Scare stories that suggest first-time buyers are over-stretching themselves to get on the property ladder are wide of the mark, a property analyst has claimed.
Kate Faulkner at consultancy Designsonproperty.co.uk said most first-time buyers are borrowing sensible amounts and their mortgages should remain affordable.
This follows figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showing that first-time buyers in London borrowed 27% more in the second quarter than one year earlier.
They borrowed £3 billion in the quarter, up 10% on Q1 and 27% on Q2 2013.
First-time buyers typically borrowed 3.90 times their gross income, more than the 3.83 times in the previous quarter and the UK average of 3.46 times, CML figures showed.
The typical loan size for first-time buyers in London was £212,000 in Q2, up from £200,000 in the previous quarter. The typical gross income of a first-time buyer household was £55,000 compared to £52,500 in the first quarter.
CML figures also showed first-time buyer numbers rising strongly in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Faulkner said the CML's figures are no cause for panic. "We are hearing a huge number of scare stories about first-time buyers not being able to afford a property.
"Yet when you look at the actual figures, lending and borrowing are at quite sensible levels on average.
"Most of the data reported is focused on London and areas where it has always been tough to buy," Faulkner said.
Nationally, most first-time buyers borrow between 3 and 3.5 times their income. In London, that rises to 3.9 times gross income.
"In Scotland, first-time buyers borrow less than £100,000 to buy their first home, while in Wales they spend less than 20% of their gross income on mortgage payments."
Faulkner said these figures suggests there is no need to panic. "This is particularly the case when you consider borrowers start paying back their mortgage from the day they buy now, when in the past they were on interest-only."
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