10/06/2026
Wednesday night, scrolling Rightmove, doing the maths in your head and deciding it's years away yet. Sound familiar?
Here's the thing that stops a lot of people before they even start.
They think they need a 20% deposit. So on a £150,000 place that's £30,000 sitting in your head as the number you'll never hit.
But that's not actually how it works for most first-time buyers.
✅ Plenty of lenders accept a 5% deposit, so on that same £150,000 home you're looking at £7,500(sometimes less), not £30,000.
✅ A bigger deposit usually means a lower rate, but it is not the price of entry
✅ Gifted deposits from family are widely accepted, with the right paperwork
✅ Personal Loans, Gift From Friends, sale of assets can all count towards the deposit.
✅ Schemes exist to give first-time buyers a leg up, and there's a new Scottish one launching very soon
✅ The deposit is only one piece. Affordability and your credit picture matter just as much
The 20% figure is one of those things that gets repeated until everyone believes it.
For a lot of buyers it's simply not true, and it's the reason good people put off even looking.
I spent years inside a high street bank watching folk assume they were years away when they were a lot closer than they thought.
If the deposit is the thing holding you back, it might be worth checking what you'd actually need.
