The average house price for first-time homebuyers in the United Kingdom (UK) was ******* British pounds in 2024, up from ******* British pounds the year before. All regions experienced an increase in 2024, with prices rising the most in Northern Ireland and the West Midlands. The South East and London were the most expensive regions to buy a home, with the average house prices at ******* British pounds and ******* British pounds, respectively.

To obtain a mortgage, first-time homebuyers in the UK need to save a deposit amounting to about ** percent of the property purchase price. The higher the property value and the loan amount, the higher the deposit. In 2024, the average first-time buyer deposit in the UK was about ****** British pounds, but in the most expensive region, Greater London, the deposit amount was more than double. The share of the deposit was also much higher than in other regions in the UK. How has the house price for first-time buyers changed over time? Housing bought by first-time buyers has become increasingly pricier since 2000, making it harder for renters to get on the property ladder. By 2024, the average house price had tripled. The price also varied in different regions, with the North East being the least expensive and Greater London – the most expensive. Which are the most affordable areas for first-time buyers? While housing in certain areas can be pricy, this does not necessarily make it unaffordable, as the standard of living may also be higher. In 2020, the most affordable towns for first-time buyers were found in the North West region (Burnley) and Scotland (East Ayshire, North Ayshire, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire).

This page is no longer being updated. Please use the UK House Price Index instead. Mix-adjusted house prices, by new/pre-owned dwellings, type of buyer (first time buyer) and region, from February 2002 for London and UK, and average mix-adjusted prices by UK region, and long term Annual House Price Index data since 1969 for London. The ONS House Price Index is mix-adjusted to allow for differences between houses sold (for example type, number of rooms, location) in different months within a year. House prices are modelled using a combination of characteristics to produce a model containing around 100,000 cells (one such cell could be first-time buyer, old dwelling, one bedroom flat purchased in London). Each month estimated prices for all cells are produced by the model and then combined with their appropriate weight to produce mix-adjusted average prices. The index values are based on growth rates in the mix-adjusted average house prices and are annually chain linked. The weights used for mix-adjustment change at the start of each calendar year (i.e. in January). The mix-adjusted prices are therefore not comparable between calendar years, although they are comparable within each calendar year. If you wish to calculate change between years, you should use the mix-adjusted house price index, available in Table 33. The data published in these tables are based on a sub-sample of RMS data. These results will therefore differ from results produced using full sample data. For further information please contact the ONS using the contact details below. House prices, mortgage advances and incomes have been rounded to the nearest £1,000. Data taken from Table 2 and Table 9 of the monthly ONS release. Download from ONS website

The price-to-earnings ratio for first-time buyers in the United Kingdom was the highest in London and the lowest in Scotland in the second quarter of 2025. In London, the average house bought by first-time buyers was about 7.79 times higher than the mean gross earnings in the region. In Scotland, this figure amounted to 3.04.

The price of new dwelling units in the United Kingdom was notably higher for former owner-occupiers than for first-time buyers in 2024. On average, properties bought by first-time buyers sold for 260,000 British pounds. Meanwhile, the average price paid by repeat buyers was 422,000 British pounds. Prices also varied depending on the property type. Flats and maisonettes in converted houses and terraced houses were the most affordable options for homebuyers.

Mix-adjusted house prices, by new/pre-owned dwellings, type of buyer (first time buyer) and region, from February 2002 for London and UK, and average mix-adjusted prices by UK region, and long term Annual House Price Index data since 1969 for London.

The ONS House Price Index is mix-adjusted to allow for differences between houses sold (for example type, number of rooms, location) in different months within a year. House prices are modelled using a combination of characteristics to produce a model containing around 100,000 cells (one such cell could be first-time buyer, old dwelling, one bedroom flat purchased in London). Each month estimated prices for all cells are produced by the model and then combined with their appropriate weight to produce mix-adjusted average prices. The index values are based on growth rates in the mix-adjusted average house prices and are annually chain linked.

The weights used for mix-adjustment change at the start of each calendar year (i.e. in January). The mix-adjusted prices are therefore not comparable between calendar years, although they are comparable within each calendar year. If you wish to calculate change between years, you should use the mix-adjusted house price index, available in Table 33.

