First-time buyer income to buy hits 54,000 according to Hometrack – industry comment

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented:

“City living has always carried a price premium and so the lack of appropriate income for first-time buyers in the UK’s most expensive cities is no new trend.

While this affordability gap may be growing, it is only a contributing fact in the recent price decline seen in London in particular. In fact, first-time buyers are one segment that has been largely undeterred by Brexit due to lower asking prices and their desire to get on the ladder at whatever cost, spurred by the continued affordability of mortgage products.

It is the lack of activity in the more meaningful areas of the market as a result of investor trepidation over Brexit that causing a much more notable impact to the rate of growth across the UK’s less affordable cities.

This is a temporary influence and while wage to property price ratio will remain an issue as it always has done, once the market breaks the shackles of political angst, prices growth will start to accelerate despite the larger price tags in the likes of the capital.”

Founder and CEO of Springbok Properties, Shepherd Ncube, commented:

“The financial barrier for first-time buyers will always be the hardest to overcome but while stricter mortgage regulations may be restricting buying power in the least affordable locations, they have been implemented for good reason.

However, you have to feel for those in London and the South East in particular, as city living is supposed to provide you with the additional income to stomach the higher cost of living in these urban hubs. But while house prices remain way out of reach for the majority, the wages available are barely adequate to cover the cost of renting, let alone buying.

Current market conditions remain delicate at present but the continued strength across the more affordable regional cities such as Liverpool, Belfast and Nottingham demonstrates the underlying resilience of the UK market.”