First-time Buyer Numbers Continue to Rise

The number of first-time buyers in the UK has continued to rise, and in the first six months of 2014 they reached their highest level since 2007, according to the Halifax.

The company’s bi-annual First-Time Buyer Review revealed there were an estimated 144,5001 first- time buyers in the first six months of 2014, an increase of 25% on the same period last year – and also the highest total for the same six months period since 2007 (181,500).

For the third successive year the number of first-time buyers, in the first half of the year, has been over 100,000, representing the strongest performance for this period since the start of the financial crisis.

First-time buyer numbers also rose by more than the total number of home movers (20% over the same period), increasing their share of the home purchase market from 44% in the first half of 2013 to 46% in the same period this year. This was the highest proportion since 2000.

Almost two-thirds (60%) of all first-time buyer purchases in the first half of 2014 were above the £125,000 stamp duty threshold, which is up from 51% a year earlier.

“The resurgence in the number of first-time buyers getting on to the housing ladder has been buoyed by improving economic conditions, rising employment levels as well as government schemes such as Help to Buy, which have helped more first-time buyers on to the housing ladder," explained Craig McKinlay, Mortgages Director at Halifax.

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