First-time buyer statistics UK: 2024

Looking for your first home and getting your foot on the property ladder is a massive milestone in your life, but there are some things you need to consider before you buy. Along with saving up for a deposit and finding the perfect home, you also need to find the best first-time buyer mortgage for you. We look at the latest statistics on first-time buyers in the UK.

First-time buyer statistics: Highlights

The average age of a first-time buyer in the UK is 34.
The average house price for first-time buyers was £236,000 in November 2023, down from £245,500 in November 2022.
The average first-time buyer deposit was £62,470 in 2022, up 8% from 2021.
The average deposit for first-time buyers in London is double the average UK deposit.
The average deposit for UK first-time buyers was 21% of the house price in 2022.
In 2022, the number of first-time buyers in the UK was 362,461, down 11% from 2021.

What is the average age of a first-time buyer in the UK?

The average age of a first-time buyer in the UK is 34, up from 32 in 2012 and from 30 in 2007. The age of a first-time buyer has been mostly trending upward since the banking crisis in 2007 and 2008, in part due to stricter mortgage lending rules. House prices have also been rising, making it harder for first-time buyers to access entry-level properties.

What is the average house price for a first-time buyer in the UK?

The average house price for UK first-time buyers was £302,010 in 2022, up 13% from £268,031 in 2021.

House prices vary across UK regions, and for first-time buyers, the highest average price was £518,900 in London. Northern Ireland boasts the lowest average house price for first-time buyers, with an average cost of £171,425.

London house prices for first-time buyers are 1.8 times higher than the UK average, while house prices in Northern Ireland are just 56% of the average house price in the UK. There is a substantial difference in house prices in different parts of the UK, which is a factor many first-time buyers will want to consider.

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Number of credit and debit cards in issue UK 2023

Region	Average house price for a first-time buyer
London	£518,900
South East	£362,730
East of England	£336,710
South West	£281,167
East Midlands	£238,208
West Midlands	£235,108
North West	£212,604
Yorkshire and The Humber	£202,154
Wales	£199,359
Scotland	£189,428
North East	£175,091
Northern Ireland	£171,425
UK average	£302,010

What is the average deposit for a first-time buyer in the UK?

The average first-time buyer deposit in the UK is £62,470, approximately 21% of the average house price for a first-time buyer, which is £302,010.

However, the average deposit for a first-time buyer in London is £125,378, more than double the national average! The South East follows London quite far behind with an average deposit of £68,749.

In other regions across the UK, you can expect to pay less than the national average for your deposit, with the North East of England having the lowest average first-time buyer deposit of £30,198. This is less than a quarter of the average London deposit for first-time buyers.

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Region	Average deposit
London	£125,378
South East	£68,749
East of England	£60,169
South West	£55,708
East Midlands	£42,451
West Midlands	£42,339
Scotland	£41,442
North West	£37,483
Yorkshire and The Humber	£37,062
Wales	£36,825
Northern Ireland	£33,199
North East	£30,198
UK average	£62,470

What is the average deposit percentage for first-time buyers in the UK?

The average deposit percentage for UK first-time buyers was 21% in 2022, meaning they would have to take out the remaining 79% as a mortgage. You can have a minimum of 5% of the purchase price as a deposit to buy your first home and take out the remaining 95% as a mortgage.

Generally speaking, if you can put down more as a deposit, you can access better deals and rates on your mortgage.

Londoners take the crown for the largest deposit as a percentage of the house price, at 24%. First-time buyers in the North East are putting down the smallest deposits and paying the lowest percentage in a deposit, at 17% of the overall purchase price.

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Region	Remaining mortgage	Deposit
London	76%	24%
Scotland	78%	22%
South West	80%	20%
Northern Ireland	81%	19%
South East	81%	19%
East Midlands	82%	18%
East of England	82%	18%
North West	82%	18%
Wales	82%	18%
West Midlands	82%	18%
Yorkshire and The Humber	82%	18%
North East	83%	17%
UK average	79%	21%

How many first-time buyers are there in the UK?

