First-time Buyers are getting older

• Revised bullets: There were 975,000 First-time Buyers in England in the 3 years to 2023/4 according to the latest English Housing Survey.

• This equates to 325,000 a year: an impressive number given the challenges to affordability with rising mortgage rates over that 3 year time frame.

• Buyers are accessing the housing ladder later in life though. The average age for a First-time Buyer is now 33.6 years old, up from 32.1 five years ago and 31.9 back in 2014, (data for England excluding London).

• In London, the average First-time Buyer is older at 34.8 years but, in contrast to the trend for rest of England, it has fallen slightly over the last year and is lower than several clear peaks in the data (in 2013/14 and 2018/19).

• Homeownership remains a goal for many renters. Over half (57%) of private renters, representing 2.6 million households, anticipate buying a home in the future and a quarter of these plan to buy within the next two years. Source: Dataloft by PriceHubble, English Housing Survey 2023–2024 (released November 2024)