The data published in these tables are based on a sub-sample of RMS data. These results will therefore differ from results produced using full sample data. For further information please contact the ONS using the contact details below.
House prices, mortgage advances and incomes have been rounded to the nearest £1,000.
Data taken from Table 2 and Table 9 of the monthly ONS release.

Download from ONS website

In 2024, the average age of recent first-time buyers in London was slightly higher than the England average. Across the UK, first-time buyers accounted for approximately ******* home sales. First-time buyer prices and mortgages In London, the average value of a mortgage for first-time buyers was far higher than all other regions in the UK. Apart from the initial cost of a down payment, those that can afford to, see monthly payment savings against those renting. In certain parts of the country, annual savings of buying against renting saw first time buyers amounted to over ************ British pounds. Help to buy To encourage first-time buyers, the UK government started the "Help to buy" scheme. The scheme sees people saving for a first-time home receive a ***********bonus to their savings when purchasing a house valued at ******* British pounds (******* British pounds in London). Between December 2015 and March 2018, the North West of England saw the highest number of Help to buy ISA bonuses paid.

On average, first-time homebuyers In the United Kingdom (UK) saved up ** percent of the home price for a down payment in 2024, amounting to ****** British pounds. In Greater London, which was the priciest region to buy a home, the down payment was higher, at ** percent.

For the past decade, buying a home in the UK has been more affordable than renting one, when only considering the monthly costs. The renting versus buying gap fluctuated during the period and in 2016, it reached its highest value of 131 British pounds. In 2023, the monthly costs for a first-time buyer were 1,231 British pounds, compared to 1,258 British pounds for renters. Rental growth vs house price growth Housing costs in the UK have been on an uprise, with both renting and buying a home increasingly unreachable. Though the monthly costs of buying have consistently been lower in the past decade, house price growth has been much stronger than rental growth since the beginning of the pandemic. Additionally, buyers have been affected by the aggressive mortgage rate hikes, making acquiring their first home even less affordable. Barriers to homeownership Buying a home is not straightforward. For younger (18-40) potential first-time buyers, there are a number of barriers. Approximately one in three first-time buyers point out that raising a deposit was the main obstacle. Other reasons stopping buyers were not being able to take out a mortgage on their current income and poor credit ratings. Unsurprisingly, the highest share of people who buy a home with a mortgage was in the age group of 45 to 55-year-olds.

In 2022, house price growth in the UK slowed, after a period of decade-long increase. Nevertheless, in June 2025, prices reached a new peak, with the average home costing ******* British pounds. This figure refers to all property types, including detached, semi-detached, terraced houses, and flats and maisonettes. Compared to other European countries, the UK had some of the highest house prices. How have UK house prices increased over the last 10 years? Property prices have risen dramatically over the past decade. According to the UK house price index, the average house price has grown by over ** percent since 2015. This price development has led to the gap between the cost of buying and renting a property to close. In 2023, buying a three-bedroom house in the UK was no longer more affordable than renting one. Consequently, Brits have become more likely to rent longer and push off making a house purchase until they have saved up enough for a down payment and achieved the financial stability required to make the step. What caused the recent fluctuations in house prices? House prices are affected by multiple factors, such as mortgage rates, supply, and demand on the market. For nearly a decade, the UK experienced uninterrupted house price growth as a result of strong demand and a chronic undersupply. Homebuyers who purchased a property at the peak of the housing boom in July 2022 paid ** percent more compared to what they would have paid a year before. Additionally, 2022 saw the most dramatic increase in mortgage rates in recent history. Between December 2021 and December 2022, the **-year fixed mortgage rate doubled, adding further strain to prospective homebuyers. As a result, the market cooled, leading to a correction in pricing.

The average price of houses bought by first-time buyers was notably lower than houses purchased by repeat buyers in London in 2024. Homebuyers spent on average 480,000 British pounds when purchasing their first property in 2024. For repeat buyers, this figure amounted to 850,000 British pounds in that year. In London, the average house price was about 630,000 British pounds in 2024.

