Data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in its English Housing Survey found that this was up from the 47% share of first-time buyers who had repayment terms of more than 30 years in 2019-20.
In 2024-25, 29% of new homeowners had a repayment period of 20-29 years, while 9% had terms of 1-19 years.
The data showed that 59% of first-time buyers paid a deposit of less than 20% of the purchase price of their home, and within this, 16% paid a deposit between 1% and 9% and 43% put down between 10% and 19%. Just 8% of first-time buyers bought their home outright in 2024-25.
The majority – 86% – bought their first home using savings, while 31% said they were helped by family or friends. Some 6% of new homeowners used an inheritance for their deposit.
On average, first-time buyers had a deposit of £78,131 in 2024-25, and the MHCLG said it was therefore not surprising that most – 64% – were in the top two income quintiles.
The big BTL planner: Key dates landlords need to know
Sponsored by BM Solutions
Average first-time buyer mortgage repayments rise
The data showed that mortgagors spent around 19% of their household income on mortgage repayments, and the average for a first-time buyer was £242 per week. This was up from £222 in 2023-24 and £182 in 2019-20.
In London, the average weekly mortgage repayment was £375, compared to £220 across the rest of England, and both were higher than the averages of 2023-24.
Some 14% of all mortgagors said they were finding it either fairly or very difficult to pay their mortgage, but just 0.6% reported being in arrears. The proportion of mortgagors in arrears has remained below 1% since 2015-16.
Larger share of first-time buyers outside of London
The data showed there were around 967,000 recent first-time buyers in England in 2024-25, made up of people who had not previously owned a property and purchased for the first time in the last three years.
Some 14% were in London, and the rest were in England.
This was up from a population of 564,000 first-time buyers in 2014-15, and fewer were buying in London as, a decade ago, 22% were in the capital and 78% were in the rest of England.
The average age of a new homeowner in England was 34 years – both including and excluding London – which is up from 32 in 2019-20. In London alone, the average age of a first-time buyer was 35, compared to 34 during the pre-pandemic years.
First-time buyers between the ages of 25 and 34 were the largest share of new homeowners, accounting for 58% in 2024-25, while 28% of first-time buyers were aged 35-44.
The MHCLG data showed a rise in the share of first-time buyers aged 45 and over, increasing from 5% in 2019-20 to 9% in 2024-25.
More first-time buyer households were in the name of someone from an ethnic minority group than in the pre-pandemic period, rising from 15% in 2019-20 to 23% in 2024-25.
The share of first-time buyer households with a white householder fell from 85% to 77% over the same period.
Further, the share of first-time buyer households with just one person rose from 19% to 29%, and 40% of first-time buyer households were couples with no dependent children.