In 2022, there were 362,461 first-time buyers in the UK. This is a decrease of 11% from 2021, where there were 405,320 first-time buyers, but an increase from 2020, where 303,980 buyers were looking to purchase a home for the first time.

The drop in first-time buyers in 2020 was mainly due to the housing market coming to a standstill during the coronavirus pandemic, but this quickly rebounded to a record high number in 2021 and has levelled out in 2022.

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Year	Number of first-time buyers
2012	211,920
2013	258,210
2014	310,280
2015	298,190
2016	328,500
2017	345,910
2018	353,120
2019	351,260
2020	303,980
2021	405,320
2022	362,461

The number of first-time buyers by region

The South East has the highest number of first-time buyers, with 73,588 residents looking to purchase their first home. This is followed by Greater London, where there were 48,390 first-time buyers in 2022. Although prices and deposits are higher in these regions, they are still highly populated areas, so properties for first-time buyers are in demand!

Interestingly, Northern Ireland had the biggest increase in first-time buyers from 10 years ago, up 112% from 5,010 in 2012 to 10,641 in 2022.

First-time buyers per region

Region	Number of first-time buyers
South East	73,588
Greater London	48,390
North West	37,534
Scotland	31,184
West Midlands	30,172
Yorkshire and The Humber	29,635
South West	28,169
East Midlands	27,842
North East	16,716
Wales	15,114
East of England	13,473
Northern Ireland	10,641

What do buyers look for in a new home?

When comparing important features of buying a new home, the quality and quantity of outdoor space took the top spot. Our research showed that 33% of the UK considered this the most desirable feature. A surprising find was that only 17% of those surveyed considered being close to their family/friends the most essential factor to evaluate when buying a new home.

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Choice	Percentage
If it has outside space/size	33.20%
The size of the house	28.05%
It has space for parking	24.15%
The property having a nice surrounding area	21.70%
Good transport links	21.20%
Being closer to family/friends	17.05%
Being close to amenities - bars, shops	16.20%
That the area has a low crime rate	14.45%
The cost of running/maintaining the property	14.35%
How the house looks	11.90%

Sources

UK Finance
Halifax
GOV.UK
Finder commissioned OnePoll in August 2020 to find out the top considerations for buying a property. 2000 nationally representative UK adults were surveyed.

