First time buyer mortgages
Specialist UK first-time buyer mortgage advice. From £250,000+.
A first-time buyer mortgage is a residential mortgage for someone who has never owned UK property before. The product itself is broadly a standard residential mortgage. What makes first-time buying different is the deposit-help routes (5%, 1%, 0% deposit options), the first-time buyer stamp duty relief (zero SDLT to £425,000), and the lender appetite for low and no-deposit lending in 2026.
Fox Davidson arranges first-time buyer mortgages from £250,000+ across England, Scotland and Wales. Senior broker on the first call, with full access to the active UK first-time buyer market: high street clearing banks, building society manual-underwrite desks, specialist residential lenders and HNW private bank routes. We model the deposit route, the affordability stack, the SDLT outcome and the rate trade-off in the same conversation, before you offer.
Why use a mortgage broker as a first time buyer? A broker places your application with the lender whose criteria actually fit your deposit, income and property type first time, rather than risking a decline on your credit file. We arrange first time buyer mortgages UK-wide with deposits from 5%, including new build, gifted deposits and joint borrower sole proprietor structures.
First-time buyer mortgages in 2026
A first-time buyer mortgage is a residential mortgage for someone (or a couple) who has never owned UK property before. The product itself is broadly a standard residential mortgage. What makes first-time buying different is the deposit-help routes, the first-time buyer stamp duty relief, and lender appetite for low and no-deposit lending. In 2026 there are more 5% deposit products available than at any time since March 2008, several 1% and 0% deposit routes through specific lenders, and 100% LTV options where parents support the deposit or affordability.
Fox Davidson arranges first-time buyer mortgages from £250,000+ across England, Scotland and Wales. We work with the full residential lender market: high street clearing banks, building society manual-underwrite desks, specialist residential lenders, and private banks for HNW first-time buyer cases under the FCA high net worth definition.
What we have noticed across the last twelve months is that first-time buyer enquiries are running well above the levels we used to see, and the profile has changed. The classic young couple at 95% LTV is still the largest share, but a third or so of our cases now sit outside that pattern: older first-time buyers in their late thirties and forties, single buyers stretching to a sole-name mortgage, and professional first-timers on higher incomes targeting properties above £625,000 where the SDLT relief stops. Lender variety is the lever that turns each of those cases into an approved offer.
Common first-time buyer deposit routes
Six deposit and affordability routes sit across the active UK first-time buyer market. Each one has its own lender list, its own LTV cap, and its own qualifying criteria. The right one depends on what the buyer has saved, whether parents can help, and whether the buyer has rental history that meets the lender's evidence requirements.
5% deposit standard mortgage
The mainstream first-time buyer route. 95% LTV across Halifax, Santander, NatWest, HSBC, Nationwide, Barclays and the major building societies. Mortgage Guarantee Scheme still active in 2026. Standard affordability, standard credit. Most cases sit here.
100% LTV no-deposit Track-Record
Skipton Building Society Track-Record mortgage. No deposit at all, for renters with 12+ months continuous rental history. The proposed mortgage payment must be at or below the rent the buyer has been paying. Manual underwrite, fixed-rate-only.
99% LTV 1% deposit
Yorkshire Building Society 99% LTV product. Buyer needs only a 1% deposit. Manual underwrite, tighter affordability criteria than 95% LTV high-street products. Useful where the buyer has rent track-record but not 12 months at Skipton's level.
100% LTV with parent deposit support
Lloyds Lend a Hand and Barclays Family Springboard. Parents put 10% of the purchase price into a linked lender savings account (Lloyds) or as a deposit guarantee (Barclays) for 3 to 5 years. Parents earn interest, deposit returned if the buyer keeps payments on time.
JBSP, parents on mortgage and buyer on title
Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor. Parents add income to the mortgage but stay off the title. Buyer keeps first-time buyer SDLT relief in full. Parental SDLT surcharge does not apply. Most tax-efficient family-help route. See our JBSP page.
