A survey of homeowners has highlighted the savvy behaviours of today’s first-time buyers (FTBs).
The report found that over half of FTBs are opting to buy a studio flat or a home with one or two bedrooms. Additionally, 67% reported purchasing a property in an unfamiliar area due to affordability challenges and a lack of suitable properties. However, one in four new homeowners is moving on after an average of four and a half years, with 37% of respondents citing space sacrifices as the reason and 18% citing location as a key factor.
David Morris at Santander commented that “the new wave of more savvy first-time owners seems to be increasingly pragmatic”; they are making compromises to get on the property ladder, then moving on to somewhere “better suited to their long-term needs”.
Sources:
First-time buyers’ sacrifice on space drives them up property ladder in fewer than five years
