Start the journey to your first home

Typically, you can borrow between 4 to 4.5 times your salary for a mortgage as a first time buyer. If you're buying with someone else like a partner, this will be based on your combined salary. However, how much you are offered depends on your affordability, which is impacted by things like your credit score, existing loans and spending. There are schemes that allow first time buyers to borrow more, for example a 5.5x Income Mortgage lets you borrow up to 5.5x your salary for a mortgage. While a Professional Mortgage lets you borrow up to 5.5 or even 6.5 times your salary.

Typically, first time buyers would be expected to put at least 5% of the full property price down as a deposit. Although some mortgage products may require you to put down more than this, sometimes as much as 15% or 20% of the cost of the home.

It’s estimated that house price growth should stay modest in 2026, while mortgage rates are expected to continue to fall. For many, this will make getting on the ladder more affordable. If you are thinking of getting on the ladder in 2026, it’s worth seeking expert advice from a mortgage broker like Tembo to find out how you could increase your affordability to buy sooner or boost your buying budget.

As a specialist mortgage broker, we work with over 100 lenders and schemes, giving us access to thousands of mortgage products. This means we can find all the schemes you're eligible for and how much they could boost your budget by in an instant - saving you time, effort and money. Your dedicated mortgage broker will then walk you every step of your homebuying journey, right up to getting the keys to your new home.