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The first-time buyer boom in two charts: Number gaining property ladder foothold hits seven-year high
The number of first-time buyers purchasing their own home is now at its highest since pre-crisis 2007 with 144,500 first-time buyers jumping on to the property ladder in the first half of the year- a 25 per cent rise on the same period in 2013.
The figures from Halifax point to a boom in the first time buyer market which now accounts for almost half of all house purchases and the biggest share in at least a decade (the data goes back to 2004)
The healthy market is down to improved economic conditions, rising employment levels, and government schemes such as help to buy helping first-time buyers on to the property ladder, according to Halifax mortgages director Craig McKinlay.