First-time buyers mortgage payments nearly half of income

A new study has shown that Ealing is one of the least affordable places for first time buyers in the UK. The report by Woolwich Mortgages which looked at the ratio of household income to mortgage payments shows that the average first time buyer already living in the area would have to pay 46.7%.

Only Brent was higher at 48% and the top 5 areas where all in London..

The UK's rising house prices have seen the average first-time buyer paying 152 per cent more for their mortgage than five years ago, £586 in June 2007 compared with £233 in 2002.

Outside of London, five locations have seen first-time buyers paying more than 40 per cent of their income on their mortgage, led by Brighton with 43.6 per cent.

Andy Gray, Woolwich head of mortgages said,"For those in their 20s not already on the property ladder the outlook for getting on it doesn't look good, especially with interest rates likely to rise further. We fully expect the average age of first time buyers to go up until people are well into their 30s "For those lucky enough to be on the ladder, the data suggests that in certain areas of London they are already stretched. The last thing any of them need is a further increase in base rates.

The average property in the Ealing W5 area now costs £427,863 (or around £406,000 excluding the sale of Kenton House). This is the first time that the W5 property market has broken the £400,000 for an average price in a quarter.

The average price of a property in the W13 area is now £355,624. This has increased by 9.5% in the last quarter and 9.7% over the last year.

Nationally properties were up by 8.3% over the last year to an average price of £178,423. London saw the highest rise for England and Wales in this period with the average property now costing £323,511 up by 11.6%

July 13, 2007