First-time buyer numbers up in Wales

House prices in the Principality are up £1,513 on last year

First-time buyer activity in Wales during the period April to June increased 11% over the first three months of the year, according to figures released today by LSL Property Services.

For the third month in a row, the largest rise in house prices has been in The Vale of Glamorgan where it is up nearly 15%, followed by Ceredigion at 7.6% - the biggest faller is Carmarthenshire, down 7.3%.

Two thirds of all first time buyer purchases in July were for properties worth under £125,000, while the average house price in Wales was £900 lower in July than in June.

“Life has become markedly easier for Welsh first time buyers in 2012," said Richard Sexton, director of e.surv, part of LSL Property Services, "but particularly so over the last couple of months. More new buyers have been able to access mortgage finance, which has jumpstarted the lower end of the market.

"Welsh buyers do have an advantage because first time buyer property in Wales is cheaper than elsewhere in the UK, meaning the deposits required aren’t quite as large. But we shouldn’t get carried away just yet. Until the coalition cooks up a successful recipe for growth, house prices will remain broadly flat."