Doncaster bucks national trend for first time buyers market

First time buyers in Doncaster were the only ones in the country who ended up paying proportionately more than former owner-occupiers over the last year for properties

The home finance provider says that there has been a 98.8 percent drop in the number of towns and cities seeing FTBs chase prices harder than home movers.

The study found that the number of areas where first-time buyers were willing to chase the market and pay proportionately more than home movers has fallen 98.8 percent year-on-year, from 81 areas to just one and that place is Doncaster.

House prices are still rising in the vast majority of areas but in the last 12 months Doncaster was the place where first-time buyers were paying proportionately more than former owner-occupiers a year on.

It represents a significant drop from the 81 places recorded in the 12 months to November 2017 — which accounted for 76.4 percent of areas in the study.

The Gatehouse used Land Registry data is used to analyse the percentage changes in the average price paid by first-time buyers compared with those already on the property ladder across more than 100 major UK towns and cities in each of the last two years.

The drop has been blamed on affordability and Brexit uncertainty, which are likely to have played a major role in first-time buyers’ appetite to keep pace with the rest of the market. Their decision not to chase the market is also likely to be a factor in the continued slowdown in house price growth across the country.

CEO of Gatehouse Bank, Charles Haresnape, said: “First-time buyers are an interesting group because they are a bellwether for affordability and the wider housing market.

“In the round, they are acutely sensitive to whether they are getting good value because it can have a significant impact on how quickly they are able to lower their finance costs and move up the ladder in the future.

“If first-time buyers are chasing the market to a larger degree than home owners, it is a bullish sign for prices. When they do a volte-face like this, people should take notice because first-time buyers are the new blood that keeps a market on its feet higher up the ladder.

“This trend could right itself over the next year, but only if wage growth continues to beat inflation and there is confidence in the economic outlook.”