UK house prices rose for the first time in four months in August, while mortgage approvals fell to their lowest level in more than two years amid increasingly difficult conditions for first-time buyers.
The boss of Britain’s largest housebuilder recently described it as the most challenging time to buy a first home since the financial crisis, pointing to rising interest rates, student debt and squeezed wages. Meanwhile, research from the Building Societies Association found 59% of renters aged 25 to 44 thought they would own a home by now but do not.
