Despite the highest mortgage rates in more than a decade, the number of people getting a toehold on the property ladder just keeps rising. Almost 28 per cent of homes sold this year have gone to first-time buyers. In 2009 that figure was just 18 per cent.
This increase is at least partly due to the rising costs of renting, according to David Fell, a senior analyst at Hamptons estate agency.
“Tenants looking to escape the heat of the rental market have supported relatively resilient first-time buyer numbers this year,” he says. “While higher mortgage rates have squeezed budgets and stretched terms, buyers have continued to take the view that in the long run they’ll still be better off as owners than as tenants.”
Even
