Despite Shelter’s statistics on the lack of affordable homes for first-time buyers, London agent Marsh & Parsons said that sales to first-time buyers so far this year have been “flying”.

The firm said that during the first quarter of this year, there has been a “spike” in first-time buying activity.

First-timers now account for 28% of purchases, said the firm.

This is despite one-bedroom properties across its patch having risen by £75 a day over the last year.

According to Marsh & Parsons, first-time buyers are now neck and neck with investors: in the first quarter of this year, 29% of properties sold to investors, down from 37% at the end of last year.

Chief executive Peter Rollings said heightened competition has pushed the ratio of registered applicants per property up from ten in December to 12 by the end of March.

Rollings said: “First-time buyers have been riding a wave of fortuitous circumstances recently – with almost unheard of mortgage rates, reduced up-front stamp duty costs, and support schemes like the Help to Buy ISA inflating confidence.

“Combined with a more accessible pace of property price growth so far in 2015, many more have been able to take the plunge into the property market.

“Prime London property has always been a bastion of investment, but it’s encouraging to see the drawbridge being lowered for everyday Londoners who live and work in this city.”