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"Hostile environment for new buyers" as number of first-time buyers plunge

ended 11. June 2025

In 2024, the number of first-time buyers by local authorities was lower than 2021 across the UK, according to official data published today — although there was a slight uptick in first-time buyers in 2024 relative to 2023. Newspage spoke to mortgage brokers and property experts about why this has happened. One said it is due to the current market being a “hostile environment for new buyers", while another added that “buying your first home has never felt harder”. A third described 2024 as “the perfect storm” of increased stamp duty costs, including for first time buyers, the economy flatlining and unemployment is on the rise. Views below.

10 responses from the Newspage community

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Rob Peters
Principal at Simple Fast Mortgage
First-time buyer numbers are still way down on 2021 because it is a hostile environment for new buyers. Wages haven’t kept up with house prices, mortgage rates are significantly higher, and saving for a deposit is tougher than ever especially with high rents and cost of living pressures. The small increase in 2024 is more a sign of people being forced to act after delaying in 2023, rather than a sign of things getting easier. Without meaningful reform such as improved mortgage access, help with deposits or targeted tax breaks, the first-time buyer mountain will remain steep.
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Kundan Bhaduri
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
First-time buyer numbers are down because reality has priced them out. Average UK house prices now sit at 8.3 times average earnings, up from 5.1 in 2010, while mortgage rates have tripled since 2021, thanks to the Bank of England pulling the emergency brake far too late. The 2024 uptick wasn’t a trend. It was a blip fuelled by relentless parental bailouts and sheer desperation. Help to Buy is history, planning reform is a myth, and Labour’s landlord-bashing obsession has decimated the rental sector, pushing more renters to chase ownership they can barely afford. Meanwhile, developers like me are drowning in red tape while trying to deliver stock that gets endlessly delayed by dithering local authorities. We do not have a demand problem—we have a supply crisis ignored by a political class more interested in lecturing than building. Until that changes, the ladder remains pulled up, polished for photo ops and utterly useless in practice. Thanks but no thanks, Labour.
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Sean Horton
Managing Director at Respect Mortgages
This is simple economics. Buying has become prohibitively expensive. Mortgage rates have tripled since 2021 whilst house prices kept climbing, creating an affordability crisis that's locked out a generation of buyers. Now interest rates are calming, we hope to see more FTBs coming on board, some with the hopeful prospect of securing a 100% mortgage.
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Jack Tutton
Director at SJ Mortgages
The fact that house prices continue to grow faster than wage rises pushes prospective buyers further away from getting onto the property ladder. Previous interest rates allowed people to stretch themselves to get onto the ladder, but with interest rates as they are today along with further house price increases, this makes it extremely difficult to want to be homeowners. Couple this with the removal of the Help to Buy scheme and the impending cancellation of the mortgage guarantee scheme, it will make it that much harder for people who want to make that first step into owning their first home.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
There was crazy levels of activity post-Covid in 2021, with very cheap mortgage rates as well as significantly better Stamp Duty incentives, plus the Help to Buy Scheme that had huge take-up by first-time buyers . It's difficult to see activity at that level for the forseeable future, unless another scheme is generated by the government to support first-time buyers. However, with smaller (or no) deposit mortgages, increased affordabilty and a desire from lenders to help, the trend looks to be upwards from 2025.
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Harry Goodliffe
Director at HTG Mortgages
Buying your first home has never felt harder. Since 2021, we've had rising house prices, a cost-of-living crisis, and mortgage rates more than double what they were, it's no wonder first-time buyer numbers have dropped. People are being squeezed from every angle. The small uptick in 2024 probably reflects buyers adjusting to the ‘new normal’ and lender innovations helping more people over the line. But without serious action on affordability and government support we’ll keep losing would-be buyers to high rents.
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Pete Mugleston
Mortgage Advisor & Managing Director at onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk
The removal of the Help to Buy scheme is a major reason for the drop in first-time buyers since 2021. The scheme was well-known and taken up by a large number of first-time buyers. Without a replacement as of yet, it was inevitable that numbers would drop in the following years. While there are still schemes available, such as the First Homes scheme, these are nowhere as well-known as Help to Buy was. The increase in Stamp Duty for first-time buyers won't have helped matters either, nor will the removal of the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme. Whether the government introduces a new scheme remains to be seen, but first-time buyers could really do with those 1.5 million new homes being delivered sometime soon.
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Tony Redondo
Founder at Cosmos Currency Exchange
As James Carville, who ran Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 campaign for the US Presidency, said, “It’s the economy, stupid!” In 2021, UK interest rates were at 0.1%, rising to 5.25% in August 2023 before dropping back to the current 4.25%. In the same period, UK house prices are up over 11% since 2021, the house price-to-earnings ratio in the UK has climbed from 3.6 in 1997 to 7.6 this year, inflation has risen to 3.5%, nearly double the Bank of England’s 2% target, Reeves' 2024 budget increased stamp duty costs, including for first-time buyers, the economy is flatlining and unemployment is on the rise. The perfect storm. The slight uptick in 2024 likely stems from lower mortgage rates, pent-up demand, and schemes like the Mortgage Guarantee.
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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
The cost of living is biting first-time buyers, too. Most are struggling to get deposits together and the uncertainty surrounding the economy and jobs market aren't the greatest incentive. That said, we have definitely seen an uptick in first-time buyers for a while and it is much needed. There are multiple options available to help with getting on the housing ladder so a conversation with a qualified, experienced mortgage adviser is an essential a start point.
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Elliott Culley
Director at Switch Mortgage Finance
Over the last few years it has become increasingly difficult for first time buyers to take that first step onto the housing ladder. Not only have rates and house prices increased, but there was also the removal of helpful schemes such as Help to Buy, making it harder for first time buyers to accumulate a big enough deposit. The increase in stamp duty from the 1st of April was a further kick in the teeth, which has meant some first time buyers have had to delay buying to build up more savings for this extra cost, espcially if buying in London or the south of England.