House prices across North West jump by a third in five years as first-time buyer costs rise £400

New analysis suggests that first-time homebuyers are now paying around £400 more per month for their mortgage than they would have five years ago.

According to property website Rightmove, the average first-time buyer's mortgage payment has increased by 61 per cent since the last general election in 2019, from £667 to £1,075 per month.

Across the North West, asking prices for first-time buyer homes have increased by a third since 2019, while London has seen the smallest percentage rise of just 6 per cent over the past five years, as per the website's data. Across Britain, first-time buyers now face paying an average of £227,757 for a home, a figure which has risen by nearly a fifth (19%) since 2019.

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The calculations were based on several assumptions, including that first-time buyers would have a 20 per cent deposit, a 25-year mortgage term, and a five-year fixed-rate mortgage at an average rate. Rightmove used the average asking prices of typical first-time buyer homes, with two bedrooms or fewer for their research.

Rising mortgage rates and house prices have affected monthly mortgage payments. Despite the Bank of England's base rate remaining unchanged last week, a drop is anticipated due to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation reaching its 2 per cent target.

Tim Bannister, property expert at Rightmove, said: "As rates have increased over the last five years, the amount that a typical first-time buyer is paying each month on a mortgage has outstripped the pace of earning growth. Some first-time buyers are looking at extending their mortgage terms to 30 or 35 years to lower monthly payments, or looking at