First Time Home Buyers ‘Ready to Pounce’

New stats indicate that the numbers of UK first-time home buyers in entering the property market are at their lowest point in 27 years. According to mortgage giant Halifax, around 300,000 people stepped onto the property ladder for the first time in 2007 in the UK, down 15,000 on 2006, the lowest figure since 1980.

To make matters worse, the average price for a first property went up by 15% from the previous year, to £175,093. Not only are the prices growing, but so is the age of the buyer: first-time buyers have traditionally fallen into the 20s age group, generally purchasing a terraced house. Nowadays, 37% of first time buyers are in their 30s and looking for a flat.

Areas picked out as being on the ‘least affordable’ list included Ilkley, West Yorkshire; Sevenoaks, Kent; Ascot, Berkshire; and Amersham, Bucks; and Hook in Hampshire.

It’s not all doom and gloom, however. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) indicated that conditions for first-time buyers look to improve in 2008. RICS chief economist, Simon Rubinsohn, said, “There is huge pent-up demand from first-time buyers, and should house prices drop in the early part of the year, many will ready to pounce.