First-time buyers 'at fresh low'

The number of first-time home buyers in the UK has dropped to its lowest point since 1980 as house prices soar, mortgage lender Halifax says.

An estimated 300,000 first-time buyers entered the market in 2007, 15,000 fewer than a year earlier.

The average house was out of the reach of a typical first-time buyer in 96% of UK towns, Halifax found.

The average price paid by a first-time buyer for a property increased by 15% during this year to £175,093.

Priced out

The price has soared 82% over the past five years, it added.

"Rising property values have priced many potential first-time buyers out of the housing market," Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax.

"When they do enter the market, first-time buyers are now more likely to be in their 30s rather than their 20s and buy a flat rather than a terraced house."

Henley-on-Thames was the UK's least affordable town, with an average property price of £642,672 - more than 13 times the average income of first-time buyer households in the area.