The updated house price index for the UK reveals a general further increase in house prices, with still no government support for first time buyers in sight
In England, the average house price for first time buyers has increased by 7.7% since this time last year.
This contributes to an overall rise in 1.1% in all areas, and an annual rise of 6.4%, bringing the average property value in the UK to £271,000. This places average first time buyer prices at just £21,000 cheaper than most houses.
The North East of England saw the largest rise in a year
Rising up to £168,000 (14.3%), the North East saw the largest jump in price, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber at £211,000 (9.5%) and the North West at £217,000 (9.4%).
The most expensive region to buy a home is, unsurprisingly, London, which has risen its average price by 0.8% to £552,000.
The average mortgage price in the House Price Index March 2025 sits at £301,000, a rise of 7.1% from last year.
New builds currently dominate prices in England over existing resold property. As of January 2025, the average price for new builds is at £416,000 (17.4% up from last year), while existing resold property sits at £285,000 (3.6%).
Wales currently has the best deal for first-time buyers as the average price sits at £180,000, a rise of 4.6%, while former owner occupier is averaged at £247,000, a rise of 2.4%.
The UK HPI can be read in full here.
Average house prices are suppressing demand, and harming housebuilding
Earlier this month, the Home Builders Federation published a report titled Saving the British Dream.
The report examines the issue of young people being unable to afford a home, and found an alarmingly low 10.4% of 20-44 year olds that do not already own a home, are financially sound enough to buy a first home.
The report also emphasises the fact that many of these young adults can only afford a home due to being able to pool funds together with a partner, and that roughly only 2.9% of this 10.4% can afford a home on their own.
This still leaves 89% of people in this age range who do not already own a home being unable to afford one.
Issues causing this include lack of savings for a deposit, being unable to borrow the required amount (with average first time buyer house prices still increasing as per above), salary increases not matching inflation, or not being able to meet affordability criteria.
First time buyer demand is at 350,000 homes, but with the number of young people able to afford these homes, just 69,000 would be sold over the next five years.
The HBF have proposed a scheme for first time buyers to fill the void left since the ending of the Help-to-Buy scheme.
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