Average age of first-time buyers is 27 in Midlothian

Those buying properties in the area had an average age of 27 in the year to June 2011, the Bank of Scotland study found. Other areas with young buyers include Clackmannanshire, Fife, North Lanarkshire and Aberdeen, where the average age is 28.

Researchers said that house prices tend to be relatively low in areas with the youngest first-time buyers. However, there is relatively little variation across Scotland in the average age of first-time buyers, with the oldest at 30.

Bank of Scotland housing economist Nitesh Patel said: “The variation in age between the youngest and oldest first buyers in Scotland is relatively low, just three years compared to almost a decade seen in England and Wales.

“In many cases this is due to house prices being typically lower both in absolute terms and in relation to earnings, helping to limit the size of the deposit needed and the time needed to build one up.”

The average age of first-time buyers in the UK is 29 while in Scotland it is 28. More than half of the ten areas with the youngest first-time buyers have an average house price of 13 per cent to 25 per cent below the Scotland average. These include North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Clackmannanshire and Fife.

In the ten areas with the oldest first-time buyers, six are areas where the average first-time buyer price is above the Scotland average of £105,401. These include Edinburgh, East Lothian and East Renfrewshire.

In nine of the ten areas with the youngest buyers, the average house price is less than four times the average earnings for first-time buyers.

These include North Ayrshire, where a property is on average 2.8 times the average earnings, followed by North Lanarkshire and Fife, both with a ratio of three, and Falkirk with a ratio of 3:1. Midlothian has a price to average earnings ratio of four.

The research is based on data from Bank of Scotland’s housing statistics database and ONS data on average earnings.