The number of first-time buyers fell 22% between January and August this year, compared to the corresponding period last year, according to the latest Halifax First-Time Buyer Review.

Based on transaction data from this year so far, the mortgage lender estimates that about 186,000 people will purchase their first home this year, down by almost a quarter year-on-year.

By comparison, at the peak of the pandemic property market boom in 2021, close to 270,000 first-time buyers got on the property ladder.

Kim Kinnaird, Halifax’s director of mortgages, said raising a deposit remained “a significant hurdle” for those trying to get on the property ladder.

It further demonstrates the failure of the government's housing policy, which was to tax landlords out of the market, supposedly to make more affordable homes available for first time buyers. But as we know it has sent rents to all-time highs, making it extremely difficult for renters who want to try and buy.

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