First-Time Buyer in London: A Complete 2026 Guide

1. Six London boroughs where you can buy a flat for under £300,000

The London-wide flat median is £411,667, requiring a minimum household income of £82,333 at a 4.5× lending multiple with 10% deposit. Six boroughs sit below £300,000, where the numbers start to look achievable on a typical London salary.

• •Barking and Dagenham at £217,500 is the cheapest borough for flats and the only one where a solo buyer on the median London salary (£44,000) can reach the 4.5× threshold: minimum salary required is £43,500. Bexley (£258k), Croydon (£267k), Havering (£271k), Sutton (£279k), and Hillingdon (£284k) complete the sub-£300k group, requiring salaries of £52k to £57k.
• •A buyer on the London median salary of £44,000 can borrow roughly £198,000: below the flat median in every borough except Barking. Joint income is the practical path for most London first-time buyers.

2. The deposit gap: £21,750 in Barking, £41,167 London-wide

• •At 5% (the minimum accepted by most lenders), the London-wide deposit is £20,583: at 10%, where better mortgage rates begin, it is £41,167. The six cheapest boroughs require 10% deposits between £21,750 and £28,383.
• •A Lifetime Individual Savings Account adds £1,000 per year in government bonus on up to £4,000 saved: the property must cost £450,000 or less.^[3] That cap means the Lifetime Individual Savings Account works in 23 of 33 London boroughs. In the 10 boroughs above £450,000 (Lambeth through Kensington and Chelsea, mostly inner London), you cannot use it for the median-priced flat. Withdrawing for any other purpose triggers a 25% penalty, clawing back the bonus and 6.25% of your own savings.
• •The account must be opened before age 40 and held for at least 12 months before you can use it: start early even if you are not ready to buy.

3. Schemes that work in London (and one that does not)

• •Shared Ownership lets you buy a 10–75% share and pay rent on the rest: household income must be £90,000 or below in London. You can increase your share over time. BrickIntel price data excludes shared ownership sales (HM Land Registry category B), so borough medians shown here reflect open-market purchases only.^[4]
• •First Homes offers 30–50% off new-build properties, capped at £90,000 household income in London: availability depends on the local authority and new developments in the area. Check your borough’s planning portal.
• •Help to Buy closed to new applications in October 2022: it is not available. Any guide listing it as a current option is out of date.

4. At 3.97%, a £370,500 mortgage on a London flat costs £1,950 per month

• •The Bank of England base rate is 3.75% as of March 2026: the average 2-year fixed rate at 75% loan to value is 3.97%; the 5-year fixed is 4.01%.^[2] The gap between the two is 4 basis points.
• •On a £370,500 mortgage (London flat median, 10% deposit), the monthly repayment over 25 years at 3.97% is approximately £1,950: extending the term to 30 years drops it to £1,762. A Barking flat on the same terms costs £1,030 per month.
• •Lenders stress-test at roughly 3 percentage points above their standard variable rate: the current standard variable rate is 4.48%, so lenders check you can afford payments at around 7.5%. Use the BrickIntel mortgage calculator to model your own numbers.

5. Stamp duty costs London first-time buyers up to £10,000 on a flat

• •Since April 2025, first-time buyers pay 0% on the first £300,000 and 5% on the portion between £300,001 and £500,000: if the purchase price exceeds £500,000, first-time buyer relief is lost entirely and standard rates apply.^[5]
• •On a flat at the London median of £412k, the stamp duty bill is £5,583: in Lambeth (£451k) it is £7,542. In the six sub-£300k boroughs (Barking, Bexley, Croydon, Havering, Sutton, Hillingdon), first-time buyers pay zero stamp duty.
• •There is a cliff edge at £500,000: a flat at £500,000 carries £10,000 in stamp duty with first-time buyer relief. At £501,000, relief is lost and the bill jumps to £15,059 under standard rates. In Hackney, where the flat median is £501,175, first-time buyers fall just past that threshold.

6. Budget £5,000 to £8,000 for solicitors, surveys, and moving costs on top

• •Solicitor and conveyancing fees typically run £1,500 to £2,500 including searches: local authority, environmental, water and drainage. Get quotes from at least two firms before instructing.
• •A RICS Level 2 survey (the standard for flats) costs £400 to £700: Level 3 (full structural) runs £600 to £1,500 and is rarely needed for purpose-built flats. The lender’s valuation is not a survey. It protects the lender, not you.
• •Check the lease before making an offer: below 80 years remaining, most lenders will not approve a mortgage. Below 70 years, the cost of a lease extension rises sharply. Service charges and ground rent are ongoing costs that do not appear in the purchase price. New leases granted since June 2022 cannot charge ground rent above a peppercorn.^[6]

References

1. HM Land Registry. Price Paid Data. BrickIntel analysis, category A transactions only, 3-month average December 2025 to February 2026.
2. Bank of England. Statistical Interactive Database. Series IUMBV34 (2-year fixed, 75% loan to value), IUMBV42 (5-year fixed), IUMBV45 (standard variable rate). February 2026. Base rate series IUDBEDR, March 2026.
3. HM Treasury. Lifetime Individual Savings Account. Property purchase cap: £450,000.
4. UK Government. Shared Ownership scheme. London income cap: £90,000.
5. HMRC. Stamp Duty Land Tax: residential property rates. First-time buyer relief thresholds from 1 April 2025.
6. Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022. In force from 30 June 2022.