First-Time Buyers Feeling Affordability Pinch

Homes for first-time buyers are seeing the biggest rise in asking prices of all sub-sectors of the market, as the affordability crunch bites harder on those struggling to get onto the property ladder. Rightmove, the property listings website, said the average asking price for homes with two bedrooms or fewer, typically targeted by first-time buyers, rose 8.2% over the year to November 2016, hitting £192,147. Month-on-month this was a 1.7% increase. That compares to a 4.5% annual rise in the average asking price for all homes in England and Wales to £305,670, said Rightmove. Month-on-month, this was a 1.1% fall, a seasonal drop but the lowest in five years, suggesting the market is resilient in the face of Brexit. Read more on the IBT website.