Average deposits for first-time buyers rose by £10,000 in 2020 - here’s how they compare around the UK

Average UK house deposits for first-time buyers rose by £10,000 last year, according to research from Halifax (Photo: Shutterstock)Average UK house deposits for first-time buyers rose by £10,000 last year, according to research from Halifax (Photo: Shutterstock)
Average UK house deposits for first-time buyers rose by £10,000 last year, according to research from Halifax (Photo: Shutterstock)

Average UK house deposits for first-time buyers rose by £10,000 last year, according to research from Halifax.

The average amount new buyers across the UK were required to put down for a house deposit increased by £10,829 to £57,278 - which is a 23 per cent rise - according to data from Halifax.

Meanwhile, average deposits for first-time buyers in London rose by £20,211 (18 per cent) to £130,357.

These are the average first-time buyer deposits around the UK in 2019 compared to 2020, with the increases in both percentage and cash, according to Halifax:

  • Northern Ireland: £25,327, £29,523, 17%, £4,196
  • Scotland: £30,101, £35,745, 19%, £5,644
  • Wales: £26,029, £32,663, 25%, £6,634
  • North East England: £23,788, £29,563, 24%, £5,775
  • North West: £29,519, £34,347, 16%, £4,829
  • Yorkshire and the Humber: £28,008, £33,313, 19%, £5,305
  • East Midlands: £33,268, £39,052, 17%, £5,783
  • West Midlands: £34,008, £42,062, 24%, £8,054
  • East Anglia: £43,474, £51,126, 18%, £7,652
  • South West: £42,504, £51,397, 21%, £8,893
  • South East: £54,654, £64,910, 19%, £10,256
  • London: £110,145, £130,357, 18%, £20,211

Fall in first-time buyers

Halifax - which used UK Finance figures for part of its calculations - said that the overall number of first-time buyers in 2020 was down by more than 46,000 compared with 2019, with an estimated 304,657 first-time buyers last year.

The bank found that around the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, had the biggest decreases in first-time buyers in 2020. In England, London was the area that experienced the smallest fall in buyers.

However, despite the fall in first-time buyers compared to 2019, they still made up a large amount of purchases last year.

Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax, said that the fall in first-time buyers during the first half of 2020 was “inevitable” due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, he noted that despite the initial drop, the second half of 2020 saw a strong recovery.

Mr Galley said: "Whilst these figures confirm the almost inevitable fall in the overall number of first-time buyers in 2020 - with the entire housing market effectively shuttered during the first national lockdown - they also underline just how strong the bounce-back was in the second half of the year.

"Despite the obvious challenges presented by soaring house prices, not least the need to raise an even bigger deposit, first-time buyers still accounted for half of all home purchases, a reassuring statistic given their overall importance to the market.”