First-time buyers outpaced by price increases

First-time buyers are now paying out, on average, just over £196,000 to secure their first home.

First-time buyers are now paying out, on average, just over £196,000 to secure that vital first property, according to research fromhybrid estate agent eMoov.co.uk.

However, in the last four years or so, the average price paid across England by first-time buyers has increased by £42,451.

This 28% increase is a higher rate of growth than England as a whole, where the average house price has only increased by 26% in the same time period, highlighting the ever-growing obstacle many face in securing homeownership.

By analysing the latest data from the Land Registry, eMoov have mapped the average first-time buyer house price across each English county and each of the capital’s boroughs, as well as calculating the increase in value since the start of 2012.

But there’s even worse news for those aspiring to get on the London ladder for the first time.The capital’s ever inflating market means that the current price paid on average by first-time buyers in London is an eye-watering £462,602, having increased by 54% since 2012.

Founder and CEO of eMoov.co.uk, Russell Quirk, said:“First time buyers are paying almost as much as second and third steppers in actual price terms yet the percentage increase in first-time buyer properties is tracking at even greater than regular house prices. It really does highlight the issue facing the nation's next generation of aspirational homeowners.

How the government expect anyone to get on in life when the first hurdle they face is all but unobtainable, to begin with, is beyond me, especially in London. Over 90% of the capital’s boroughs have seen the price paid by first-time buyers increase by more than £100,000 in just four or so short years.

We must address this issue and find a way to bring homeownership back in reach of the average homebuyers, not just in London, or the surrounding commuter counties, but to the whole of England.”