Two thirds of first-time buyers team up to get on housing ladder – Halifax

31st January 2024

Almost two-thirds of people taking their first step on the housing ladder are doing so with someone else, according to the Halifax.

Some 63% of first-time buyer mortgages taken out between January and December 2023 were in joint names, involving two or more people, the mortgage lender found.

Average property values for first-time buyers are now about 6.7 times the typical UK salary (£43,257), the research found.

Its analysis was based on its own data as well as that for Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland, which are all part of the same banking group.

The overall dip in house prices we saw in 2023 will go some way to helping people get on the ladder for the first time

Across the UK, the average first-time buyer property price in 2023 was £288,136, down from £302,008 in 2022.

Terraced homes made up 30% of new mortgages for first-time buyers last year, while flats accounted for 27% and detached homes accounted for 10%.

Semi-detached homes made up 29% of first-time buyer properties in 2023, while bungalows accounted for 3%, Halifax said.

Flats have increased in popularity as a starter home compared with a decade earlier, while the proportion of first-time buyers choosing a terraced home has fallen, the bank added.

Back in 2013, 37% of first-time buyer purchases were for terraced homes and 21% were for flats.

Kim Kinnaird, director, Halifax Mortgages said: “The overall fall in house prices we saw in 2023 will go some way to helping people get on the ladder for the first time – but these buyers are still dependent on a steady supply of properties in their price range, while they are faced with the continued pressure of saving for a deposit, when rent and living costs are high.”

Inverclyde was identified as the most affordable location, with properties costing about 2.6 times the average salary (£41,598).

At the other end of the scale, London continues to host some of the least affordable places in the country to set up a first home, with first-time buyers typically needing to find a deposit of more than £100,000.

Here are average first-time buyer house prices, deposits and deposits as a percentage of the purchase price in 2023, according to Halifax:

– East Midlands, £235,941, £36,139, 15%

– East of England, £327,926, £52,682, 16%

– London, £492,234, £108,848, 22%

– North East, £174,693, £29,740, 17%

– Northern Ireland, £174,337, £31,948, 18%

– North West, £215,655, £35,581, 16%

– Scotland, £188,670, £39,691, 21%

– South East, £353,724, £59,075, 17%

– South West, £273,968, £49,135, 18%

– Wales, £199,930, £36,350, 18%

– West Midlands, £236,253, £37,459, 16%

– Yorkshire and the Humber, £204,178, £33,208, 16%