Gifted deposit plus sole mortgage
Parents gift the deposit, buyer takes a sole mortgage in their own name. Gift letter required by the lender. Clean SDLT position. Buyer's income alone must support the loan, so works best where the buyer's own affordability is already strong but the saved deposit is short.
First-time buyer SDLT relief, in numbers
First-time buyer stamp duty relief in England and Northern Ireland (SDLT) is structured around two thresholds and one hard cap. Get the structure right and the saving on a typical first home runs into thousands. Get the title wrong (one of the buyers has owned before, anywhere in the world) and the relief disappears entirely.
- First £425,000. Zero SDLT for first-time buyers (versus 0% to £125,000 then 2% to £250,000 then 5% to £925,000 on a standard residential purchase).
- £425,001 to £625,000. 5% SDLT on the slice above £425,000. Relief still applies in the band.
- Above £625,000. No first-time buyer relief at all. Standard residential SDLT applies on the whole purchase price from £0.
The arithmetic on three common first-home prices:
- £450,000 first-time-buyer purchase. Zero on the first £425,000, 5% on the £25,000 slice above. Total SDLT: £1,250.
- £600,000 first-time-buyer purchase. Zero on the first £425,000, 5% on the £175,000 slice above. Total SDLT: £8,750.
- £700,000 purchase, NO relief (above £625,000 cap). Standard residential bands across the whole price: zero to £125,000, 2% on £125,001 to £250,000, 5% on £250,001 to £925,000. Total SDLT: £25,000.
The critical point on relief eligibility. First-time buyer relief only applies if ALL buyers on the title are first-time buyers. If one buyer on a couple's title has owned property before, anywhere in the world, the relief is lost on the whole transaction. This is the most common reason couples lose relief unexpectedly: one partner inherited a share of a family property years ago, never disposed of it, and that historic ownership now blocks the relief on the new joint purchase. JBSP is the structural answer to this problem (parent income on the mortgage, only the first-time-buyer child on the title).
Equivalent reliefs operate in Scotland (LBTT) and Wales (LTT) with different bands and percentages. The principle is the same: relief attaches to the buyer, all buyers must qualify, the relief disappears above a hard cap.
How UK lenders assess first-time buyer affordability
The affordability calculation on a first-time buyer mortgage is the place where most cases get downsized at offer. The mechanics are not difficult, but the constraints stack. Each lender starts with an income multiple, runs a stress test at the lender's stress rate, then deducts committed expenditure from the surplus. The route the case is placed at can move the borrowing figure by £75,000 to £150,000 on the same income.
- Standard income multiples. 4.5x of declared income across most of the high street. Single or joint stacked. A couple on £55,000 each (£110,000 joint) typically gets to £495,000 maximum borrowing at the standard 4.5x.
- Nationwide Helping Hand, 6x for first-time buyers. Nationwide's Helping Hand product lifts the multiple to 6x income for first-time buyers earning £35,000+ single or £55,000+ joint (employed, current Nationwide-defined criteria). On £50,000 single income, the multiple moves from 4.5x (£225,000) to 6x (£300,000), a £75,000 uplift on the borrowing figure for the same buyer.
- Professional schemes, 5x to 6x. Halifax, NatWest, Santander and Skipton run professional schemes for first-time buyers in qualifying professions (medics, lawyers, accountants, vets, dentists, surveyors, architects). 5x to 6x income, with 6x reserved for income above £75,000 typically. Sits alongside the FTB route.
- Stress test 6.5% to 7.0% pay rate. Most lenders stress affordability at a pay rate around 6.5% to 7%, regardless of the actual product rate. This is the test that limits maximum borrowing more than the multiple does on many cases.
- 95% LTV affordability tightening. Higher LTV brackets typically apply slightly tighter affordability than 90% LTV brackets at the same lender. The lender treats 5% deposit cases as marginally higher risk and reflects that in the maximum loan-to-income.
