An online agency has stuck its head above the parapet and has produced data which shows that being a UK first time buyer may not be such a bad thing after all.
Yopa says first-time buyers in the UK are paying 63% more to get a foot on the property ladder than 10 years ago, but are still better off than many other global nations.
The average age of a first-time buyer, which now sits at 33, is up from 31 in 2014. Even so, the number of first-time buyers has grown by 9.9% over the past decade, from 310,280 in 2014 to 341,068 in 2024. This marks an average annual growth rate of an estimated 2%.
When compared internationally, the UK still fares well. At an average FTB age of 34, Brits are climbing the ladder earlier than their counterparts in Canada (36), Australia (36), and New Zealand (35) – and are only slightly behind the United States (33) and France (31).
Moreover, when looking more widely at house price-to-income ratio indices and change over the last five years, the UK remains better off than many of its global peers, despite the high cost of homeownership. Indeed, UK buyers have also benefited from strong wage growth in recent years.
Yopa’s analysis of the latest OECD figures shows that the UK’s five year change in house price to income ratio sits at -1.3%, with this being more favourable than 20 other global nations included within the data.
The worst nations when it comes to this five year change include Greece (22.1%), the United States (21.0%), Estonia (20.3%), Portugal (19.7%), and Switzerland (17.5%) – as a positive change in the index means that house prices are rising faster than incomes.
A Yopa spokesperson says: “It’s clear that UK first-time buyers are facing more financial pressure than ever before, both in terms of the upfront cost of buying and the age at which they’re finally able to do so. But encouragingly, demand hasn’t waned – and the fact that the UK’s house price-to-income ratio change over the last five years remains better than that of many comparable countries gives us good reason to remain optimistic about the long-term health and accessibility of our housing market.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today