FTBs look abroad to get on property ladder

First-time buyers (FTBs) apparently feel so priced out of the UK property market that more than half are considering looking abroad, it has emerged.

Some 44 per cent of first-time buyers polled by the fairinvestment.co.uk said that they would consider buying their first property abroad, while a further eight confessed to already having done so.

In total that means the majority of young Brits attempting to get a foot on the property ladder now see the domestic market as being so unaffordable that they are considering leaving the country.

By comparison, a similar survey conducted last year by National Savings and Investment found that just 25 per cent of British FTBs would consider such a move.

"First-time buyers are being driven to sunnier climes for a route onto the property ladder as a result of the credit crisis which has been shaking the foundations of the UK property market," concluded James Caldwell, director at Fairinvestment.co.uk.

Recent research by HSBC found that the UK is now the third most expensive country in the world to live in, behind France and Norway.

News posted on 31st March, 2008