More bad news for first time buyers as Halifax reports that the average price for new homes has passed the £100,000 mark. This news seems likely to reinforce the trend of declining first timers, with last year’s figure of 355,000 down a third from the previous year. “The growing gap between supply and demand is at the root of this, and there seems little prospect of this being addressed in the foreseeable future,” said HBF spokesman Pierre Williams.