- 99% LTV Yorkshire Building Society. Manual underwrite, tighter criteria than the high street 95% products. Demonstrated savings discipline (rent paid in full and on time for 12+ months) is the strongest single positive on Yorkshire's view of the case.
- 100% LTV Skipton Track-Record. 12+ months continuous rental history evidence required, rent must be equivalent to or higher than the proposed mortgage payment. Manual underwrite, fixed-rate-only product. The single strongest no-deposit FTB route in the market.
- 100% LTV with parent support. Lloyds Lend a Hand: parents put 10% of the price into a Lloyds savings account for 3 years; parents earn interest; the buyer takes 100% LTV; deposit returned to parents if mortgage payments stay on time. Barclays Family Springboard: similar mechanic, parental deposit held as a guarantee for 5 years.
- Committed expenditure. Childcare, student loan repayments, regular subscriptions, gym memberships, mobile contracts, leased car payments and active credit card balances all reduce the affordability surplus. Smaller items combined often shift the borrowing figure by £40,000 to £80,000 across the case.
What we find is that the same first-time buyer can borrow £100,000 to £180,000 more at one lender than another on the identical income and committed expenditure, simply because the right product (Helping Hand, professional scheme, or specialist higher-multiple lender) is available to that buyer. The lender selection is the borrowing figure. The headline rate is a separate decision.
First-time buyer lenders and rates in 2026
Four tiers of lender sit across the active first-time buyer market in 2026. Each one has its place. The right tier depends on the deposit available, the buyer's income profile, whether parents can support, and whether the buyer's credit is clean.
- High street clearing banks with strong FTB offers. Halifax (5% deposit standard, fast AIP). Nationwide (Helping Hand 6x income for FTB earning £35,000+ single or £55,000+ joint). Lloyds (Lend a Hand 100% LTV with 10% parent deposit held in Lloyds savings). Barclays (Family Springboard 100% LTV with parent deposit guarantee). Santander, NatWest, HSBC running standard FTB at competitive 95% LTV rates. Used on most clean-profile first-time buyer cases.
- Building societies for no and low deposit plus manual underwrite. Skipton Building Society (Track-Record 100% LTV for renters with 12+ months rental history). Yorkshire Building Society (99% LTV, 1% deposit product). Family Building Society (Generation Home product, JBSP, Cash + Mortgage range). Coventry, Leeds, Suffolk, Furness, Tipton & Coseley, Buckinghamshire, Bath Building Society, Newcastle Building Society, full manual underwrite, useful where the case needs a human reading the file rather than a scorecard.
- Specialist first-time buyer lenders. Vida (1-year self-employed accounts accepted on FTB cases). Saffron (recent self-employed, retained profit considered for income). Kensington (complex credit on a first-time buyer, recent defaults or CCJs). MBS Lending (1-year accounts). Used where the case has a complicating factor that the high street will not look at. Rates typically 30 to 80 basis points above prime FTB.
- HNW private banks for high-income first-time buyers. Coutts, Weatherbys, Investec, Barclays Private Bank. For first-time buyers who qualify under the FCA high net worth definition (income above £300,000 or net assets above £3 million). Used widely on young professional first-time buyers with carried interest, RSU vesting, equity partner buy-ins, and high-bonus financial services income. Whole-of-wealth assessment, no formal income multiple applied.
Indicative 5-year fixed first-time buyer rates in 2026:
- High street prime FTB (60% to 90% LTV, clean profile): 4.65% to 5.50%
- Mainstream FTB (90% to 95% LTV, standard income): 5.00% to 5.85%
- Specialist FTB (95% LTV, complex income or recent credit): 5.55% to 6.50%
- 99% LTV Yorkshire Building Society: 5.45% to 6.00%
- 100% LTV Skipton Track-Record (no deposit, premium reflects risk): 5.85% to 6.65%
- 100% LTV with parent deposit support (Lloyds Lend a Hand, Barclays Family Springboard): 5.35% to 5.95%
- HNW private bank FTB (Coutts, Weatherbys, Investec, the FCA high net worth rules qualifying, 70% to 85% LTV): 5.10% to 5.85%
Rates and lender criteria are subject to change. Figures correct at time of publication. Always speak to your broker for up-to-date rates and lending criteria on your specific case.
