The affordability figures need some care. The ONS ratio of 7.6 compares the median home with median full-time earnings in England. Nationwide’s separate UK measure put a typical first-time-buyer property at 4.7 times income in late 2025. Both point to improvement, but they measure different homes, incomes and geographical areas.
Have mortgage payments become easier to manage?
Nationwide estimates that mortgage payments now consume about 32% of a typical first-time buyer’s take-home pay. In 2007, the figure was roughly 45%. The latest share remains above the long-term average of 30%, but it is much closer than it was before the financial crisis.
Slower house-price growth and earlier falls in borrowing costs helped bring payments down relative to wages. More recently, however, mortgage pricing has moved in the less helpful direction.
The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75% on 29 July 2026. Rightmove calculated an average two-year mortgage rate of 4.92% in July, while Moneyfacts put the average two-year fixed deal at 5.61% on 18 August. Those figures use different product datasets and dates, so they are not a direct month-to-month comparison. They do, however, show why claims that mortgage costs are simply continuing to fall are now out of date.
Lenders have also become more willing to stretch repayment periods. Some buyers can take mortgages lasting up to 40 years rather than the more traditional 25 to 30 years. That lowers the monthly bill, but it also keeps borrowers paying interest for longer. A smaller payment is not the same thing as a cheaper loan, however politely the calculator presents it.
Is the deposit still the biggest obstacle?
For many buyers, yes. Santander found that 52% of adults considered saving a deposit the largest barrier to purchasing a home.
Nationwide estimated that a typical 10% first-time-buyer deposit was about £23,000. Someone saving £320 a month would need almost six years to reach that amount, assuming the target did not move and no emergency required the money first.
Lenders are trying to reduce that initial hurdle. Some offer mortgages with a 5% deposit, Santander has launched a 98% mortgage, and Lloyds has introduced a product requiring a £5,000 deposit. These deals can bring a purchase within reach sooner, but they leave owners with very little equity.
That creates several risks:
- Buyers pay interest on a larger loan.
- Monthly repayments can become difficult if rates rise when a fixed deal ends.
- A modest fall in property value can push the owner into negative equity.
- Selling or remortgaging may become harder when little equity has been built up.
Family support continues to divide those who can buy from those who cannot. More than one-third of first-time buyers received help from family, friends or an inheritance in 2024-25, according to Nationwide. UK Finance has also documented how access to family wealth shapes homeownership prospects. Lower-deposit loans may narrow that gap, but they do not remove it.
Will planning reform solve the housing shortage?
Lower prices, longer loans and smaller deposits can improve access, but they do not address the underlying shortage of homes.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government has proposed streamlining a planning system widely criticised as slow and unpredictable. Its reforms would also permit more construction on parts of the green belt, a policy that has predictably produced disagreement among councils, developers, residents and environmental groups.
Changing planning rules is only one stage. Builders still need enough confidence in demand, financing and future prices to commit money to major developments. Even when projects proceed, new homes take years to plan and construct. The housing shortage did not arrive quickly, and it has declined to leave quickly too.
The government has separately proposed digital sales packs and earlier binding agreements during property transactions. It estimates that these changes could save first-time buyers about £650 and shorten the process by four weeks. That may reduce the cost and frustration of completing a purchase, although it will not make the deposit or mortgage smaller.
The position for new buyers is therefore better than it was at the market’s recent extremes, but only in relative terms. Prices are growing more slowly, wages have recovered some ground and sellers face more competition. Against that, deposits remain formidable, family money still matters, and fixed mortgage rates have climbed again.
Buying a first home may be becoming more possible for some millennials. Calling it easy would require a much more imaginative use of the data.
