Property sales through LSL-owned estate agencies recorded first-time buyer numbers of 31,400, the highest amount in six-and-a-half years and 60% more than one year ago.

Although house prices have continued to rise mortgage payments as a proportion of income have remained the same over the last 12 months because rates have continued to fall.

First-time buyers are now paying around £8,000 more on average for a house than a year ago whereas deposits fell by 10% to £23,802 making the average loan-to-value 83.5% last month.

Loan-to-values for first-time buyers, up 3% on last year, are now at their highest level since October 2008.

Figures released by the Mortgage Advice Bureau yesterday revealed that the number of buyers searching for 90% plus loan-to-value deals had increased by 8% in a year. 

But the disparity between the deposit required to buy a home in London and the rest of the UK continues to exclude many from their dream of home ownership.

London first-time buyers laid down an average deposit of £68,000 which was more than double that required from their counterparts across the rest of the country.

A semi-detached property in Wrexham, typically sought after by first-time buyers, costs £90,000 whereas a three-bedroomed terraced property would set fledging buyers back £375,000 in London.

House prices across the country, not specific to a type of buyer, rose 11% annually – sales registered by estate agent firms Barnard Marcus, William H Brown and Fox & Sons revealed.

Their data showed the average London house price to be £460,00 while in the rest of the UK the average home costs £212,000.