Properties for first-time buyers went up in November as the housing crisis continues to hit those looking to get on to the property ladder.
According to property listings website Rightmove, prices of properties with two beds or fewer rose by 1.7% – or £3,256 – despite a seasonal fall in house prices.
This resulted in an annual jump of 8.2% to £305,670, twice the percentage rate in other market sectors.
Monthly house prices fell 1.1%, which Rightmove said showed signs of a “resilient market”. This was lower than the 1.8% average over the last six years.
Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, said: “Overall, house prices continue to hold up well.
“However, price resilience is not good news for cash-strapped aspiring first-time buyers, and in spite of the more subdued time of year the smaller properties that they typically target have increased in price this month, the only market sector to show an increase.
“Compared to 12 months ago the price of newly-marketed properties with two bedrooms or fewer is up by over 8%, twice the rate of the sectors containing properties with three bedrooms or more. In the sprint to get onto the housing ladder, wage inflation to help meet lender affordability ratios and to save for the larger deposits required is being comprehensively outrun by price increases.”
Rightmove said that the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on the 23 November provided an opportunity for the government to help more people get on the housing ladder.
Shipside said: “As well as helping people’s home-ownership aspirations, activity at the bottom rung of the ladder helps the rest of the market to move and through that boosts the wider economy. Short-term options that might be top of a first-time buyer’s list would be a stamp duty holiday exclusive to them.
“However, there are dangers to increasing demand unless this is matched by policies to improve supply, and more radical steps need to be taken to remove some of the barriers preventing more affordable homes to buy and rent from being built in the right locations.”
Rightmove reported that the North East is the only place where house prices have gone up in the last month, by 0.1%. In the South East of England house prices went down 2%, while in London they dropped 0.3%.
