FIRST TIME BUYER DEPOSITS GROW BY NEARLY £2,000 IN A YEAR

THE increasing cost of buying your first home in Great Britain means first time buyers need to save far more for a deposit than they did just a year ago.

- By DAVID DUBAS-FISHER

First time buyers paid an average of £249,763 for their homes in England in the year to March 2025.

That's an increase of almost £18,000 compared to a year earlier, according to the latest figures from the Land Registry.

It works out as an annual increase of 7.7% - more than double the rate of inflation, which stands at 3.5%.

It means someone saving the typical 10% deposit needs to save almost £2,000 more to buy their first home than they did just a year ago.

The cost of purchasing your first home also outstripped inflation in both Wales and Scotland, but not to the same level.