The number of first-time homebuyers in the United Kingdom (UK) fell for the second year in a row in 2023, after peaking during the coronavirus pandemic. Over 293,000 people bought their first home in 2023, down from 405,000 in 2021. That was the lowest figure observed since 2013. Homebuyer sentiment also deteriorated markedly during that period.

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 290,000 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 two thousand 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 25% bonus to their savings when purchasing a house valued at 250,000 British pounds (450,000 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.

This dataset contains quarterly numbers of mortgages to first time buyers in England

Since 2011, the average age of British citizens buying their first home in the United Kingdom (UK) increased by three years. In 2011, the average age for the country was 29, while in 2023, it reached 32 years. Nevertheless, the average age varied in different regions.

This dataset comprises annual rolling total of the number of mortgages to first time buyers in England.

The average house price for first-time homebuyers in the United Kingdom (UK) was 288,000 British pounds in 2023, down from 302,000 British pounds the year before. Most regions experienced a slight decline in 2023. The South East and London were the most expensive regions to buy a home, with the average house prices was 353,724 British pounds and, 492234 British pounds, respectively.

The number of first-time buyer mortgage sales, by UK local authority, collected by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

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.

This statistic displays the share of first time home buyers in England in 2015/2016 by gender. It can be seen that over 52 percent of first time buyers were joint tenants with a male as the household reference person (HRP) as of 2015/2016.

This dataset contains quarterly median loan to value ratios for first time buyers in England.

This dataset contains quarterly median loan to value ratios for first time buyers in England. The data is owned by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and permission has been given to publish to ODC.

United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: Wales data was reported at 126,084.927 GBP in Sep 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 126,187.749 GBP for Jun 2018. United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: Wales data is updated quarterly, averaging 50,077.037 GBP from Mar 1983 (Median) to Sep 2018, with 143 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 130,601.260 GBP in Jun 2007 and a record low of 18,143.060 GBP in Mar 1983. United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: Wales 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.

This statistic displays the number of first time home buyers in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2016, by country. England had the highest number of first time buyers in 2016 with almost 285 thousand first time buyers.

To obtain a mortgage, first-time homebuyers in the United Kingdom (UK) need to save a deposit amounting to about 19 percent of the property purchase price. The higher the property value and the loan amount, the higher the deposit. In 2023, the average first-time buyer deposit in the UK was about 53,414 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 more expensive since 2000, making it harder for renters to get on the property ladder. By 2023, 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 priciest. 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 2021, 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).

United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: Outer South East data was reported at 225,030.393 GBP in Jun 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 221,176.892 GBP for Mar 2018. United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: Outer South East data is updated quarterly, averaging 76,764.217 GBP from Mar 1983 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 142 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 225,030.393 GBP in Jun 2018 and a record low of 24,343.620 GBP in Mar 1983. United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: Outer South East data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Nationwide. The data is categorized under Global Database’s UK – Table UK.P001: House Price: Nationwide.

This data set contains Help to Buy: Equity Loan statistics at local authority level and includes total equity loans and equity loans to first time buyers . For data released from 5 March 2015 onwards, the Homes and Community Agency (HCA) have revised the completion date for the entire Help to Buy Equity Loan time series. The HCA have stopped counting payment date (when the money out is paid out by the HCA) and now report on the expected actual completion date. It is more accurate and is closer to the live situation, especially when HCA now recognise an asset based on a completion, rather than exchange and approved claim. As a result (and due to reinstating accounts) HCA have seen movement of actual completions dates. There should not be this level of difference moving forward, it was a one off activity. The figures cover the launch of the scheme on 1 April 2013 until 30 September 2016.

Information on the allocation of completed sales to postcode sectors is derived using the latest available information on the full postcode for each scheme, which may be subject to revision.

For sales before 31 March 2014, properties are included under the local authority district to which they were initially allocated. In some cases, this differs from latest information, which forms the basis of the first column of local authority district figures. Figures for some local authorities may be subject to revisions later in the year.

Although local authority information is validated against other geographic data at the time of data entry, detailed reconciliation of the data, conducted twice a year, may result in a small number of changes to these monthly releases, for example where a new development crosses a local authority boundary.

An equity loan is Government financial assistance given to eligible applicants to purchase an eligible home through a Government equity mortgage secured on the home. The Government equity mortgage is ranked second in priority behind an owner’s main mortgage lender.

This scheme offers up to 20 per cent of the value as Government assistance to purchasers buying a new build home. The buyer must provide a cash deposit of at least 5 per cent and a main mortgage lender must provide a loan of at least 75 per cent.

The Government assistance to buy is made through an equity loan made by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to the purchaser.

Help to Buy equity loans are only available on new build homes and the maximum purchase price is £600,000. Equity loan assistance for purchasers is paid via house builders registered with the HCA to participate in the Help to Buy equity loan initiative. The payment is made to builders (via solicitors) at purchaser legal completion.

The equity loan is provided without fees for the first five years of ownership.

The property title is held by the home owner who can therefore sell their home at any time and upon sale should provide the government the value of the same equity share of the property when it is sold.

For further information see
Help to Buy (equity loan) scheme monthly statistics.

United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: Outer Met data was reported at 286,001.028 GBP in Jun 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 287,680.911 GBP for Mar 2018. United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: Outer Met data is updated quarterly, averaging 100,707.966 GBP from Mar 1983 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 142 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 287,680.911 GBP in Mar 2018 and a record low of 29,106.525 GBP in Mar 1983. United Kingdom House Price: Qtr: First Time Buyer: Outer Met data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Nationwide. The data is categorized under Global Database’s UK – Table UK.P001: House Price: Nationwide.

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 first-time buyer average mortgage increased across all regions in the United Kingdom in 2023. London had the largest average mortgage size at over 383,386 British pounds. This was because it was also the region with the most expensive hosing.