Bristol couple, professional income, 92.5% LTV at Halifax
A representative case from earlier this year, anonymised. Tom and Beth, both 29, renting in Easton, Bristol. Tom software engineer at a Bristol fintech, base salary £62,000 plus small annual bonus. Beth marketing manager at a hospitality group, base salary £48,000. Combined assessable income £110,000. £35,000 saved between them across two ISAs, no parental help.
Target purchase: 3-bedroom mid-terrace in Bedminster, Bristol, on the market at £465,000. Vendor agreed to £462,000 at offer. Tom and Beth needed a mortgage of £427,000 against the £462,000 price, deposit 7.5% (£35,000), borrowing 92.5% LTV.
Affordability at standard 4.5x income multiple. £110,000 x 4.5x = £495,000 maximum borrowing. £427,000 target sits comfortably inside the cap. The stress test was the harder part: Halifax stresses at 7% pay rate on a 30-year term, producing a stressed monthly payment of around £2,840. Tom and Beth's net joint monthly pay was approximately £6,900. The stressed payment landed at 41% of net pay, slightly above the 35-40% comfort range Halifax look for, but accepted on the case because both have stable employed income, no children yet, and minimal committed expenditure (one phone contract, gym membership, no car loan, small student loan repayments).
Lender selection. Halifax 5-year fix at 5.25% on the 92.5% LTV bracket, 30-year term. Monthly payment £2,400. Tom and Beth chose the 30-year term over a 25-year to keep the monthly within budget headroom for the first few years; the plan is to overpay during good bonus years and to remortgage onto a shorter term once both salaries grow.
SDLT outcome. Both first-time buyers, both on the title together. Both qualify for first-time buyer relief. Purchase at £462,000: zero SDLT on the first £425,000, 5% on the £37,000 slice above. Total SDLT: £1,850.
Sarah's observation. Halifax's stress at 7% works on this case because both incomes are employed (PAYE), the committed expenditure is genuinely low, and there are no dependents yet. If Beth had a child or two and £900 a month in nursery fees, the same income would have downsized at Halifax and we would have moved the case to Nationwide Helping Hand, where the 6x multiple absorbs more committed expenditure on the back of the higher gross loan-to-income headroom. Two routes available on the same family stack, and the lender selection was the difference between an offer and a decline.
Nationwide Helping Hand: the 6x income lever for first-time buyers
Nationwide Helping Hand is the single biggest borrowing lever in standard first-time buyer advice. The product allows qualifying first-time buyers to borrow up to 6x income against the standard 4.5x available across most of the high street. On a £50,000 single income that lifts the maximum borrowing from £225,000 to £300,000, a £75,000 uplift on the same buyer, same property profile, same credit.
- Eligibility. Single applicant earning £35,000+ or joint applicants earning £55,000+ combined. Employed income (PAYE) preferred; self-employed is treated case-by-case with reduced multiple in some scenarios.
- Income multiple. Up to 6x assessed income. Standard Nationwide stress test still applies at the lender's affordability rate; the lift sits in the gross multiple at the start of the calculation.
- LTV brackets. Available across 75% to 95% LTV at first-time buyer rates. Mortgage Guarantee Scheme can apply at the 95% LTV end.
- Worked outcome. Single applicant on £50,000 income borrowing on a clean credit profile: standard 4.5x produces £225,000 maximum borrowing. Nationwide Helping Hand at 6x produces £300,000 maximum on the same case. The difference is the gap between a Bristol flat and a Bristol house for that buyer.
