From the number of individuals set to purchase property in the next 12 months, it is predicted that 25 per cent will be first-time buyers (FTBs).
The figure remains significantly down on the pre-credit crunch figures when FTBs would have made up 40 per cent of the purchaser market.
Rightmove’s first-time buyer forecast for the final quarter of 2012 also reveals that more than a third (36 per cent) of prospective FTBs cite raising enough of a deposit as their single biggest concern and 22 per cent will only have managed to raise a deposit of less than 10 per cent by the time they are ready to buy, excluding them from the lower cost mortgage packages.
Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst comments: “The list of challenges to get onto the property ladder seems to be getting longer rather than shorter. Raising enough of a deposit stubbornly remains the major concern for intending first-time buyers, but we are now also seeing how the issues facing second-steppers are affecting the fortunes of first-time buyers in terms of finding a suitable property to buy and local affordability”.
Up to three in ten FTBs are also having difficulty finding suitable properties to buy, as negative equity keeps homeowners, who would otherwise be selling and moving on, in their existing properties.
Rightmove’s research shows that the typical first-time buyer is looking to spend around £150,000, yet the supply of new properties to market at or below this level in October was down 5 per cent compared to last year.
Meanwhile, more than half of prospective FTB’s expect to move more than three miles from their currently dwelling.
Shipside comments: “The combination of less suitable property choice and the necessity of having to hunt for the best value means that many of next year’s first-time buyers will have to cast their net wider to catch
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