House buyers in north 'younger'

Rising house prices are not stopping many first-time buyers in their early twenties from getting on the property ladder, a report has found.

A survey by mortgage broker the Mortgage Advice Bureau found that in some areas of England and Wales the average age of the first-time buyer was as young as 22.

However, there is a severe North-South divide with many younger people in the South of England unable to afford a property.

The Halifax bank recently warned that the number of first-time buyers had hit its lowest level since records began in 1974.

Divide

The Mortgage Advice Bureau surveyed 3,500 clients in England and Wales.

They found that people in Warrington, Cheshire, were able to get on the property ladder first, with the average age of a first-time buyer there being only 22.

We see a very definite divide between the extremely high prices in London and the South East...and towns in the rest of the country Peter Brodnicki, Mortgage Advice Bureau

The group said first-time buyers also accounted for 50% of the mortgages it arranged for people buying homes in the area, compared with an average of 35% across England and Wales as a whole.

Crewe, Mansfield, Wrexham, and Wallasey in Merseyside are also good places for first-time buyers, according to the report.

The average age of buyers in these areas was under 26.

On the flip side, the average age of first time buyers in London and the South East often topped 30.

"We see a very definite divide between the extremely high prices in London and the South East, where first-time buyers are struggling to find property that they can afford, and towns in the rest of the country, particularly the North and North West," said Peter Brodnicki, chief executive of the Mortgage Advice Bureau.