Number of UK first-time buyers rose by 22% in 2013

The number of first-time buyers grew by around one fifth in 2013, marking the strongest annual increase in more than a decade, new figures show.

There were around 265,000 first-time buyers in the UK in 2013, up 22% from an estimated 218,000 in 2012, according to Halifax, which used a combination of Council of Mortgage Lenders' figures and its own to make its findings.

Halifax said its figures to also showed how ultra-low interest rates have helped prove mortgage affordability in recent years.

The proportion of disposable earnings devoted to mortgage payments by a first-time buyer stood at 30% in the last three months of 2013, compared with a peak of 50% in the summer of 2007.