UK house prices: First-time buyer market cools in the run-up to Christmas
Britain first-time buyer market has cooled over the last three months following this summer’s record number of sales, new research shows.
New buyers completed 28,100 sales in October, which was down 8.5 per cent compared with July’s eight year high of 30,700, according to figures released today by estate agents Your Move & Reeds Rains.
The number of people who successfully managed to take their first step onto the ladder fell by 1.7 per cent from 28,600 on the previous months and by 2.8 per cent compared with October last year, the report showed.
Your Move and Reeds Rains director, Adrian Gill, said that after a busy summer period first time buyers may be putting plans on hold until after the Christmas holiday period.
“Despite the slight slowdown, however, the underlying figures remain strong. Sales totals are still high relative to previous years, with no sign that they’re about to slide back to the doldrums of the 2012 and 2013 period.
“Moreover, with real-terms wages continuing to outstrip inflation and consumer confidence heading ever upwards, there’s every potential for the property market to kick back up a gear just after the New Year,” he added.
The average price paid by a first-time buyer stood at £157,208 in the three months to July 2015. London remains the most expensive, with first time buyers paying on average £328,478 followed by £216,489 over the same period in the south east.
Londoners put down by far the largest deposit of any region in the three months to July, paying out £83,333. Buyers in the south east paid out £46,601 to secure their first home, which equated to almost double the national average of £26,102, the report showed.