Rural Housing Week – first time buyers

In 2020-21, there were around 957,000 first time buyers in England, 131,000 more compared to 2019-20. That is, buyers who had bought a home for the first time and had not owned a property previously.

In 2020-21, the average age of first time buyers was 32 years, and an average (mean) deposit of £44,294 was paid. Approximately 62% of first time buyers with a mortgage had a repayment period of 30 years, higher than the 47% of first time buyers in 2019-20.

Most first time buyers (91%) funded the purchase of their first home with savings, 23% reported receiving help from family or friends, while 6% used an inheritance as a source of deposit. Between 2017-18 and 2020-21, the proportion of first time buyers using savings to purchase their first home increased (from 76% to 91%), whereas the proportion receiving a gift or loan from family or friends decreased from 39% to 23% over the same period.

In 2020-21, 61% of private renters (2.5 million households) and 25% of social renters (980,000 households) said they expected to buy a property at some point in the future (not necessarily as first time buyers).

Source: English Housing Survey Headline Report 2020-21