alongside a requirement to secure steep deposits averaging £32,000 – or £19,827 in Yorkshire – to take the plunge.

The average price paid for a typical first home has jumped by 39 per cent in the past decade, Halifax found, from £153,030 to £212,473.

Yet despite pressures for aspiring homeowners, experts have said, moves to ease this are having an impact.

“New buyers coming on to the ladder are vital for the overall wellbeing of the UK housing market, and the continued growth in first-time buyers shows healthy movement in this important area – despite a shortage of homes and the ongoing challenge of raising a deposit,” said Russell Galley, managing director at the Halifax.

“Last year was the first year that first-time buyers accounted for the majority of the market since 1995, which shows that the factors reducing some of the associated costs – such as continued low mortgage rates and stamp duty – are supporting the increasing number of people tak-

ing their first step on to the property ladder.”

In 2018, people taking their first step on the property ladder accounted for just over 50 per cent of all home purchases using a mortgage, the Halifax FirstTime Buyer Review found, a rise from 37 per cent in 2010.

Halifax used information from UK Finance to make the findings, as well as its own house price database and Office for National Statistics (ONS) earnings figures.

The number of first-time buyers, meanwhile, has nearly doubled over the past decade from 192,300 in 2008 to 372,000 in 2018 it found.