£29'000 for the deposit

24 August 2006

0Comments | Comment on this Article

That's what first time buyers can expect to pay for the deposit on their first home, nowadays, according to Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Because of this, many first time buyers are turning to their parents for the money, to help them get onto the property ladder, many offering to take their parents in, or offering monetary help after retirement.

Jut a decade ago, the figure stood at just £6'400, or 25% of the average yearly wage. Now, that's gone up to almost 75%, meaning that at a 'comfortable rate, buyers now have to save for over 7 years before they consider buying a house.

The average age of the first time buyer has also risen from 28, o 31 years, and are almost shut out of the market altogether, as many wouldn't be able to buy a house without help.

Earlier this month the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reported that in June the average first-time buyer was paying 3.21 times their income to get a mortgage, the highest figure on record.

But long-standing fears that they would be driven out of the market entirely, bringing the housing ladder crashing down, have not been realised so far.

0Comments | Be the first to comment!