UK Government House Price Index (HPI) data, up to and including August 2022.

**UPDATE (19/4/2023): Version 2 of this dataset contains data up to February 2023 in the file 'UK-HPI-full-file-2023-02.csv' ** The dataset consists of various metrics calculated from individual property transaction records. This data is stored on a regional basis with records made for each date period split based on averages across property type (Flat, Terraced, SemiDetached, Detached), method of purchase (Cash, Mortgage), buyer type (First Time Buyer, Former Owner Occupier) and property status (New Build, Existing (Old)).

Each of these subsets has data regarding average prices (normal and seasonally adjusted), sales volume, 12-month percentage price change, 1-month percentage price change, plus an index value which uses hedonic regression - matching sale price data with the attributes of a property (such as number of bedrooms, floor space, etc) to give an overview of the market.

Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2020. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

The price of existing dwellings in the UK increased significantly between 1990 and 2024. Existing housing reached a value of 335,000 British pounds in 2024. That was slightly higher than the previous year, when house prices were 331,000 pounds, but a substantial increase since 2019 when prices started to rise rapidly. Overall, flats or maisonettes in converted houses were the most affordable housing type in the UK in 2024.

United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: South West data was reported at 199,791.062 GBP in Sep 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 199,133.056 GBP for Jun 2018. United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: South West data is updated quarterly, averaging 71,559.949 GBP from Mar 1983 (Median) to Sep 2018, with 143 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 199,791.062 GBP in Sep 2018 and a record low of 23,088.303 GBP in Mar 1983. United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: South West data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Nationwide. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.P001: House Price: Nationwide.

Despite the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting that the actual average deposit required to buy a home was ** thousand British pounds (GBP), Santander's survey of potential first-time homeowners found the average target deposit was in some cases much lower. Even in London, where the average property price in early 2019 was over *** thousand British pounds, potential first-time homeowners had a target deposit of around **** percent of the property price (**** thousand GBP).

The issue with having a lower deposit for a new home is that it puts buyers into a higher loan-to-value mortgage ratio. Those in the North East looked to achieve the highest deposit to property price ratio at ******* percent.

United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: East Anglia data was reported at 183,325.775 GBP in Sep 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 182,100.475 GBP for Jun 2018. United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: East Anglia data is updated quarterly, averaging 63,711.047 GBP from Mar 1983 (Median) to Sep 2018, with 143 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 183,325.775 GBP in Sep 2018 and a record low of 20,236.459 GBP in Mar 1983. United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: East Anglia data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Nationwide. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.P001: House Price: Nationwide.

The lowest monthly costs of buying a home for first-time buyers in 2023 was in Northern Ireland, with an average of *** British pounds a month. In comparison, the average monthly cost in the UK were ***** British pounds.

Since 2015, the gap between the cost of buying a home and renting has grown, with homeownership becoming increasingly less affordable. In the ***** ******* of 2024, the house price to rent ratio in the UK stood at *****. That meant that house price growth has outpaced rental growth by nearly ** percent between 2015 and 2024. The UK's house price to rent ratio was slightly below the average Euro area ratio. House price to income ratio in the UK Another indicator for housing affordability is the house price to income ratio, which is calculated by dividing nominal house prices by the nominal disposable income per head. The ratio saw an overall increase between 2015, which was the base year, and 2022. After that, the index declined, but remained close to the average for the Euro area. Is it more affordable to rent or buy? There are many things to be considered when comparing buying to renting, such as the ability to qualify for a mortgage and whether prospective homebuyers have sufficient savings for a deposit. Generally, purchasing a home is more affordable than renting one. However, the average monthly savings first-time buyers can achieve have been on the decline. In East of England, where house prices have increased rapidly over the past few years, it was cheaper to rent than to buy in 2022.

In 2020, the most affordable area for first-time home buyers in the United Kingdom (UK) was Burnley with a low house price to average earnings ratio of ***, closely followed by East and North Ayrshire with a ratio of ***. This means that in these areas, the house price is a little over ***** times the first-time buyer earnings as of 2020. The lower the ratio, the more affordable it is for the first-time buyers to afford a house in the mentioned district.