New data highlighted this week confirms what estate agents across the country have been reporting anecdotally for months: first-time buyers are locked in a losing race against a housing market that refuses to stand still. Average UK house prices have climbed roughly 3.2% over the past year, according to the latest Halifax and Nationwide indices, while average wages have grown by closer to 4.5% in nominal terms but far less once inflation and living costs are stripped out. The net effect is a deposit target that keeps receding just as aspiring buyers believe they are within reach of it, a phenomenon now being described as a genuinely moving goalpost rather than simple affordability pressure.