First-time home buyers at record low

The number of first-time buyers has dropped to its lowest point in a decade despite a significant rise in the number of affordable homes over the past year, according to figures released by the Halifax. Tighter mortgage lending criteria, recent price rises in some areas and lack of money for a deposit meant that an estimated 185,000 first-time buyers entered the market in 2009, four per cent fewer than in 2008 and just over a third of the 532,000 who bought when prices were soaring in 2002. These combined obstacles have pushed up the average age of a first-time buyer from 29 to 30, while the typical age of those buying without financial help from family or friends has risen to 36 from 33 in late 2007.