Mortgage approvals for 1st-time buyers on the rise

More first-time buyers have secured mortgage approvals as many rush to grab a deal while interest rates remain low. UK Finance, the trade body for UK lenders, said £5.6 billion was loaned to 34,800 first-time buyers in November 2017, up 16.7 percent year-on-year.

According to UK Finance, the average age of a first-time buyer in the UK is 30 and he or she earns £40,000 a year.

The average loan they're taking out is £138,000, which is 84.6 percent of the value of the property they're buying.

While tenants spend more than a quarter of their gross salary (27 percent) on their rent, first-time buyers commit only 17.2 percent of their gross monthly income to their mortgage repayments, emphasising yet again why so many people are keen to swap renting for home ownership.

Paul Smee, head of mortgages at UK Finance, said: "The data shows housing market activity remains buoyant, despite November's rise in the base rate. Steady increases in lending for house purchases, together with increases in homeowner remortgages, reflect a keenness among consumers to benefit from still historically low interest rates and a highly competitive marketplace."