To obtain a mortgage, first-time homebuyers in the UK need to save a deposit amounting to about 20 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 61,090 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).

Despite the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting that the actual average deposit required to buy a home was 44 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 460 thousand British pounds, potential first-time homeowners had a target deposit of around nine percent of the property price (39.5 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 sixteen percent.

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.

This dataset provides values for INTEREST RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Repeat buyers in the United States have consistently had a larger percentage of the purchase price to put down as a down payment when buying a home compared with first-time buyers. In 2023, repeat buyers had 19 percent of the purchase price on hand, whereas first-time buyers only had eight percent of theirs.