If buying your own home is the finishing line, then saving up the money to get there is a marathon. The "Your First Home" scheme, announced on Saturday, aims to help first-time buyers in England get on the housing ladder with a small deposit. Currently a 5% deposit on the current average UK house price of £272,000 plus moving costs and legal fees - will set you back about £16,850, according to financial information service Moneyfacts.
That's daunting, but here are four ways that experts say you can at least make a start on saving for a deposit. Depositing an amount you can afford into a regular savers account the day after you are paid is a good way to start, suggests Anna Bowes, savings expert at financial advisers The Private Office. "It becomes like another bill, but one that you can benefit from in the future," she says.
The type of account that's suitable depends on your circumstances. Some of the ones which pay the highest interest are only accessible if you hold a current account with the provider, she says. Other considerations are whether you can lock the money away for longer, to receive a better savings rate.
If you don't have a buffer of other savings, then experts say an easy access account gives you the chance to dip into the money to pay an unexpected bill. You can save up to £4,000 a year in a Lifetime Individual Savings Account (LISA) and the government guarantees a 25% bonus. So, if you put the full amount in then the government will add £1,000 a year.
But there is a catch, that has left some people out of pocket. Money saved in a LISA can only be used to buy a first home up to the value of £450,000 - a threshold that has not changed since 2017. The only other time you can withdraw the money is after the age of 60 or in the exceptional case that you are terminally ill with less than 12 months to live.
Withdrawal under any other circumstances means you get hit with a penalty - so you could get back less than you put in. Ministers are planning to replace the LISA with a new First Time Buyer ISA, but there are no clear details yet about how it will work. 'I lost thousands in savings and my partner's money is in limbo' The earlier you start saving the more you can build up thanks to the magic of compound interest. In short, interest is added on a larger and larger pot as time goes by.
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