Average first-time buyer mortgage payment nearly £100 less than last year

• Ahead of the Bank of England’s interest rate decision at 12:00pm on Thursday, Rightmove’s analysis shows that the typical first-time buyer monthly mortgage payment is nearly £100 less than at this time last year
• The average first-time buyer mortgage payment is currently £909 per month, versus £1,002 per month last year
• The average two-year fixed mortgage rate for someone with a 20% deposit has lowered from 5.21% at this time last year, to 4.38% now
• Meanwhile, the average asking price for a typical first-time buyer home has remained flat and is now £227,466, while average earnings have increased by 5% compared to last year
• In London, a first-time buyer could be looking at a saving of £240 per month on a mortgage compared with this time last year
• Aberdeen, Hull & Carlisle are the lowest priced cities for first-time buyers to get onto the ladder, while London, St. Albans & Cambridge are the most expensive

Ahead of the Bank of England’s interest rate decision at 12:00pm on Thursday, Rightmove, the UK’s largest property platform, analysis shows that the typical first-time buyer monthly mortgage payment is nearly £100 (-£93) less than at this time last year.

The average first-time buyer mortgage payment is currently £909 per month, versus £1,002 per month last year.

The analysis is based on the typical first-time buyer property sector of two-bedrooms or fewer homes, and a deposit size of 20%, with mortgage costs spread over 30 years.

Mortgage rates have been slowly trending downwards this year. The average two-year fixed mortgage rate for someone with a 20% deposit has lowered from 5.21% at this time last year, to 4.38% now.

Over the same period, the average five-year fixed mortgage rate for someone with a 20% deposit has lowered from 4.91% to 4.52%. As mortgage rates have come down, average first-time buyer property prices have remained flat and average wages have increased – combining to slowly improve buyer affordability.

The average asking price for a typical first-time buyer property in Great Britain is now £227,466, while the latest snapshot of average earnings suggests wages have increased by 5% compared to last year. The average asking price for a first-time buyer type property was £227,924 at this time last year.

In London, the most expensive location to get onto the ladder, a first-time buyer could be looking at a saving of £240 per month on a mortgage compared with this time last year. The average asking price for a typical first-time buyer type home in the capital is £497,295.

For those looking for city life without the capital’s price tag, Aberdeen, Hull & Carlisle are currently the lowest priced cities for first-time buyers to get onto the ladder.

After London, St. Albans & Cambridge are currently the highest priced cities for first-time buyers.

Colleen Babcock, Rightmove’s property expert says: “Affordability is still playing a key role in market activity right now. The factors which contribute to buyer affordability are improving, and if we see further Bank Rate reductions this year followed by mortgage rate drops, this could spur more buyers on during the second half of this year.”

Cheapest cities for first-time buyers

Most expensive cities for first-time buyers

ENDS

About Rightmove

• Rightmove has the UK’s largest selection of properties for sale and to rent, adds more listings than anyone else, and over 80% of all time spent on property portals is on Rightmove.
• Rightmove’s vision is to give everyone the belief that they can make their move by giving people the best place to turn and return to for access to tools and expertise to make it happen.
• People can search Rightmove for residential resale, new homes, rentals, commercial property and overseas properties and use tools and information including getting a Mortgage in Principle, checking local sold prices, property valuations, market trends, maps and schools.
• Customers include the following key groups: estate agents, lettings agents, new homes developers, rental operators, commercial property operators and overseas property agents and financial services operators
• Using the UK’s largest housing datasets, we issue a number of regular reports to track housing market indicators: our monthly House Price Index (established 2002), quarterly Rental Trends Tracker (established 2015), weekly Mortgage Rates Tracker (established 2023) and quarterly Commercial Insights Tracker (established 2024). Historical data is available on request
• Founded in 2000, Rightmove listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and is a member of the FTSE 100 index.
• For more information, please visit www.rightmove.co.uk/claims