First-timers getting younger

Age of people getting on property ladder decreases as spending power rises

- 

The average age of a first-time buyer has decreased from 32 to 31 over the past year, according to a bank's data.

TSB analysed its first-time buyer data for the third quarter of this year and found the average age was 31, compared with 32 in the third quarter of 2024.

London maintained the highest average age for first-time buyers, at 33, with Wales and Scotland the lowest, at 30.

Survey research commissioned by the bank among first-time buyers who have got on the property ladder in the past five years also found that 17% hope to be mortgage free before 40.

The survey of more than 1,000 first-time buyers who had purchased a home in the past five years by Censuswide in October found the majority (57%) hope to shave time off their mortgage term. Of those that have made overpayments, over two-fifths (43%) make them monthly.