Halifax: FTB's saving longer to buy property
30/01/2006
First-time buyers (FTBs) are having to save longer before they can put a deposit on a house, according to new research.
Halifax reveals that the average amount for a deposit has increase to £23,967 from £9,894 in 2000. This constitutes 76 per cent of the average earnings of £31,485.
This rise in deposit may have been a significant factor in the decline in first-time buyers in 2005.
Last year saw the lowest annual total of first-time buyers entering the market since 1980 and was ten per cent lower than in 2004 and 40 per cent lower than it had been in 2002.
"First-time buyers need to save harder and for longer than ever before so as to put down a decent deposit on a house," said Tim Crawford, group economist at Halifax.
"This explains why the number of first-time buyers entering the market was close to record lows in 2005."
The research by Halifax also found that the least affordable areas in Britain for first-time buyers is Gerrards Cross in Buckhinghamshire where the average house costs 17.8 times the average first-time buyer salary.
To read about First-Time Buyer Mortgages, click here.
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