{"id":1756,"date":"2025-02-28T07:25:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T07:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.redstarwealth.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1756"},"modified":"2025-02-27T17:37:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T17:37:17","slug":"first-time-buyers-struggle-to-get-on-property-ladder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redstarwealth.co.uk\/blog\/first-time-buyers-struggle-to-get-on-property-ladder\/","title":{"rendered":"First-Time Buyers Struggle to Get on Property Ladder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bsa.org.uk\/getmedia\/979107ee-ad11-4bb8-ad1c-7e15cf0574fc\/BSA-First-Time-Buyers-Report-2024-(Interactive-Single-Page)-(1)_1.pdf\">A 2024 report<\/a> from the British Societies Association (BSA) states becoming a first-time buyer is <strong><em>&#8220;possibly the most expensive it has been over at least the past 70 years&#8221;<\/em><\/strong>&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two Components to Affordability<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are two main elements to affordability: the cost of buying and the cost of owning, with not just the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.redstarwealth.co.uk\/blog\/the-true-cost-of-moving-home\/\">initial cost of buying a property<\/a> to consider, but also the cost of actually owning a home and making mortgage payments.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, a report by housing market analyst, Neal Hudson, produced for the BSA states that affordability challenges faced by first-time buyers are not felt equally. Those who are on single-incomes, earning below the average income, on unstable incomes, or with less wealth, often find themselves stuck in the private rented sector.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s Have a Look at Some of the Data\u2026<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skiptongroup.com\/home-affordability-index.pdf\">The Skipton Group Home Affordability Index<\/a> provides information on the costs of buying and running a home in Great Britain.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They found that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost 80% of potential first-time buyers lack adequate savings for the deposit needed to get on the property ladder in their area<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost 4 in 10 renters spend at least 45% of their income on essential housing costs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><em>\u201cOne clear message that emerges from the data that underpins the Skipton Group Home Affordability Index is that the first step onto the property ladder is by far and away the hardest. Today\u2019s research highlights a new urgency and criticality to the situation facing first- time buyers in Great Britain.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><em>&#8211; Skipton<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyexpert.com\/news\/is-buying-a-home-still-a-priority-in-2024\/\">MoneyExpert<\/a> commissioned a survey to gain more insight into the situation of first-time buyers in 2024:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">22% of their respondents reported wanting to buy a home but being unable to save for a deposit,<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">14% of those who would like to buy a home don\u2019t think they will ever be able to afford to<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">35% of respondents were saving for a deposit themselves, with 33% saving up with a partner or spouse<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">13% will be using inheritance money towards their first home, and 11% have been gifted all or part of the money from a family member<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To put a long story short, becoming a first-time buyer is expensive, but why is this?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">High mortgage rates \u2013 according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rightmove.co.uk\/news\/articles\/property-news\/current-uk-mortgage-rates\/\">Rightmove<\/a>, as of 27<sup>th<\/sup> February 2025, the average UK mortgage rate was 4.87% for a two-year fixed term mortgage, and 4.69% for a five-year fixed-term mortgage<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Living costs \u2013 \u2018cost of living\u2019 is a phrase that I\u2019m sure many of us are sick of, but it\u2019s true that our living costs have soared in recent years due to inflationary pressures, with many of us feeling the squeeze<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u2018rent trap\u2019 \u2013 rent in the UK doesn\u2019t exactly come cheap, and paying rent can massively eat into the amount that people are able to put away towards saving for their first home. According to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ons.gov.uk\/economy\/inflationandpriceindices\/bulletins\/privaterentandhousepricesuk\/february2025\">ONS provisional estimate<\/a>, the average UK rent increased by 8.7% in the 12 months leading to January 2025<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">House prices \u2013 UK house prices are increasing year-on-year, though the rate of this growth has started to slow<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What Can I Do?<\/h2>\n<p>First, you should consider your own financial situation and goals. Is buying a property important to you? If buying a home is one of your financial goals, you should try to save regularly where possible and take advantage of government schemes like the Lifetime ISA.<\/p>\n<p>Seek help from a regulated and qualified financial adviser and\/or independent mortgage adviser if you are considering buying a home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 2024 report from the British Societies Association (BSA) states becoming a first-time buyer is &#8220;possibly the most expensive it has been over at least the past 70 years&#8221;&#8230; Two Components to Affordability There are two main elements to affordability: the cost of buying and the cost of owning, with not just the initial cost [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1320],"tags":[1533,1529,1528,1444,1015,102,1519,1532,103,1530,79,1534,97,482,1196,834,1536,107,483,966,1538,1535,1537,1531],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>First-Time Buyers Struggle to Get on Property Ladder - Red Star Wealth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.redstarwealth.co.uk\/blog\/first-time-buyers-struggle-to-get-on-property-ladder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First-Time Buyers Struggle to Get on Property Ladder - Red Star Wealth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A 2024 report from the British Societies Association (BSA) states becoming a first-time buyer is &#8220;possibly the most expensive it has been over at least the past 70 years&#8221;&#8230; 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