First-time buyer numbers lowest for two decades

Fewer first-time buyers took out a mortgage during the past year than at any time in the past two decades, according to new figures.

Data from GfK's Financial Research Survey has shown that 347,000 people took out a mortgage over the past twelve months, 100,000 lower than the previous lowest in February 1993, The Telegraph reports.

Ben Steer, GfK's financial director, said the survey revealed a problem felt by many young people in the UK trying to get on to the housing ladder, but met with a more prudent attitude from mortgage lenders, which is pricing many out of the market.

"The challenge for these financial providers is to create products which will assist young people, without creating the conditions that sparked the crisis in the first place," he added.

A report earlier this year in the Independent stated that the cost of deposits on a purchase had risen fourfold and equated to 64 per cent of an individual annual salary.

With fewer first-time buyers and deposits becoming more difficult to afford, more people may be attracted to looking for property to rent in the London borough of Epping Forest, or elsewhere in the UK, instead.

By Martyn Glynn

Published 22nd April, 2010

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