From the beginning of this decade, the typical first home has been a two-bedroom flat, featuring two bathrooms and six rooms in total, without a garden, costing £215,699. Computer-generated images show how much the average first-time buyer’s home has changed over the decades.
Back in the 1970s, the average property was a two-bed, semi-detached house, with people remembering paying just £19,309. When adjusted for inflation, that would be equivalent to £92,172.55 today. This has resulted in the amount required to borrow also significantly increasing.
In the 1970s, individuals reported that their first-time mortgages averaged at £11,149 – or £52,220.75 in 2024 when taking inflation into account. But according to data from Yorkshire Building Society, that figure now stands around £200,000.
Moreover, even though first-time buyers seem to be adjusting their expectations to smaller properties – with less room and minimal or no outdoor space – first homes now cost 6.04 times the average income of £35,724. This is compared to around 2.69 times the typical UK salary back in the 1970s.
Additionally, the average 10 per cent deposit is much more challenging to accumulate today, standing at £20,000 – more than half of the usual annual earnings – and thus, one of the most significant obstacles to homeownership.
Ben Merritt, director of mortgages at Yorkshire Building Society, which is offering a leg up to first-time buyers with homes worth up to £500,000 available on just a £5,000 deposit, remarked: “Achieving homeownership isn’t easy.”
“We know that house price growth means people are having to borrow much more than their incomes to get on the property ladder, and for some it’s now, sadly, completely out of reach. We want to do our bit to make sure everyone who wants to own their own home has a fair chance of fulfilling their dream.”
The landscape of first-time home buying has evolved over the decades. While the number of bedrooms in properties bought since the 1970s has stayed fairly consistent, the type of first homes purchased has shifted.
Terraced houses were the go-to choice in the 1980s, but by the 1990s, semi-detached homes, often complete with a private driveway, became the preferred option. Currently, flats have taken the lead as the most sought-after entry-level property, making up 28 per cent of all first-time buyer purchases.
Changes aren’t just inside the home; outdoor spaces are also seeing a transformation, with a noticeable decrease in the number of people owning a garden. Back in the 1970s, a substantial 85 per cent of homes boasted a garden, yet this figure has fallen to a mere 66 per cent in the 2020s.
Moreover, the age at which individuals step onto the property ladder has been creeping upwards, from an average of 24 years old in the 1970s to 30 years old in 2021.
The research from Yorkshire Building Society, conducted by OnePoll, has revealed that affordability has consistently been a key concern for homebuyers across the decades, with 73 per cent and 72 per cent of respondents in the 1970s and 1980s respectively citing it as their top priority.
In contrast, since 2021, only 47 per cent have prioritised affordability, yet 29 per cent are worried about securing a sufficiently large mortgage, a significant increase from 27 per cent in the 1970s and just 11 per cent in the 1980s.
Moreover, there’s an uptick in frustration regarding bureaucratic hurdles, which has jumped from 1 1 per cent in the 1970s to 27 per cent in the current decade.
Ben commented: “It’s clear from the research that some of the factors behind people’s choice of first home have remained stable, like location and how short their commute will be.”
He also noted the increasing difficulty for first-time buyers to save for a deposit and climb onto the property ladder, exacerbated by house prices rising faster than inflation and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, making homeownership seem ever more elusive.
Ben further highlighted: “It just goes to further highlight the scale of the challenges today’s generation of first-time buyers must overcome now to get a look-in, despite being willing to compromise on quality-of-life aspects like having a garden.”
“We firmly believe their aspiration and hard work should be rewarded, which is why we will continue to look at innovative solutions to help them bridge the ever-increasing gap, and to call for industry-wide change aimed at improving the prospects of first-time buyers, via our Home Truths report.”