First-time buyers across the UK are spending an average of £254,750, a figure 4.3% higher than twelve months ago and nearly three times the headline rate of house price growth. The data, published by Zoopla this week, challenges the prevailing narrative that younger buyers have been priced out entirely.
In London, the average first-time purchase has exceeded £500,000 for the first time. Scotland and the West Midlands have seen even sharper increases, with buyers in those regions targeting homes 8% and 7% more expensive respectively than a year ago.
The figures are striking given the mortgage rate environment. First-time buyers can typically only access repayment mortgages and are stress-tested at a long-term rate rather than the current one. That they’re spending more, not less, suggests a cohort of determined purchasers who won’t be deterred.
Zoopla’s analysis reveals that these buyers aren’t compromising on property type either. Outside London, more than half continue to search for three-bedroom houses. In the capital, flats remain the predominant target.
“Although higher borrowing costs have reduced the number of first-time buyers entering the market, changes to mortgage affordability assessments have helped some buyers access larger loans,” Zoopla noted. “As a result, demand for entry-level homes remains strong, supporting prices and suggesting that waiting for significantly lower prices may not prove beneficial.”
That last point is worth underlining. For those sitting on the sidelines hoping for a correction, the data suggests that the buyers who are active right now are propping up prices at the entry level.
Regional performance continues to diverge sharply. Halifax’s latest figures show the North East leading the pack with annual price growth of 3.1%, pushing the average home to £181,703. The North West isn’t far behind at 3.0%, with typical values reaching £248,304.
The picture in southern England is altogether different.
The South East recorded annual falls of 2.1%, bringing the average to £382,704. London dropped 1.5% to £534,375. Rightmove’s data confirms the pattern, showing prices falling across every southern English region and Wales, while more affordable northern areas hold up.
Zoopla’s regional breakdown contains a curious finding. In the North East, home sales are up 6% on last year despite buyer demand dropping 20%, the sharpest fall of any region. The explanation is supply: there’s been no meaningful increase in homes coming to market, so what’s available is being absorbed quickly. That scarcity is driving above-average price gains.
London presents the opposite dynamic. Sales agreed are up 8%, the strongest of any region, which has stabilised prices after six consecutive months of modest falls. But with 13% more homes for sale than a year ago, buyers have the pick of the market and sellers can’t push prices upward.
East Anglia sits in an uncomfortable position in this data. As part of the broader East of England, the region falls into the southern camp where prices have softened. But the picture is more nuanced than the headline figures suggest.
Towns like Norwich and Great Yarmouth offer entry points considerably below the regional average, making them attractive to the very first-time buyers who are driving activity nationally. Norfolk’s relative affordability compared to the wider South East could be a quiet advantage in a market where determined buyers are spending more to get what they want.
Kate Faulkner, writing in The Negotiator, observed that the more expensive areas are “still struggling to return” while northern and more affordable regions show consistency. That framework applies within Norfolk too. Coastal premium markets in Burnham Market and Blakeney face different pressures to market towns further inland.
Zoopla was blunt about one point: for sellers in southern England, “pricing correctly is the difference between moving and not moving this year.”
That isn’t a message about doom. It’s about realism. In a market where first-time buyers are actively spending more but total buyer numbers have thinned, the properties that sell are the ones priced to reflect current conditions rather than 2021 expectations. The Ivybridge Collection’s 324-location property market reports provide street-level data that helps sellers understand exactly where their property sits.
The divergence between regions shows no sign of narrowing soon. Northern markets benefit from relative affordability and constrained supply. Southern markets are adjusting to a new reality where choice is plentiful and sellers must compete for fewer buyers.
But the headline isn’t really about geography. It’s about the type of buyer who is active. First-time purchasers aren’t window shopping. They’re spending more, refusing to compromise on property size, and absorbing entry-level stock across the country. The question for the second half of 2026 is whether falling mortgage rates, which have dropped at their fastest pace in nearly two years, will bring more of them into the market or simply allow existing buyers to stretch further.
