MORE than 50 per cent of first-time buyers are prepared to purchase a fixer-upper.

The latest statistics from the ‘First-Time Buyer Barometer Research’, conducted by Your Move, reveals that as the property market strengthens, more than 50 per cent of first-time buyers are prepared to purchase a converted barracks, school or church.

Fifty-seven per cent of first-time buyers who were questioned claim that they are willing to live in a former school in order to get their foot on the property ladder, while 53 per cent are prepared to purchase an ex-barracks and half would accept a converted church.

The average price of a first-time buyer home in the South West is £151,406 and more than 7,200 people from the region are interested in purchasing their first property.