Low deposit mortgages
The facts on buying a home with a small deposit and whether they're worth it
Last updated on
Oct 15, 2024 14:17
Saving up for a deposit on your first home can be tricky, but low deposit mortgages may offer a quicker route to homeownership.
In this article, we’ve got all the info you need on getting a mortgage with a small deposit.
A low deposit mortgage lets you buy a property with a deposit as low as 5% to 10%. (That is, 5% to 10% of the value of the property you’ve got your eye on.)
That means you’ll be borrowing up to 95% of the cost of your new home from your mortgage lender.
Say you want to buy a house valued at £200,000. If you can get a 95% mortgage, you’ll only need to provide a £10,000 deposit.
The amount you borrow for your mortgage is also known as the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio. So if you get a loan that’s 95% of the property’s value, you’ve got a 95% LTV mortgage.
Low deposit mortgage deals were getting pretty scarce until recently. That’s because mortgage lenders see them as a high risk.
Think of it this way: the value of your home is the lender’s “security” – if you stop repaying your mortgage loan, they can repossess your property, sell it, and get their money back. But if house prices fall and you’ve got a high LTV mortgage, your home might end up being worth less than the amount you have left to pay on your loan. In that case, the lender would lose out.
The good news is, the UK government has now taken steps to reduce the risk for lenders and encourage them to offer more low deposit mortgages. They’ve done this through the new mortgage guarantee scheme, launched in April 2021.
With this scheme, the government guarantees the portion of the mortgage that’s over 80%. So, if a homeowner defaults (can’t make the repayments) on their 95% mortgage loan, the government will pay the lender 15% back.
Essentially, the scheme aims to level the playing field between low deposit mortgages and higher deposit mortgages. And it’s already had an impact: several big high-street lenders are already offering more low deposit mortgages.
Let’s take a closer look at the scheme and whether it could help you get a mortgage.
You can buy a new-build home with as little as a 5% deposit through the Help to Buy scheme. To cover part of the cost, the government will give you an equity loan of 5% to 20% of the property’s value (or up to 40% in London). You don’t have to pay interest on the loan for 5 years either! Then the rest is covered by a Help to Buy mortgage.
Caveats? The scheme is only open to first-time buyers, and there’s a cap on the purchase price of the property you can buy. The cap is different depending on your region, but it’s between £186,100 and £600,000 in England. (Scotland and Wales have slightly different Help to Buy schemes.)
Usually, you can borrow up to 4.5 times your annual income (or your combined annual income if you’re applying with a partner or family member) on a mortgage. This is the case for both lower and higher deposit mortgages.
So, for example: if you want to buy a £200,000 home with a 5% deposit, you’ll need to get a mortgage of £190,000. This means you’d have to be earning about £42,200 a year.
Our mortgage calculator can give you a clue about what size of mortgage you could afford based on your current income.
Applying for a low deposit mortgage is pretty much like applying for any other mortgage – although there are a couple of extra steps if you’re taking advantage of Help to Buy.
Once you’ve had an offer accepted on a property, you’ll need to find a mortgage deal that works for you (a mortgage broker, like Habito, can help with this), gather the documents the lender needs to see, and complete the application paperwork.
As part of the application process, the lender will carry out:
If the lender accepts your application, you’ll get a formal mortgage offer, and you can get on with buying your new home.
Is a low deposit mortgage the way to go? Let’s take a look at some of the potential benefits and downsides:
Plus, with the mortgage guarantee scheme, you can:
If you’ve compared a few low deposit mortgages and you’re still not sure which way to go, our mortgage advisers at Habito can help you find the perfect deal for your situation. And it’s free!
Why not chat with us today?
Here's the information you need to provide when you apply for a mortgage.
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