Sheffield property: Number of first-time buyers doubles in Sheffield during last decade

Market analysis by Stipendium, the platform that simplifies life’s complex events, reveals that despite soaring house prices, the number of first-time buyers in Sheffield has increased by nearly 118.5 per cent in the last decade.

The figures also show the price of an average first-time buyer home increased by £75,254, rising from £141,572 to £216,826. It is an increase of 53.2 per cent and you might expect makes for a very difficult buying environment for those who are trying to get their first foot onto the property ladder.

While this is true to an extent, the number of first-time buyers has increased in Yorkshire and the Humber, at around the same level as the north west, north east and Scotland.

The initial pandemic year of 2020 is the only year to have registered a decline in first-time buyer levels in the last 10 years, dropping -11.2 per cent on 2019.

However, with the launch of the stamp duty holiday, first-time buyer activity rebounded at an alarming rate in 2021, increasing by 46.6 per cent to 409,370. This is the highest annual total seen in the last decade.

The biggest regional increase in the number of first-time buyers was recorded in Northern Ireland where the figures increased by 158.2 per cent in the last decade, followed by England’s South East at 133.9 per cent, the East Midlands at 133.6 per cent, the West Midlands at 129.3 per cent and the North West at 120.6 per cent.

The smallest increase was recorded in London where the number of first-time buyers has increased by just 81.7 per cent.

Christina Melling, chief executive officer of Stipendium, said: “There’s no doubt that the task of homeownership is a tough one for the nation’s first-time buyers. Not only are prices high and climbing ever higher, but so too is demand and activity and so they are having to battle it out against multiple buyers, many of whom already have the financial foundation of an existing property to put them ahead.

“Despite this tough landscape, it’s reassuring to see that the level of first-time buyers taking that first step onto the ladder is at its highest in a decade thanks to the additional help of government buying schemes, such as Help To Buy.

“They’ve also benefited from a prolonged period of mortgage affordability, while the wider adoption of technology within this segment of the market has enabled them to utilise various time and money saving products along the way.

“Of course, more can be done and that’s exactly why we launched our Merge platform, in order to educate first-time buyers on the homebuying process, while also cutting costs in the process.”