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Buying a First Home Is More Fraught Than Ever for Millennial Brits

Government incentives have spurred demand despite a flagging economy. Property experts have a few tips.

Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
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Buying a first home has turned into an agonizing gamble for Britain’s millennials.

Lenders are holding back on the low-deposit mortgages first-time buyers typically rely on as the pandemic threatens their balance sheets. Rising unemployment is hitting young people the hardest and the Bank of England is warning that Brexit could wreak even more damage on an economy already suffering its worst recession in three centuries.