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.”
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.
