By: Harley Cheetham

In this article we talk about how the average first-time buyers in the West Midlands could get onto the property ladder for £10,000 in 2022.

As of October 2021, the average price paid by First Time buyers stood at £186,371; with the availability of low deposit mortgages this means that the average first time buyer in the West Midlands could get onto the property ladder for under £12,000.

So, you are probably thinking, hold on you guys said £10,000 in the heading! – well bear with us…
 

In April 2017 the government announced the introduction of the Lifetime Individual Savings Account (Lifetime ISA) which would allow savers to deposits of up to £4,000 per year, upon which the government will pay savers a 25% bonus on their savings (up to a maximum of £1,000 per year).
 

The Lifetime ISA comes with some stipulations, it can only be used towards saving for your first home or saving for later life. For first time buyers this means that a couple saving £4,000 each into individual Lifetime ISA’s in 2022 would have paid in £8,000 and would receive an additional £2,000 bonus towards the purchase of their first home.
 

I hope you are still with us here; so, at this point a couple who have deposited £4,000 each will have £10,000 towards their first home, but the work does not stop here – although this money is enough to cover a deposit, we must consider the additional costs of purchasing; this can include but is not limited to legal costs, mortgage fees and survey\valuation reports.

We have summarised the numbers below based on the average price paid by first time buyers in the West Midlands in October 2021.
 

This means a couple saving a total of £8,000 into Lifetime ISA’s and £2,000 into an instant access savings account will have enough funds to purchase their first property (Based on the average price paid in the West Midlands by first time buyers).
 

If you would like further information about mortgages or lifetime ISA’s, speak to one of us at Blossomfield today!