Felicity, I live in Bangkok now, but I still retain a house in Battersea, having sold my other property interests.

asajoseph1 is quite correct in lender caution and higher deposits required.

However there is also the position that wage levels and house prices, overall, are historically further apart than they have been for many years. In the summer of 2007, I read an article in The Economist about this separation, and that was what made me decide that this gap was unsustainable.

London remains expensive, although my remaining London house hasn't actually fallen in value over the last 2 years, but then neither has it risen, from what my estate agent tells me.

Not sure what to say about that, as I rarely watch BBC News!

However, it's interesting that the preference for owning your own home is much more prevalent in the UK than other countries. Whilst I'm big on being a property-owner, people are much more likely to feel comfortable renting elsewhere in Europe, even later in life, and maybe a gradual shift towards this mentality will help everyone in the long-run.

Hmm I remember these excact same words spoken by whomever it was the BBC were interviewing about this subject. - That aside the point is true, first time buyers don't buy average houses, they "generally" buy cheaper properties to get onto the property ladder and upgrade from there.

Semantics aside, there is a huge difference between house prices and income, meaning more and more people are simply unable to get onto the property ladder. So in theory there should be an increase in the rental market -- The richer getting richer and the poorer getting poorer. I'm not sure what cna be done, but something has to be -- if people are to have a real shot of owning their own home, and a 'decent' home at that not just a starter.

Heh!

The problem with this survey, I suspect, is that an 'average' house price in London is pretty meaningless. Houses are expensive, you bet, but first time buyers don't buy 'average' houses, they buy cheap houses, and it's perfectly possible to get on the ladder in London, without moving into a fleapit, earning much less than £93k.

It is harder to get on the market now, but for the same reasons in London as everywhere else - lenders are much more cautious giving credit, and the deposits required are much higher.

Are you still in London, Skywalker?

Do you think it's become harder for new buyers to buy or that it's always been incredibly difficult without a fabulous salary/the ability to lie about your income :) ?

asajoseph1 - are you priced out then?

London is expensive for sure, and will price a lot of people out, but this story is nothing but scare-mongering and poor journalism.

I don't buy it.

The fact is that London has always been expensive, and little regulated mortgages are often the only way to getting into the market. I myself bought my first London flat, more than 20 years ago, using a self certificated mortgage (remember those?). I lied about my income, and rented out the bedrooms so I could afford the payments.

By making mortgages unattainable is exactly what is holding the market down.

London will remain expensive for housing because of the sheer demand by people who want to live in such a vibrant metropolis.

If you’re a would-be first-time buyer in London, you’ll need an annual income of £93,000 to afford an average home, it’s been claimed.

Analysis published by the National Housing Federation reveals the cost of an average domestic property in the capital is £362,000.

Therefore, to secure a 90% mortgage at 3.5 times their salary, someone buying on their own would need to earn just shy of £100,000.

Of course, given that the average London salary is just £26,000, that means an awful lot of people may struggle to buy their own home.

Are you one of them? What will you do? Will you move out of the capital or do you need to be there for work? Will you buy with friends instead – or is even that unaffordable?

Just this month, the National Association of Estate Agents released research that showed that 16% of adults say they have no desire to buy their own home.

Yet London was not top of the list, in fact just 11.1% of adults in the capital said they had no desire to own a property.

So there’s clearly demand and homeownership aspiration – but will it last in the face of high prices and few mortgage opportunities?