The number of first-time buyers rose by almost a quarter in November, the highest monthly total since the economic downturn.
According to the latest first-time buyer tracker from Your Move and Reeds Rains, there were 31,300 completed first-time buyer transactions in November, up 23.7% from the previous year.
Between August and November, the number of people taking their first step onto the property ladder grew by 17.2% – or 4,600, while the number of completed transactions in November rose by 4.7% month-on-month, representing 1,400 more first-time buyers than the previous month.
The average purchase price for a first-time buyer home in November dropped 4.7% from the previous year to £148,385, the first annual fall since March 2013. Over the same period deposit costs fell 4.2% to £24,598.
Adrian Gill, director of estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains, warned that in 2016 first-time buyers would have to contend with a smaller housing stock, less favourable mortgage deals and the long-awaited interest rate rise from the Bank of England.
Gill said: “A mixture of luck and pluck have seen costs fall across the board for first-time buyers this year. Rising real-terms wages as economic conditions improve have certainly been instrumental in helping those setting foot onto the property ladder devote less of their salary to mortgage payments and deposit costs.
“These were obstacles that were previously holding many back from taking the plunge and buying their first home. Equally, a more fluid mortgage market has given many first-time buyers the chance to own a home off the back of a mortgage that two or three years ago they could only dream of obtaining.”
The news comes despite fears that first-time buyers are being squeezed out of the market due to the dwindling supply of suitable homes and ballooning property prices.
The government has introduced a number of new schemes in recent years to help first-time buyers get on the property ladder, including Help to Buy programmes and Right to Buy extensions. In the Autumn Statement last year, Chancellor George Osborne unveiled plans to build 400,000 homes and announced a 3% rise in stamp duty as part of the government’s aim to curb the buy-to-let sector.
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