London house prices mapped: the average cost of first-time buyer homes soars by £160,000 in just four years

The average price paid for a first-time buyer home in London has increased by 54 per cent in just four years, says a new report.
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Kristy Gray28 July 2016

The cost of buying a London home has soared by 55 per cent to £522,105 in just four years, sending the average price of a starter home in the capital to new heights.

Demand for first-time buyer homes in the capital remains stronger than ever, despite the current price paid on average now reaching £462,602.

While the government's low-deposit Help-to-Buy scheme is helping some Londoners to get a foot on the ladder, even the average cost of starter homes in the capital's most affordable five boroughs is well above the UK average house price of £220,361.

Estate agent eMoov's analysis of Land Registry data reveals more than 90 per cent of boroughs have had the average price paid by first-time buyers soar by more than £100,000 in four years.

“First-time buyers are paying almost as much as second and third steppers in actual price terms, yet the percentage increase in first-time buyer properties is tracking even greater than regular house prices. It really does highlight the issue facing the nation's next generation of aspirational homeowners," says Russell Quirk, CEO of eMoov.

So where are the best spots to buy?

On the eastern edge of the capital, Barking and Dagenham continues to be the best bet for London's first-time buyers, where prices are just below £255,000.

Havering is the second most affordable borough (£281,836), followed by Bexley (£285,464), Croydon (£301,001) and Sutton (£312,978). However, the average price paid for a starter home in each of these boroughs was still well below £200,000 in 2012.

Kensington and Chelsea (£1.1m) is predictably the most expensive spot in the capital for first-time buyers, while the commuter-zone counties of Surrey, Hertfordshire and Berkshire have the highest first-time buyer prices outside London.

The average age of first-time buyers has hit 32 in London thanks to rapidly rising house prices and escalating rents making it increasingly hard for tenants to save for a deposit.

First-time buyers in the capital are now putting down an average deposit of £96,000, according to the latest Halifax First Time Buyer Review.

Quirk says: "We must address this issue and find a way to bring home ownership within reach of the average homebuyer, not just in London, or the surrounding commuter counties, but across the whole of England.”