How much deposit do I need for a house?
6 August 2026 · MoneyAngel Academy
For many UK mortgages, a deposit of around 5% of the property price is a common starting point. A 10% deposit can open up more mortgage options, while putting down more may help you access a lower interest rate and reduce the amount you need to borrow.
On a £250,000 home, 5% is £12,500, 10% is £25,000 and 15% is £37,500.
Those percentages are useful for getting your bearings, but they do not tell you exactly how much you need to save. Your target also depends on the type of home you are looking for, the mortgage available to you, the costs of buying and how much money you want to have left once the purchase is complete.
What different deposit sizes look like
Here are some simple examples.
Property Price 5% Deposit 10% Deposit 15% Deposit
£180,000 £9,000 £18,000 £27,000
£250,000 £12,500 £25,000 £37,500
£350,000 £17,500 £35,000 £52,500
The calculation itself is straightforward. Multiply the property price by the percentage you are considering.
These figures do not guarantee that a lender will offer you a mortgage. Lenders also look at your income, existing financial commitments, credit history and whether the repayments are affordable. Most mortgages require at least a 5% to 10% deposit, although the products available vary.
Why does a bigger deposit make a difference?
The amount you borrow compared with the value of the property is known as the loan to value, or LTV.
If you buy a £250,000 home with a £25,000 deposit, you need a £225,000 mortgage. That means you are borrowing 90% of the property’s value, giving you a 90% LTV mortgage.
Increasing the deposit reduces the LTV. That can give you access to a wider range of mortgage products and may mean a lower interest rate. You are also borrowing less, which can reduce the monthly repayment.
It is easy to look at that and assume that putting down as much as possible is always the best option. In reality, you also need to consider what happens to the money you have left.
A bigger deposit is not the only thing to think about
Imagine you are looking at a £250,000 home and have £32,000 saved.
A 5% deposit would be £12,500, leaving £19,500 before buying costs. A 10% deposit would be £25,000, leaving £7,000. To reach a 15% deposit, you would need £37,500 before allowing for any of the other costs involved in moving.
The 10% deposit might give you access to a better mortgage than 5%. Waiting until you have 15% could improve your options again.
But there are other differences between those choices.
Buying with 5% means borrowing more and potentially paying a higher rate, but more of your savings remain available. Putting down 10% reduces the mortgage but leaves much less cash afterwards. Waiting for 15% gives you more time to save, but it could also mean another period of paying rent while property prices and mortgage rates continue to change.
There is no single percentage that resolves all of those trade-offs.
The amount you put down needs to work alongside the mortgage you can get, when you want to buy and the position you want to be in afterwards.
Your house fund needs to cover more than the deposit
The deposit is normally the largest amount of cash involved in buying a home, but it is not the only one.
You may also need money for mortgage fees, a survey, legal and conveyancing work, searches, property tax where it applies, removals, buildings insurance and anything the property needs when you move in. Some mortgage fees can be added to the loan, but that can mean paying interest on them. Other costs need to be paid separately.
It can therefore be helpful to think of your savings as doing different jobs.
One part is the deposit that goes into the property. Another covers the cost of buying and moving. You may also want some money to remain available once you have the keys.
That last part is easy to overlook.
If you have £30,000 saved, putting the entire £30,000 into the deposit might reduce your mortgage. But if it also leaves you with almost nothing available for an unexpected repair or another large expense, the rest of your financial position has changed too.
Keeping some money back means borrowing more, so there is a genuine trade-off. The mortgage cost and the amount of accessible money left afterwards both matter.
Work backwards from the kind of home you might actually buy
You do not need to know the exact property before you start saving, but having a realistic price range makes the deposit goal much more useful.
Look at properties in areas where you could genuinely see yourself living. If homes that meet your needs are typically between £220,000 and £260,000, you can see what different deposit percentages would mean within that range.
A 10% deposit would be somewhere between £22,000 and £26,000. That gives you a much more useful target than simply deciding that you need to “save for a house”.
You can then add an estimate for the other costs of buying and decide how much money, if any, you would like to have available after the move.
The target can change. Local property prices may move, your income may increase, mortgage rates can change and your own plans may develop. A deposit goal is there to give you something useful to work towards, not to lock you into a number you chose several years earlier.
Would waiting for a larger deposit be worth it?
This is where the decision becomes more personal.
Suppose you could buy with a 5% deposit today but would need another year to reach 10%.
Waiting could reduce how much you need to borrow and potentially improve the mortgage products available to you. But during that year you may still be paying rent. House prices could move in either direction and mortgage rates could also be different by the time you are ready.
The same applies when considering whether to keep saving from 10% to 15% or 20%.
Rather than assuming that the largest deposit is automatically best, compare what actually changes. Look at the mortgage rates and repayments available at different deposit levels, how long it would take to reach each one and what your finances would look like after buying.
A regulated mortgage adviser can help you understand which mortgage products may be available based on your circumstances. Exploring that before you reach your final savings target can make the number you are working towards more realistic.
Turn the deposit into something you can plan for
Once you have a working target, the next question is whether the amount you need to save fits the timescale you have in mind.
Suppose you decide that £24,000 is a realistic deposit target.
If you already have £7,500 saved, the remaining gap is £16,500. Reaching that in three years would mean adding around £459 a month before allowing for interest or any other contributions.
That figure immediately gives you more information.
Perhaps £459 fits comfortably within your current finances. Perhaps it would mean giving up too much elsewhere. You might decide that another year gives you a much more manageable monthly target, or that buying at a slightly lower price would get you there sooner.
MoneyAngel’s My Goals lets you build a house deposit around your own target and timescale. It shows the funding required and the projected amount at your target date, while the What-if Savings scenarios let you see how changing your monthly savings could affect the goal.
This is more useful than treating the deposit as an isolated savings challenge. Increasing the amount going towards a house may mean less money available for another goal, while extending the timescale might allow both to continue.
Where can you keep your deposit while you save?
Where the money sits will partly depend on how far away you are from buying and how much risk you are comfortable taking.
For money you expect to need relatively soon, access to it and certainty over the amount available can be important considerations. Savings accounts offer different combinations of interest rates and access, so the highest advertised rate is not necessarily the only thing to compare.
Eligible first-time buyers can also use a Lifetime ISA towards a first home. You can currently contribute up to £4,000 each tax year and receive a 25% government bonus, worth up to £1,000 a year. There are important eligibility and withdrawal rules, including a £450,000 property-price limit and a requirement for the account to have been open for at least 12 months before it is used for a qualifying home purchase.
If a Lifetime ISA is part of your plans, check the current rules before relying on the bonus as part of your deposit.
Your deposit can change as your plans change
The amount that looks right today might not be the amount you eventually use.
You may get a pay rise and reach the target sooner. A mortgage adviser may show you that moving from one LTV band to another makes a meaningful difference to the products available. Property prices in your area may move. Another financial priority may become more important, or you may decide that keeping more savings available after the purchase matters to you.
Reviewing the goal as those things change is part of the process.
For many buyers, 5% gives a useful starting point and 10% can open up more mortgage options. From there, the amount that works for you depends on the property, the mortgage, how long you are prepared to save and what you want your finances to look like after you move.
Turn your house deposit into a goal you can actually plan for
Important information
This article is for general information only and is not financial advice. It does not take account of your individual needs, objectives or circumstances. If you need advice about your own situation, speak to a suitably qualified professional.