Demand for homes in assisted buying schemes from first-time buyers has ‘dropped significantly’ across a number of major cities, according to new research from Yopa.
The national estate agency analysed demand based on the percentage of homes listed under buying schemes – such as shared ownership, Help to Buy and deposit assistance programmes – that have been sold subject to contract in 2025. Although the number of qualifying homes represent just 1.8% of all housing stock for sale, only around a third have sold (34% of total qualifiying stock in Q1, 32.3% in Q3).
The largest decline in demand was in Nottingham, which dropped by 38.8% between Q1 and Q3. Cardiff fell by 28.5%, with a decrease of 23.7% in Newcastle. Only three cities experienced an increase in demand: Leicester (5.7%), Bournemouth (2.1%) and Birmingham 1.6%. Interest in all other regions declined.
‘Stronger wage growth and improvements to both the range and affordability of mortgage products in recent months have both helped to boost the ability of first-time buyers when it comes to climbing the property ladder’, said Yopa CEO Verona Frankish.
“However, the high cost of homeownership remains a significant barrier and, since the start of the year, first-time buyer demand levels have fallen across all but a handful of major cities.
“Should the government introduce a stamp duty shake-up in the upcoming autumn budget, it would help to significantly boost first-time buyer activity. Unfortunately, this is likely to be wishful thinking, but at the very least, we need to see more homes become available with the added boost of a buying scheme in order to help stimulate the market.”
