The most recent report from Halifax* has found that the number of first-time buyers in the UK last year was the highest it’s been since 2007.
In 2016, the number of first-time buyers in the UK was 335,750. Although not quite as high as 359,900 in 2007, last year marks the third year in a row that this number has stood at over 300,000.
Last year’s figure was also 75% higher than the lowest point in 2009.
Martin Ellis, a housing economist at Halifax, said “record low mortgage rates, high employment levels and government schemes such as Help to Buy have helped first-time buyers.”
With the government’s Help to Buy schemes, like the first homes scheme, first-time buyers can put down a deposit of as little as 5%, making buying a first home achievable for many more people.
Although, Halifax have found that in London first-time buyers put down, on average, a 25% deposit.
And that the average age of a first-time buyer in the UK is 30 – which is not far off the average age of 33 in London, as reported in this research into London's first-time buyers by mortgage broker Alexander Hall.
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