The £1,000,000 First-Time Buyer Home New Research from Stroud & Swindon reveals a Grim Future for Potential Homeowners
Being forced to paying £1 million for your first home might seem like a horrible joke to most consumers, but new data from Stroud & Swindon Building Society shows that we may be facing this problem sooner than we imagined. Worrying research from the UK’s 15th largest building society revealed that if house prices and incomes continue to follow the current growth trend*, first-time buyers would find their first home hitting the million pound mark in just under 18 years (Q2 2024).
The £1 million starter home could require a worrying seven times the average salary (Q2 2024 - £146,188) and result in many consumers either not purchasing a home or putting off other life goals such as marriage or children to get on the property ladder. This development would also put pressure on lenders as they struggled to provide financing in a responsible and sustainable manner.
This problem is likely to hit first-time buyers in areas of the country which boast particularly strong house prices far sooner if house prices continued to increase at the current rate: Greater London (12 years), the South East (16 years) and the South West (17 years). See table below for further details.
| Region |
Number of Years from end of Q2 2006 until the average first time buyer house costs £1,000,000* |
Average income multiple necessary to purchase the £1,000,000 first time buyer home* |
|
|
|
| Greater London |
12 Years (Q2 2018) |
6 x income |
| South East |
16 Years (Q2 2022) |
7 x income |
| South West |
17 Years (Q2 2023) |
7 x income |
| United Kingdom |
18 Years (Q2 2024) |
7 x income |
| East Anglia |
18 Years (Q2 2024) |
8 x income |
| Northern Ireland |
19 Years (Q2 2025) |
10 x income |
| East Midlands |
21 Years (Q2 2027) |
7 x income
|
| West Midlands |
21 Years (Q2 2027) |
8 x income |
| Wales |
23 Years (Q2 2029) |
8 x income |
| North West |
23 Years (Q2 2029) |
7 x income |
| Yorkshire & Humberside |
24 Years (Q2 2030) |
8 x income |
| North East |
24 Years (Q2 2032) |
7 x income |
| Scotland |
29 Years (Q2 2035) |
7 x income |
Paul Chafer, Sales Director from Stroud & Swindon Building Society comments:
“Most people aspire to owning their own home but this research shows that our children are going to find it very difficult to get onto the housing ladder. Even if house price increases slow down to more acceptable levels, we believe that in future first-time buyers are going to be forced to put off purchasing their first home even longer and have to rely increasingly on the ‘bank of mum and dad’ to help with the deposit.
“Therefore, it is vitally important for parents to start putting money aside as soon as possible to help their children purchase their first home. In addition, mortgage providers also need to consider their lending criteria and actively work to develop products that help first-time buyers to get onto the property ladder in a responsible and sustainable manner. It is pointless simply increasing income multiples if this is going to result in consumers taking on levels of debt they cannot service.
“First-time buyers are the life blood of the housing market and we hope that this shocking picture of a potential future will force all those concerned to work towards averting this crisis!”
Paul Chafer Sales Director
Stroud & Swindon
01453 768407
Lee Blackwell / Brian Thorn The Wriglesworth Consultancy
020 7845 7900
Notes for Editors:
* = Methodology
- The average first-time buyer house price growth was determined using Data from Q2 1996 to Q2 2006 (Office of National Statistics).
- The average first-time buyer income growth rate was determined using data from Q2 1996 to Q2 2006 (Office of National Statistics).
- The income multiples were then determined using one person’s salary.
About Stroud & Swindon Building Society:
Stroud & Swindon is the 15th largest building society in the UK with assets in excess of £2.5 billion. The Society operates through a dedicated team of intermediary business development managers, with a branch network of 22 offices in the South West, complemented by a direct call centre based in Stroud and website
www.stroudandswindon.co.uk.