- What gets the case declined. High committed expenditure (a leased car, multiple credit cards, active loan balances), childcare commitments stacked into stress, or a thin credit file. Nationwide want to see the gross multiple AND the surplus after stress; we model both before submission.
Sarah's broker observation. We use Helping Hand on around a third of the first-time buyer cases we look at that are not going specialist or JBSP. Lender criteria do move, so we re-check eligibility at every application; Nationwide tweak the qualifying income thresholds and the LTV brackets across the year. When it fits, it is the single biggest borrowing uplift available to a first-time buyer without restructuring the case to JBSP or to a private bank.
When a first-time buyer case needs specialist treatment
Most first-time buyer cases fit the high street. Some do not. Recognising which category a case falls into in the first call saves weeks of wasted application time and protects the buyer from an unnecessary credit search at a lender who was never going to lend.
- Self-employed first-time buyer with less than 2 years accounts. Most high street lenders want 2 years SA302s or company accounts. Vida, Saffron, MBS Lending and a small group of specialists accept 1 year of accounts on a self-employed first-time buyer where the income trajectory is credible.
- First-time buyer with recent credit blips or thin file. Vida, Kensington, Together, Bluestone and Pepper Money look at first-time buyers with historic defaults, CCJs, or a thin credit file from never having held credit before. Rates above prime, but a route where the high street will not look at the case.
- First-time buyer buying non-standard property. Timber-frame, ex-local authority, listed, above commercial premises, high-rise above the 4th floor, or with a short lease. Specialist criteria from a small subset of lenders. We map the property profile to the right lender appetite before the case is submitted.
- First-time buyer with no deposit and no qualifying rental history. Skipton Track-Record needs 12+ months continuous rent paid in full. Where the rental history is short or inconsistent, the case is either JBSP, guarantor (rare in 2026), or a savings-and-wait conversation.
- HNW first-time buyer with carried interest, RSU vesting or unusual income. Private bank assessment under the FCA high net worth definition. Whole-of-wealth approach, no formal multiple. Common on young professional first-time buyers at Magic Circle law firms, hedge funds, top-tier tech, where the income profile sits outside standard PAYE.
Blunt opinion. The cheapest five-year fix you see in the best-buy tables is rarely the right product for an actual first-time buyer case. Affordability headroom and lender appetite drive the right lender. The headline rate comes second. We have seen first-time buyers walk into the high street, get offered a 4.79% rate, then watch the lender downsize the borrowing by £80,000 at offer because the stress maths did not stack up. A 5.25% rate at a lender that approves the full borrowing figure is a better outcome than a 4.79% rate at a lender that will not lend what the buyer needs.
Run the SDLT on your first-time buyer purchase
Stamp duty on a first-time buyer purchase is calculated against the title-holders. The Fox Davidson UK stamp duty calculator runs SDLT (England and Northern Ireland), LBTT (Scotland) and LTT (Wales). Set the buyer type to first-time buyer if all buyers on the title qualify for relief, or standard residential if any buyer on the title has owned property before. Above £625,000 in England the first-time buyer relief disappears and standard residential bands apply across the whole price.
How Fox Davidson arranges your first-time buyer mortgage
First-time buyer cases hinge on the early conversation about deposit, affordability, SDLT and lender appetite. Once those four are mapped, the rest of the application is straightforward.
Step 1: Case scoping - deposit, income, target price and lender shortlist
We map the deposit available (saved, gifted, parental support), the income stack (single or joint, PAYE or self-employed), the target purchase price band, and any credit considerations. We run the SDLT calculation against the target price so the buyer knows the full transaction cost up front. The output is a shortlist of three to five lenders with the best fit on the case.
Step 2: Agreement in Principle and full lender selection
We pull an Agreement in Principle (AIP) from the lender most likely to deliver the highest borrowing figure on the affordability stack. The AIP is what estate agents and vendors look for before accepting an offer. We then finalise the lender and product on the back of the AIP outcome: standard rate or Helping Hand, fixed or tracker, 25 or 30 year term, capital repayment or part-and-part.
