With property prices as high as they are, average house prices in the UK are currently reported as £159,623 and average earnings - for those in employment of course - at £2800 per month [only £1500 for agricultural workers] or £31.5k per annum, taking on the responsibility of a mortgage that would eat up a large chunk of your sole earned average income is a significant financial consideration. Unless you are part of a partnership, making the purchase on your own could be nearly impossible. At least if you share the cost of the mortgage and share the bills of running a house it splits the expense, thereby making it more affordable. Lenders now do assessments of affordability rather than just taking into account joint incomes as they did in the past.

How on earth are first time buyers supposed to stump up the expected 5% or 10% deposit required; based on the average house price that's nigh on £8,000 or £16,000 to find? Few 18 or 21-year-olds would be contemplating savings for a deposit when they are probably concentrating on paying back student loans or having a ball with no worries about serious adult responsibilities as they globe trot and discover exotic lands in their travels. Such considerations usually only cross the minds of those who intend to co-habit or get married and start families, which means they are probably in their middle to late twenties before 'buying our first home together' crosses their minds. Even if they are an enterprising young couple who plan ahead and decide to take the plunge in their early twenties they haven't had much time to accumulate a deposit of the size required for mortgages today. Fortunately there are special deals and offers for first time buyers who probably have little equity, especially if they are quite young and have only been working for five or ten years. One solution is the 100% mortgage that is offered to first time buyers though the amount of the loan is restricted and the repayments, in the absence of a deposit, are more than other types of mortgages.

There has to be some solution to attracting first time buyers and keeping them in the market successfully. What that may be, I don't know. Young people today are bombarded with so many 'fiscal responsibilities', paying back loans, preparing for their retirement before they have even secured a full time job by making sure they are paying into a reputable pension fund as soon as they are employed and targeted by manufacturers to spend their disposable income in order to keep the economy in good health all the while avoiding the temptation of living on credit still so readily available and foolishly or recklessly abused. The older people get, the less amount of time there is for them to pay back their loan. If a first time buyer is in their thirties they may feasibly have their mortgage repaid before they retire but with longer and longer durations of terms being made available that scenario is perhaps now one of yesteryear.

Steven Mcdouglass is an employee of Which Network - A Mortgage Network consultancy company

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18 August, 2009