New data from Halifax has revealed that the number of first-time buyers reached an estimated 162,704 in the first six months of 2017, only 15% below the 190,900 peak of the last boom in 2006. Although the growth in FTBs slowed to just 3%, compared to an increase of 10% last year, the number of homeowners getting on to the property ladder for the first time is up from 154,200 in the same period in 2016 and more than double the market low in the first half of 2009 (72,700).... Read More