London house prices: First-time buyers now need up to £73k more to get on the property ladder
First-time buyers have seen house prices climb by 7 per cent in the last twelve months, according to new research that build snagging and defect management firm BuildScan shared with City A.M. this morning.
As the stamp duty holiday helped to boost buyer demand, a sharp uplift in house prices followed as a result, particularly in Islington, Haringey and Hammersmith and Fulham.
In May of last year, the average first-time buyer in England was paying £207,068 for their first home. However, this cost has now climbed by £14,675 to £221,743; an increase of 7 per cent.
Buildscan analysed first-time buyer house prices from the Land Registry house price records and looked at how they have changed between May 2020 and January of this year.
Islington
Islington has seen the largest increase of all areas in England. In May of last year, the average first-time buyer paid £594,884 to get on the local property ladder, however, this has since increased by £72,803.
The London boroughs of Haringey (£61,752) and Hammersmith and Fulham (£45,372) have also seen some of the largest increases, but this reduction in FTB affordability is confined to the capital.
The largest increases in average house prices for first-time buyers since May of last year
| Location | May 2020 | Jan 2021 | Change in £ |
| Islington | £594,884 | £667,687 | £72,803 |
| Haringey | £488,263 | £550,014 | £61,752 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | £604,413 | £649,785 | £45,372 |
| Rutland | £230,393 | £272,517 | £42,124 |
| Oxford | £349,620 | £390,060 | £40,440 |
| Dacorum | £311,110 | £347,331 | £36,221 |
| Derbyshire Dales | £218,878 | £254,674 | £35,796 |
| Redbridge | £360,353 | £395,405 | £35,053 |
| Elmbridge | £405,479 | £440,248 | £34,769 |
| Ryedale | £202,775 | £236,885 | £34,110 |
Data sourced from the Land Registry House Price Index
“Current market conditions remain very favourable for buyers, largely due to the ongoing low cost of borrowing and, of course, the saving made via the stamp duty holiday,” explained Buildscan’s founder and nanaging director, Harry Yates.
However, “the consequence of fuelling such demand is always going to be an uplift in property prices. As a result, first-time buyers are now facing a considerably tougher challenge than they were less than a year ago, with house prices climbing by more than £70,000 in some areas,” Yates told City A.M. this morning.