Step 3: Mortgage application and valuation
Once the offer on a property is accepted, we submit the full mortgage application. Lender instructs a valuation. We coordinate with the buyer's solicitor on conveyancing kick-off, source-of-funds evidence for the deposit, and gift letter sign-off where parents are supporting the deposit.
Step 4: Underwriting and formal mortgage offer
We stay on the case through underwriting to formal mortgage offer, fielding underwriter follow-up questions in real time. Lenders typically come back with one or two clarifying questions on a clean FTB case: source of deposit, employment confirmation, occasionally a clarification on committed expenditure shown in bank statements. We handle the response so the buyer is not chasing.
Step 5: Exchange and completion
On completion the lender releases funds, the SDLT is paid through the conveyancer at the first-time buyer rate, and the buyer takes possession. We stay in touch for the rate roll-off conversation 18 to 24 months ahead of fix expiry, and for any future remortgage or move-up conversation.
Speak to a specialist about your first home
If you are arranging a first-time buyer purchase from £250,000+ in England, Scotland or Wales, we will tell you which deposit route fits your situation, what the maximum borrowing figure looks like across the active lender market, and what the SDLT bill comes to on your specific purchase.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a first-time buyer?
For UK mortgage and stamp duty purposes a first-time buyer is someone who has never owned a residential property anywhere in the world. Owning a share of a property (through inheritance, a divorce settlement, or being on the title as a co-owner historically) counts as previous ownership and disqualifies first-time buyer status, even where the buyer never lived in the property. Owning commercial property does not disqualify. The test is residential ownership only. On a joint purchase, all buyers on the title must be first-time buyers for the relief to apply.
How much deposit do I need to buy my first home in 2026?
5% deposit is the standard high street first-time buyer route in 2026, with the 95% LTV product count at the highest level since March 2008. 1% deposit is available through Yorkshire Building Society's 99% LTV product. Zero deposit is available through Skipton Building Society's Track-Record mortgage for renters with 12+ months continuous rental history. 100% LTV is also available through Lloyds Lend a Hand and Barclays Family Springboard where parents put 10% of the price into a linked lender savings account or guarantee. Above £500,000 most lenders prefer at least 10% deposit. Cases above £625,000 lose first-time buyer SDLT relief regardless of deposit size.
Can I get a 100% mortgage as a first-time buyer?
Yes. Three 100% LTV routes are open to first-time buyers in 2026. Skipton Building Society Track-Record needs no deposit but requires 12+ months continuous rental history at or above the proposed mortgage payment, manual underwrite, fixed-rate-only. Lloyds Lend a Hand needs parents to put 10% of the price into a Lloyds savings account for 3 years (parents earn interest, deposit returned to parents if the buyer keeps payments on time). Barclays Family Springboard works on a similar mechanic with a parental deposit guarantee for 5 years. Track-Record is the pure no-deposit route; Lend a Hand and Family Springboard need parents able to lock up 10% of the price. Lloyds also launched an £5,000 minimum deposit product in May 2026 on properties up to £300,000 for a different niche.
What is the Skipton Track-Record mortgage and how do I qualify?
The Skipton Building Society Track-Record mortgage is a 100% LTV (no deposit) fixed-rate mortgage for first-time buyer renters. Qualifying criteria: 12 or more months continuous rental history evidenced through rent payments, rent paid in full and on time, the proposed monthly mortgage payment must be at or below the rent the buyer has been paying, all applicants must be first-time buyers, and the property purchased must be the borrower's main residence. Manual underwrite. The product was designed to solve the deposit problem for renters who can already demonstrate they pay a mortgage-equivalent monthly amount on time. Rates carry a premium relative to 95% LTV products to reflect the no-deposit risk; in 2026 typically in the 5.85% to 6.65% range on the 5-year fix.
How much SDLT does a first-time buyer pay in England?
