The average price tag on a first-time buyer home hit a record high of £224,963 in April after edging up by 0.2% month-on-month, according to a property website.
Rightmove, which released the findings, defined typical first-time buyer homes as those with a maximum of two bedrooms, including houses and flats. It said that agreed sales in the first-time buyer sector in March had been running around 4% higher than those seen four years earlier, in March 2019, while sales of homes higher up the housing chain were still lagging behind levels seen four years ago.
Rising rents may be encouraging some first-time buyers to make the jump onto the property ladder, despite higher mortgage rates generally having pushed up borrowing costs. There have been signs of some lenders cutting mortgage rates though in recent months.
