First-time buyers pay £22,000 more than last year

Typical prices paid by first-time buyers in the UK increase by 12 per cent in a year, amid strong rises across the country 

First-time buyers are having to find £22,000 more for their homes than they needed a year ago, according to official figures. 

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the average price paid by people buying their first property reached £204,000 in June - up from £182,000 in 2013. 

The rise came amid a 10 per cent increase in the typical value of a home in the UK, which is now a record £265,000. 

The monthly figures for June, released on Tuesday, show that property values in London are increasing at more than five times the rate of those in some other parts of the country. 

However, the figures indicated that the housing market in the capital and elsewhere has started to cool. London saw a 19.3 per cent increase in prices in the 12 months to June, less than the record jump of 20.1 per cent in the year to May. The average house price in London was £499,000 in June. 

Across the UK there was a 10.2 per cent rise in the average property price in the year to June - down slightly from 10.4 per cent in the 12 months to May. 

However the ONS said that “house prices are increasing strongly across most parts of the UK”. 

Its figures show that a typical first-time buyer is paying 12 per cent more for their home than would have needed a year ago - the highest annual increase since April 2010. 

House prices increased across the UK by 0.5 per cent between May and June. 

London and the South East are continuing to record the strongest annual price increases. The ONS said that if these regions were taken out of the figures, UK house prices would have increased at a slower pace of 6.3 per cent in the 12 months to June, amounting to £201,000 on average. 

The North East remains the English region with the lowest average house prices, at around £150,000. However, prices in the North East have lifted by 4.4 per cent over the past year. 

Wales has seen the smallest annual price growth out of all the UK nations and regions, with a 3.5 per cent year-on-year increase taking average prices there to £167,000. 

England remains the only UK country where property prices are higher than their pre-financial crisis peak.

Source: The Telegraph