Buying in London for the first time? You will need 420k

London property prices are continuing to soar, despite a slow down at the top end of the market. According to the latest figures released by Lloyds Bank, a first-time buyer in London will have to pay more than £420,000, double the national UK average of £210,000. 

The biggest increase is in the amount paid for deposits by first time buyers – up by more than two-thirds in the last five years, with deposits on properties in Camden the highest, averaging at over £175,000. 

Mortgages for first time buyers have risen sharply, too, in the past five years – to £327,299, almost twice the figure for the rest of the UK.

But despite Generation Rent being priced out of the London market, it is still cheaper on average to buy than rent, according to Lloyds' figures, with a typical three-bedroom house in London costing a first-time buyer around £1,248 per month in mortgage payments but over £1,500 per month to rent.

And while it is still cheaper to rent in London's outer boroughs, current trends are showing a swiftly narrowing gap between central and outer London, partly due to the increasing popularity of areas that have improved connections to central London via Crosslink. 

'This latest data shows how expensive it has become to live in the capital, particularly for young people trying to get on the ladder for the first time,' says Andrew Mason, mortgage products director of Lloyds Bank. 'First-time buyers have to wait until they are 34 before getting their foot on the property ladder.'