Quick overview
- The average age of a first-time buyer in the UK is 34 years old.
- This is 6 years older than the average age of a first-time buyer in 2007, which was 28 years old.
- The average deposit placed by a first-time buyer in 2019 was £46,200.
- The average first-time buyer mortgage in 2019 was £185,300.
- £231,500 was the average price of a home bought in the UK by a first-time buyer in 2019.
- The average deposit for a first-time buyer in London (£110,000) is almost as much as the total mortgage for a buyer in the North of England (£112,000).
- There were 356,000 first-time buyers in 2019, which was 163,000 more than in 2009.
- 6.2 million Brits (12%) said they moved back in with their parents due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- When you factor in parents who said their adult children had moved home with them, this figure rises to as much as 20% (10.5 million)
- Two-thirds (68%) of those who moved home said they expected to stay put for the foreseeable future.
- Of those who moved home, around 1.1 million Brits (18%) said they are paying rent on accommodation that they were not using. Over the first 3 months of lockdown, this cost an average of £2,658 per person and £2.9 billion across the UK.
- A third (33%) of the UK list outdoor space and its size as the most important factor when buying a house.
- 8% of the UK say they will not buy a property or another one.
- When it comes to those buying a home, over a third (34%) said that they will do so with a partner.
The housing market vs coronavirus
Despite mortgage approvals being down in 2020 so far (418,000 approvals) compared with the same period in 2019 (520,000 approvals), monthly mortgage approvals in August were the highest since 2007. This was due to buyers flooding the market to make the most of the government’s temporary zero stamp duty rate on transactions up to £500,000. This stamp duty holiday period started in July 2020 and ended in June 2021.
How old is the average first-time buyer?
The average age of a first-time buyer is 34, 6 years older than the average age of 28 in 2007 and 8 years older than the average age of 26 in 1997. This increase in the average age of first-time a buyer is likely due to the rise in the popularity of renting across all but the oldest age group. Those aged 25-34 have seen the biggest change, with 55% now renting, up from 35% in 1998.
There are several factors that could be contributing to declining rates of homeownership. This includes the increasing costs of entry-level properties and stricter mortgage lending rules following the 2008 recession.
34 years old
The average age of a first-time buyer in the UK is 34.
Average house price, mortgage and deposit for first-time buyers
The average price of a home bought by a first-time buyer in 2019 was over £231,500. In order to afford this, the average deposit was £46,200, or 20% of the house price, with an average mortgage of £185,268.
Average house price for a first-time buyer, 2009-2019
- The most expensive region. Unsurprisingly, was the most expensive region is London, where the average house price was £453,385 in 2019. London has also seen the biggest change over time, with a £231,278 (104%) increase from 2009.
- The cheapest region. On the other end of the spectrum, the cheapest region was the North, where the average house costs just £136,104 in 2019. Despite this, the North has seen a 38% price rise since 2009.
- The biggest increases since 2009. Outside of London, the biggest rise in house prices was in the South East (73%), followed by the East Midlands (68%), East Anglia (64%) and the West Midlands (57%).
- The biggest recent increases (since 2018). The biggest recent rise in house prices was in the Yorkshire and Humberside (9%), followed by the North West (9%) and the North (8%), the East Midlands (8%) and Scotland (8%).
Average deposit for a first-time buyer, 2009-2019
A house deposit is the amount of money you initially pay towards your house, which is a percentage of the full cost of the property you want to buy. A lender gives you a mortgage for the rest of the property, which you eventually pay back. You usually need a deposit of at least 5% of the property’s value, but the average deposit in the UK is 20%.
- The biggest deposit. A deposit for a house in London costs the most, at an average of £109,885 in 2019. London has also seen the greatest increase in deposit price since 2009, with a £31,908 (41%) increase since 2009.
- The smallest deposit. The North of England is the most affordable place for first-time buyers to put down a deposit for a house, costing just £24,091 in 2019. This is less than a quarter of the average London deposit and just over half the UK average.
- The difference. For first-time buyers, the average deposit in London (£110,000) is almost as much as the average total mortgage (£112,000) in the North of England.
- The biggest deposit decrease. Northern Ireland is the second cheapest place to put down a deposit, costing just £25,317 on average in 2019. This is a massive £9,039 (26%) decrease since 2009.
Number of first-time buyers
The total number of first-time buyers has remained consistent over the last 3 years, with around 350,000 first-time buyers each year. 2019 predictions show that there has been a small amount of growth in the number of first-time buyers – 1% from 2018 to 2019. The biggest rise in the last 10 years was in 2013, when there was a 22% increase in first-time buyers.
In 2019, over half of the homes purchased with house purchase loans were purchased by first-time buyers. This is the first time this has happened in the last 10 years, with the figure slowly increasing year-on-year since 2011.
Number of first-time buyers by region
The number of first-time buyers varies by region. The South East had the most first-time buyers in 2019, with over 68,000 people buying their first home. The region with the lowest amount of first-time buyers was Northern Ireland, where just over 11,000 people bought their first home in 2019.
The number of first-time buyers has risen in every single region across the UK since 2009. The region that has experienced the most growth in the last 10 years is Northern Ireland, where there was a 151% increase from 2009 to 2019 – that’s 6,600 more first-time buyers. The biggest change by straight numbers was seen in the South East, where 28,000 more people bought their first home in 2019 than in 2009 (a 69% increase).
First-time buyer mortgages
Over 350,000 Brits took out a mortgage to buy their first home in 2019, a 5% decrease from 2018. In December 2019, 29,490 first-time buyer mortgages were taken out, 0.3% more than in December 2018 (29,390). Take a look at the graphic below to see how many first-time buyers took out a mortgage each month of 2019.
Based on a total mortgage borrowing of £59.9 billion in 2019, the average individual mortgage size is, therefore, equivalent to £170,000. So far in 2020, the average mortgage size for first-time buyers is £170,301.
Sources
UK Finance
Halifax
Office for National Statistics (ONS)