First-time buyers now account for 34.3% of all UK house sales. More than a third of the entire market. A decade ago, that number was less than half of what it is today.

If you’re still rehearsing “maybe next year” in front of the mirror of your parents’ bathroom or crowded flat share for the third year running, the data would like a word with you.

(Please flush the loo and wash your hands first, though)

Also read our complete guide to mortgages for first time buyers

The Numbers Behind the Headline

In 2025, first-time buyers completed roughly 470,000 purchases, a 20% jump on the year before. Gen Z confidence in the housing market climbed from 33% to 40% over the course of the year. Young buyers aged 18 to 34 are now twice as likely as the average buyer to be planning a purchase in 2026.

These aren’t marketing numbers; they’re market numbers. Something has genuinely shifted.

The question worth asking is: what changed?

Four Things That Actually Changed

1. Mortgage Rates Stabilised

Based on market averages at the time of writing, rates have dropped from approximately 5.48% at the start of 2025 to around 4.85% now. The most competitive deals have been sitting meaningfully below that for buyers with larger deposits. Rates vary depending on individual circumstances and are subject to change; but the direction of travel has been encouraging.

That said, the rate itself isn’t even the main story.

The real shift is predictability. A year ago, rates were moving week to week in ways that made planning feel like a hobby. You’d get an Agreement in Principle, start viewing, and by the time you found somewhere you liked, the landscape had quietly rearranged itself.

That’s largely settled now. You can make a plan and expect the numbers to still be in the same postcode when you come back to them.

2. Wages Are Finally Catching Up

This one is arguably the most significant shift, and it gets far less attention than it deserves. In December, the house price-to-income ratio hit its lowest level in over a decade. Wage growth has been outpacing house price growth.

Houses haven’t got cheaper (this is the UK; they don’t do that). But buyers are better placed to afford them than they were; and that distinction matters enormously. Affordability isn’t just about the price tag on the property; it’s about the relationship between what a home costs and what you actually earn.

That relationship is moving in the right direction for the first time in years. Small victories.

3. Lenders Have Eased Up

Affordability testing is less restrictive than it was in recent years, subject to individual circumstances and lender criteria. More borrowers have been passing criteria on the same income and deposit they would have brought to the table twelve months ago. This isn’t lenders getting reckless; it’s the market normalising after a stretch of particularly aggressive stress testing.

If you were told “not quite yet” in 2023 or 2024, it may be worth having that conversation again.

4. The Market Is Less Frantic

House price growth is forecast at a modest 2 to 4% for 2026. If you’ve been watching property as an investment play, that sounds dull. If you’re a human being trying to buy somewhere to actually live, it sounds like oxygen.

It means negotiation is possible again. It means you don’t have to panic-offer on the same afternoon you view somewhere. It means you can sleep on a decision without losing the property to someone who slept slightly less.

Buying in a calm market is a fundamentally different experience from buying in a frantic one. Ask anyone who tried in 2021.

Regional Variations Are Real

The national picture is encouraging; your local picture might vary. Scotland is seeing particularly strong first-time buyer activity. The North West and West Midlands – Manchester, Birmingham, the wider Tamworth area – are performing above the national average.

London and the South East are doing their own thing, as they always do. The broad trends still apply, but the numbers look quite different when South East prices are your baseline. You already know this if you live there.

If you’re in a buyer-friendly region, or have any flexibility on location, 2026 compares favourably to pretty much any recent year. Full stop.

The Deposit Reality

The average Gen Z saver has accumulated around £19,442 toward a deposit (excluding family contributions), with plans to add roughly another £9,000 through 2026. In some parts of the country, that’s a workable deposit on a first home. In others, it’s a good start on a longer journey.

[LINK TO SPOKE: “Mortgage Pre-approval vs Pre-qualification: What’s the Difference?”]

If your deposit is on the smaller side, higher loan-to-value mortgages have become more accessible than they were in recent years, subject to status and lender criteria. Worth reading up on what that actually means before assuming a 5% deposit closes more doors than it opens.

The Honest Bit About Longer Terms

52% of first-time buyers are currently opting for terms of 30 years or more. That’s down from a peak of 60% in 2023, but still high by historical standards.

There’s no mystery here. Longer terms mean lower monthly payments, and lower monthly payments mean more people can actually afford to buy. A 35-year term on the same mortgage is meaningfully cheaper month to month than a 25-year term; for a lot of buyers, particularly in pricier areas, it’s the thing that makes ownership possible at all.

The trade-off is real, though; longer terms cost considerably more in total interest over the life of the mortgage. The sensible approach is to treat a longer initial term as a launchpad rather than a destination; overpay when you can, and revisit the term at remortgage. We’ve gone through this in detail if you want the full breakdown.

What to Actually Do With This

Waiting for rates to fall dramatically further may not materially change affordability for many buyers; rates might edge down a little more, or they might settle roughly where they are. Attempting to time rate movements can be challenging, and individual circumstances vary considerably. A personalised review can help clarify where you actually stand.

Focus on deposit building while the market is stable. The current calm works in your favour – use it before something inevitably changes (this is the housing market; something always inevitably changes).

You can secure an Agreement in Principle to understand your borrowing position before you start viewing seriously. Knowing your actual borrowing capacity shapes everything – what you search for, where you focus, how quickly you can move when something good comes up. It removes one of the bigger sources of stress from a process that already has plenty to spare.

Complete Guide to Getting Your First Mortgage

The Bottom Line

The market hasn’t become easy. Anyone telling you otherwise is either optimistic to a fault or has something to sell you. But the combination of stabilised rates, easing lender criteria, wages finally moving in the right direction, and a market that’s lost its 2021 energy has created conditions that are genuinely more accessible than they’ve been in recent years.

The perfect time to buy doesn’t exist. It never has. But some times are better than others; and if you’ve been saving, planning, and waiting for a signal — the data is currently pointing more clearly than it has in a while.

Your future homeowning self probably won’t care whether you bought in February or May. They’ll just be glad you stopped waiting.

You can secure your Agreement in Principle to get a better understanding of your borrowing possibilities.

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