The under-25 homebuyer in the UK has now vanished – here’s what killed them
First-time buyers are working harder, waiting longer, and teaming up more than ever to crack the housing market, according to the latest Skipton Group Home Affordability Index released on Wednesday (18 March).
Recent first-time buyers, defined as households that bought their first home in the past three years, now rely on two or more full-time incomes in 52% of cases, up sharply from 40% in the late 1990s. In the South of England, the figure hits 56%.
The average age of these buyers has climbed from 29 in the mid-1990s to 34 today. The under-25 segment has almost vanished, dropping from 23% to just 6%. And only one in four (25%) now have dependent children, when they buy down from more than one in three a decade ago.
Deposits tell their own story: the typical first-time buyer now puts down more than a full year’s household income. In London that ratio reaches 140% of average earnings, double the level in the North.
Around 30% receive a family gift to help bridge the gap, a rise since the 2000s. Most new mortgage terms stretch to 30 years or longer (54% today, up from 45% ten years ago).
Some green shoots
The data also contains green shoots. The first-time buyer market has grown nearly 40% since 2008-09. The homes they’re buying are shifting away from flats toward houses, have edged up slightly in size (from 76m² to 78m²), and are of dramatically better quality.
Nearly 90% now meet the Decent Homes Standard (up 12 points since the late 2000s), and 60% carry an EPC rating of C or above (up 26 points since the mid-2010s), promising lower running costs.
The Skipton Group’s broader Home Affordability Index, which tracks both buying power and living costs across Great Britain, sits at 50.5 in Q4 2025, the joint-highest since the cost-of-living crisis began.
Buying affordability has hit a record high of 51.4, driven by incomes outpacing house prices. The proportion of potential first-time buyers who can actually afford a home in their local area has risen from 9.9% in 2020 to 12.1% now, and is forecast to reach 14.4% by Q4 2028 — unlocking space for roughly 125,000 more buyers.
Living affordability, however, is lagging and projected to stay under pressure, with mortgage, rent, energy and maintenance costs still eating up a large slice of income. The gap between the two measures is the widest this decade and expected to widen further.
“First-time buyers now wait longer and work harder to own their own home. While the outlook suggests glimmers of hope on the horizon, higher borrowing costs may put those hopes at risk,” said Stuart Haire, Group Chief Executive of Skipton Group.
Haire warned that the market is increasingly working only for older, higher-earning households and called for a government-led first-time buyer strategy bringing together ministers, regulators, lenders and developers.
