First-time buyer mortgage sales fell across London in decade to 2023

March 18, 2025

First-time mortgage buyers bought homes further from the capital compared to 10 years earlier, ONS analysis of Financial Conduct Authority data show.

Several London boroughs saw some of the largest falls in the rate of first-time buyer mortgage sales in the UK between 2013 and 2023.

This is according to ONS analysis of data from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which have been published at local authority level for the first time.

Similar trends can be seen in other major cities across the UK, with rates of first-time buyer mortgage sales falling or growing more slowly than surrounding areas.

Overall, the South East saw a higher share of new first-time buyer mortgages than London in 2023, with the largest growth in the North East of England and Northern Ireland.

The FCA data show that the overall number of new first-time buyer mortgages in the UK has been falling since the peak in 2021, and in 2023 was the lowest since 2013, at 282,000. However, sales of first-time buyer mortgages made up a greater proportion of total residential property sales in 2023 (38.4%) than they did 10 years before (28.0%).

London no longer the top location for first-time buyer mortgages

In 2023, 12.7% of first-time buyer mortgages were sold for homes located in the capital – down from 16.8% a decade earlier.

The South East of England had the highest proportion of first-time buyer mortgages in the UK in 2023 at 13.8%.

Of the 10 areas with the highest rates of first-time buyer mortgages per 1,000 dwellings in 2023, one was in London, compared with six in 2013.

Between 2013 and 2021, when first-time buyer mortgage sales peaked, only 10 local authorities saw falls in the rate of first-time buyer mortgage sales, eight of which were London boroughs.

The full report from the ONS: First-time buyer mortgage sales, by local authority, UK: 2006 to 2023 – Office for National Statistics 

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