First-time buyer SDLT relief in England and Northern Ireland gives zero SDLT on the first £425,000 of the purchase price and 5% on the slice from £425,001 to £625,000. Above £625,000 the relief disappears and standard residential SDLT applies across the whole purchase price from £0. On a £450,000 first-home purchase, total SDLT is £1,250. On a £600,000 purchase, total SDLT is £8,750. On a £700,000 purchase with no relief, total SDLT is £25,000 (standard residential bands across the whole price). First-time buyer relief only applies if all buyers on the title qualify as first-time buyers. If one buyer on a joint purchase has owned property before anywhere in the world, the relief is lost on the whole transaction.
What is Nationwide Helping Hand and how much more can I borrow?
Nationwide Helping Hand is Nationwide's enhanced first-time buyer affordability product, lifting the income multiple from the standard 4.5x to up to 6x for qualifying first-time buyers. Eligibility: single applicants earning £35,000+ or joint applicants earning £55,000+ combined, typically PAYE employed income. On a single £50,000 income, standard 4.5x produces £225,000 maximum borrowing; Helping Hand at 6x produces £300,000, a £75,000 uplift on the same buyer. Standard Nationwide stress test still applies, so committed expenditure (childcare, loans, leased cars, credit cards) reduces the surplus alongside the higher gross multiple. The product is the single biggest borrowing lever available to a first-time buyer on a high street application.
How do parents help with a first-time buyer mortgage?
Four common parental support routes for first-time buyer mortgages. Gifted deposit plus sole mortgage: parents gift the deposit, child takes the mortgage alone in their name, gift letter required by the lender, clean SDLT position, but the child's income alone must support the loan. JBSP (Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor): parents on the mortgage, child on the title alone, parental income stacks into affordability, child keeps first-time buyer SDLT relief, parental SDLT surcharge does not apply, most tax-efficient family-help route. Lloyds Lend a Hand: parents put 10% of the price into a Lloyds savings account for 3 years, child takes 100% LTV, parents earn interest. Barclays Family Springboard: parental deposit guarantee for 5 years, child takes 100% LTV. The right route depends on whether parents need their money back during the early years, whether parents need to earn interest on the deposit, and whether the SDLT angle matters on the family's specific position.
Can I get a first-time buyer mortgage if I am self-employed?
Yes. Most high street first-time buyer lenders accept self-employed applicants with 2 years of SA302s or limited company accounts. Halifax, Santander, Nationwide, Barclays and HSBC all lend on self-employed first-time buyers with 2 years of evidence. For self-employed first-time buyers with only 1 year of accounts, the specialist tier opens up: Vida, Saffron Building Society, MBS Lending and a small group of building societies accept 1-year accounts where the income trajectory is credible. The income figure used is typically net profit (sole trader) or salary plus dividends (limited company); some specialist lenders accept salary plus retained profit on a limited company structure, which can deliver a materially higher assessable income. Rates on the specialist tier carry a small premium over high street rates. We covered the self-employed mortgage detail in full on our self-employed mortgages page.
What credit score do I need as a first-time buyer?
UK lenders do not use a single national credit score. Each lender runs its own underwriting model against the credit file data from Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. For high street first-time buyer lending, lenders typically look for a clean credit file with no recent defaults, no current arrears, no CCJs in the last 6 years, and a credit history showing regular payment performance on existing credit (mobile contracts, credit cards, store cards). A thin file (no credit history at all) is more common on younger first-time buyers and is handled differently by different lenders: some accept it, some require evidence of bill payment history at the rental address, some prefer to see a small revolving credit facility used and paid down over the previous 12 months. First-time buyers with historic adverse credit (defaults, CCJs, IVAs) move to the specialist tier (Vida, Kensington, Pepper Money, Bluestone, Together) which assesses the file in full rather than scorecard-only.
How long does it take to buy a first home?
