Santander Mortgages’ survey found it takes first-time buyers an average of 29 months to save their deposit, with the majority of people using savings to pay for their deposit.

Almost one in five first-time buyers (17%) have paid a deposit of around 6% to 10% on their first home, with 3.5m non-homeowners (12%) putting down between 11% and 20% to ensure they secure a foot on to the property ladder.

Just one in ten paid almost half of the full property price with a deposit, with a further 15% buying the property outright.

When buying their first home, 43% first-time buyers used their savings to get on the property ladder, while 8% relied on inheritance or used money gifted from parents (6%), 5% sought additional work and 4% took out a loan.

Phil Cliff, director of Santander Mortgages, said: “Our research has found that, despite the availability of 5% deposit mortgages throughout most of the noughties, first-time buyers opted to put down an average of 17% deposit to secure their first home – over 2% more than the average deposit currently paid now. The majority have done so via the ‘traditional’ route of savings.”

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Deposits for first homes in the South West were the highest, at an average of 20.7% compared to London’s 18%.

Those in the North East averaged 8.9% of the property’s value. First-time buyers in London were the most independent, with 1.6m (57%) using their own savings to fund the deposit for their first home. This was closely followed by first-time buyers in Wales (55%).

Buyers in Wales and Northern Ireland (both 11%) were also prepared to take on extra work to build their deposit, while just 2% of East of England buyers relied on their parents to gift them the money.