House sales to first-time buyers were down five per cent in the last month, according to real estate agents.
The proportion of sales going to first-time buyers dropped from 25 per cent in May to 20 per cent in June, the National Association of Estate Agents’ (NAEA) June Housing Market Report shows.
That’s despite new research from Halifax showing the number of first-time buyers in the first half of this year was at a seven-year high.
House sales also fell last month, from an average of 10 per branch in May to nine per branch in June.
First-time buyers’ struggles are reflected in buyers’ ages, with just 3 per cent of all house sales in June going to buyers aged 18 to 30. Forty-eight per cent of buyers were aged 31 to 40.
The NAEA’s managing director Mark Hayward said things were getting “even tougher” for first-time buyers.
“Not only do you now need to stump up ridiculously large sums of money in terms of deposits and stamp duty to be able to get on the ladder, but new rules mean buyers will also have to prove they can easily afford repayments now and in the future.
“Alongside this, a scaling back of the government’s Help to Buy scheme and the implementation of the Mortgage Market Review in April will also have a significantly negative impact on the first-time buyer market.”
Nearly 80 per cent of NAEA member agents believe the Bank of England’s planned cap on high loan-to-value mortgages will affect the number of first-time buyers and home owners looking to move.