Typical end-to-end timeline from Agreement in Principle to completion is 10 to 16 weeks. Breakdown: AIP pulled within 24 to 72 hours of the first conversation; offer on a property accepted (timing varies with property search); full mortgage application submitted within 1 to 2 weeks of offer acceptance; valuation booked within 1 to 3 weeks of application; formal mortgage offer issued 2 to 6 weeks after application depending on lender turnaround and any underwriter queries; conveyancing in parallel (4 to 12 weeks depending on chain length and searches); exchange and completion typically 2 to 4 weeks after formal mortgage offer where the property is chain-free, longer if there is a chain. Chain-free purchases (vacant possession, new-build with completion date set, probate sale ready for exchange) complete fastest. A chain of three or more transactions can stretch the timeline to 16 to 20 weeks.
Can two first-time buyers buy together?
Yes. Two first-time buyers buying jointly is the second most common first-time buyer scenario after sole-applicant first-time buying. Both incomes stack into the affordability calculation, both buyers go on the title, both buyers retain first-time buyer SDLT relief on the joint purchase (provided neither has owned property before anywhere in the world). The standard residential mortgage products and the deposit-help routes (5% deposit, Track-Record, Lend a Hand, Family Springboard, JBSP with one or both buyers receiving parental support) all apply on a joint first-time buyer purchase. Lenders typically look at the combined affordability against the higher of the two stress test figures, so the case is treated as a single household. The relief is only lost where one of the two buyers has previously owned property; in that case JBSP is the structural workaround if the family can support it.
What is the difference between a 95% mortgage and a 100% mortgage?
A 95% LTV mortgage requires the buyer to put down 5% of the purchase price as a deposit. A 100% LTV mortgage requires no deposit at all (Skipton Track-Record) or no deposit from the buyer with parental support holding 10% as a guarantee or in a linked savings account (Lloyds Lend a Hand, Barclays Family Springboard). The headline rate on a 95% product is typically 30 to 80 basis points cheaper than a 100% product because the lender's loan-to-value risk is lower. On a £400,000 purchase, 95% LTV needs a £20,000 deposit; 100% LTV needs zero deposit at Skipton (subject to rental history evidence) or a £40,000 parental support deposit at Lloyds. The right product depends on whether the buyer has 5% saved, whether parents can support, and whether the buyer qualifies for Track-Record's rental history test.
Why a specialist broker matters on a first-time buyer case
Most first-time buyer enquiries start at the high street and end up taking the first AIP offered without testing the borrowing figure against the rest of the market. That is the single biggest reason first-time buyers under-borrow their case. On the same income, two lenders will routinely produce borrowing figures £75,000 to £180,000 apart depending on which product applies (Helping Hand vs standard, professional scheme vs vanilla, building society manual vs scorecard). The buyer who walks into a single bank gets one of those numbers. They rarely know whether it is the right one.
What we find on first-time buyer cases is that the case is rarely lost on the headline rate. It is lost on the borrowing figure, the stress treatment of committed expenditure, the SDLT mis-set at offer, or the wrong deposit route being chased when a better one was available. We test the case against five to seven lenders before the AIP is pulled, surface the highest credible borrowing figure, and run the SDLT on the actual purchase price the buyer is targeting.
In our experience the cases that go wrong are the ones where the buyer fell in love with a property at a price 10 to 15 percent above what the bank stress-tested would allow, then tried to push the application through hoping the lender would stretch. They almost never do. We have the affordability conversation up front, against real numbers, before the buyer makes an offer they cannot finance.
The cases we find easiest are the clean ones. Two PAYE applicants, decent credit, 5 to 10 percent deposit, target property well within affordability. Those cases get an AIP in 48 hours and complete in 10 to 14 weeks. The cases we work hardest on are first-time buyers with self-employed income, recent credit blips, no qualifying rental history but no deposit either, or HNW young professionals with carried interest or RSU vesting where the case needs the private bank rather than the high street. We do all of them.
Indicative rates and lending metrics. Rates and lender criteria change frequently and vary by scheme type, location and borrower profile. Speak to us for figures specific to your case.