First Time Buyers at six year high claims LSL

The number of first time buyers entering home ownership in December rose 30 per cent over the same month of 2012, another indicator of the recovery according to LSL Property Services.

The headlines from LSL's latest monthly survey are:

- There were 29,000 FTB purchases in December, up eight per cent on the previous month and up 30 per cent year-on-year;

- the average FTB deposit has fallen by 3.6 per cent over the past year to £26,533;

- but although deposits are smaller, the average mortgage taken out by a FTB has risen 11.4 per cent over the past year to £122,040 because of house price growth;

- this means the average price of a first-time buyer property purchased is now £148,573;

- the average first-time buyer in London and south east England is 32 with an average salary of £41,616; the average age in the rest of the country is 30, with an average salary of £31,731;

- in the last quarter of 2013, London and the south east saw the most first-time buyers at 14,700 and 17,100, paying a typical deposit of £66,150. Contrast that with Wales, where the average FTB deposit was just £11,605.

LSL compiles these findings from data from registered first time buyers in its Your Move and Reeds Rains agencies, and integrates this with the Council for Mortgage Lenders' data.