THE top ten most affordable areas for first time buyers have been revealed.
County Durham in the North East of England has been named the cheapest areas for first time buyers to secure a home, according to new figures by Halifax.
[iframe src=”https%3A%2F%2Fdatawrapper.dwcdn.net%2FBCGUI%2F3%2F” height=”600″ mobile_height=”300″ width=”100″ /]This is because the average first time buyer paid £142,248 for their home in 2024.
It means households would need a deposit of a minimum of just £7,112 to secure this home, if they secured a mortgage with a 5% deposit.
Burnley has also been ranked as a very accessible area for first-time buyers to purchase a home, with the average person paying £146,076 for their property.
Buyers could secure a typical home in this area with a 5% deposit of £7,303.
These types of mortgage deals mean a buyer only needs to put down 5% of the property price as a deposit when purchasing a home.
Not everyone will be able to get a 5% deposit, but some lenders will let you apply through schemes such as the mortgage guarantee scheme as long as you meet certain conditions.
This means they can secure a mortgage for the remaining 95% of the cost, often referred to as a “95% loan-to-value (LTV)” mortgage.
However, it is worth noting that interest rates could be as higher on these mortgages, because lenders consider smaller deposits to be riskier.
Other areas named as cheap for first-time buyers include the Isle of Anglesey, where the average buyer paid £151,747 for their home.
Pendle has also been flagged as an attractive area for wannabe buyers with property owners typically paying £151,710 for a home.
[authenticated-scripts src=”%3Cscript%20class%3D%22palin-poll%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fpollingwidgets%2Fv3%2Fwidget.js%3Fquestion_id%3D106586%26game%3Dpolling%22%3E%3C%2Fscript%3E” type=”embedded” width=”100″ /]You can see the top ten areas for first time buyers below:
- County Durham – £142,248
- North West, Burnley – £146,076
- Wales, Isle of Anglesey – £151,747
- North West, Pendle – £151,710
- North West, Cumberland – £175,848
- North West, Hyndburn – £147,038
- Northern Ireland, Ards and North Down – £180,685
- North West, Blackpool – £148,856
- Wales, Merthyr Tydfil – £160,552
- Yorkshire and The Humber, North Lincolnshire – £171,179
Figures by Halifax show the number of first-time buyers jumped by 19% in 2024 versus the year prior.
The group said the typical cost of a first home is £331,034, and the average first time buyer is 33, which is two years older than a decade ago.
Toby Leek, president of Propertymark, said: “It’s positive to see that the number of first-time buyers coming to the housing market is on the up.
“However, from the tail end of 2024, this is likely, in part, due to the Stamp Duty rises commencing in England and Northern Ireland from April.”
TROUBLE FOR FIRST TIME BUEYERS
Rising house prices have piled pressure on first-time buyers who are also dealing with a mixture of wage stagnation and hikes to the cost of daily living.
Meanwhile, extra stamp duty relief available to first-time buyers since 2022 will end in April 2025.
As a result, a first-time buyer purchasing a property valued at £425,000 will incur a stamp duty charge of £6,250.
A glimmer of hope can be found in the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the Bank of England’s rate-setters, cutting the base rate from 4.75% to 4.5% last week.
The base rate is used by lenders to determine the interest rates offered to customers on savings and borrowing costs.
A base rate cut can mean that mortgage rates are lowered, which is good news for homeowners.
Earlier this week, Santander launched a two-year and five-year fix with a rate of just 3.99%.
It’s the first sub-4% mortgage on the market since November last year.