1 in 4 buyers this year will be a first time buyer

 According to research by Rightmove, around one in four (24.3%) of all likely buyers over the next 12 months will be buying for the first time. 

The proportion of buyers who intend to purchase their first home over the next year has edged up to 24.3%, up 1.4% on last quarter and 1.5% year-on-year. 

However raising a deposit emerges as the single biggest concern for four in ten of the survey sample (39%) and around one in twelve is concerned about their ability to meet the monthly repayments of a mortgage. 

A third of first-time buyers now cite finding a suitable property to buy as their single biggest concern, a jump of 6% on last quarter. This shortage is driven in part by a ‘first-time seller’ shortage, with the number of terraces and flats fresh to market in Q4 of 2011 significantly down. 

First-time sellers, are suffering from a lack of equity, lack of confidence to stretch themselves financially and, in certain markets, difficulty in identifying a suitable property that they would like to move to. 

First-time buyers are integral to any property market as they start off chains that chains that allow other home-movers to trade-up. 

However, first-time buyer levels across the country remain historically low and way below the 40% level required for a more healthy and active property market.