House prices

First-time buyers need to earn an average salary of £54,400 a year to buy their first home in a typical UK city, research reveals.

House prices rose by 0.5% this month, according to Halifax figures, while HMRC data shows that home sales remain steady.

While average UK house prices have risen by 1.4% in the year to March 2019, up from 1% last month, London homeowners have seen house prices fall by 1.9%, according to the UK House Price Index for March 2019. 

Annual house price growth in Q1 of 2019 stood at just 0.4%. Behind the headline figure were sharp regional differences.

The country has recorded its first annual house price fall in seven years, driven by declines in London and the South East.

Plenty of column inches are devoted to the uphill challenge young people face making their first step on to the property ladder, but less space is given to the problems of jumping on to the next rung.