First-time buyers flock back to London as mortgage rates ease

Half of all homes bought in London this year were sold to first-time buyers in a sign that lower mortgage rates are enticing younger would-be homeowners back to the capital.

The number of first-time buyers leaving London has risen sharply over the past decade, as they were pushed out to more affordable suburbs by soaring house prices and rising mortgage rates.

Private rents also increased by 32 per cent over the past five years, data from the lettings website SpareRoom shows, making it difficult for tenants to save to buy their first home.

But the latest figures from estate agency Hamptons show that 48 per cent of homes sold in the first six months of the year were bought by first-time buyers, up from