In the current housing market, first-time buyers are predominantly purchasing homes together, with joint mortgage completions reaching 63%.
This trend, highlighted in Halifax’s latest analysis, reflects the significant rise in deposit requirements over the past decade, now averaging £53,414, a 67% increase from ten years ago.
Despite a 21% decrease in the total number of first-time buyers in 2023, they still represent over half of all home loan recipients, the highest proportion since 1995.
However, the average price for first-time buyers has dipped by 5% to £288,136, though prices remain substantially higher than a decade ago.
The shift in property preferences is also evident, with flats becoming 6% more popular as starter homes and terraced houses seeing a 7% decline over the last decade.
The average age of first-time buyers has risen, now standing at 32 years across the UK. The oldest average first-time buyers are found in Slough and aged 37.
Kim Kinnaird, director at Halifax Mortgages, said: “Following a record year in 2021, unsurprisingly in view of the wider economic environment, the number of first-time buyers joining the property market fell again in 2023 to around 293,000.
“Despite this drop, new buyers made up over half of all home loans. However, to get a foot on the ladder most people are now buying for the first time in joint names.”
The report also outlines regional variations, with the most significant decreases in first-time buyers seen in East Anglia and the South East, while Scotland shows more resilience.
Notably, Northern Ireland has seen a 45% increase in first-time buyers compared to 2013.
In terms of affordability, the average first-time buyer home cost is about 6.7 times the average UK salary.
The most affordable area is Inverclyde, Scotland, where homes are around 2.6 times the average salary, contrasting sharply with London’s least affordable areas like Islington, where homes cost over 10 times the average salary.
