First-time buyers’ lockdown savings

First-time buyers have raised deposits quicker than normal due to the savings that they were able to make during the Covid-19 lockdown periods. 

As well as spikes in loungewear sales, home-workouts, bread making and new hobbies – thinking back to lockdown could give you memories of having slightly more income available to save, especially if you worked from home. According to some research from Nottingham Building Society the lockdown restrictions helped lots of first-time buyers save their all-important deposits much quicker than if life had of carried on as it was.

What did savers cut down on?

One in five first-time buyers planning to buy in the next five years will have deposits saved this year and one in three of those will be viewing houses – way to go! This is all because restrictions meant that we saw 60% of people cut spending on clothes. 56% spent less on eating out as, of course, we could only get takeaways if it was ‘out’! 51% of people saved on holiday costs, perhaps the remaining 49% wouldn’t have usually taken a holiday or, they were saving for future holidays when the time came around again.  43% of people reduced how much they spent on their big food shop, something that we're all interested in doing. We've got lots of tips in our article all about how to save cash on your weekly food spend if this is something you'd like to investigate further. Finally, 16% of the respondents in our survey even have more than one paid job which could have helped their deposit savings a lot.

Actions would-be first-time buyers have taken to help save for their deposit	Percentage of would-be first-time buyers who have done this
Spent less on clothes	60%
Cut back on eating out	56%
Sacrificed holidays	51%
Reduced spend on big food shops	43%
Taken on more than one job	16%
Taken a loan from parents/other family members	7%

Iain Kirkpatrick, pictured below, Chief Customer Officer at The Nottingham and Beehive Money, said: “The restrictions placed on people during the height of the pandemic saw many dramatically cut back on the amount they spent – from eating out, to buying new clothes and holidays. Although it has been a very difficult time, for many of those saving for their first home the reduction in their expenditure provided an opportunity to dramatically increase their deposit savings and move a step closer to owning their own home."

How can Beehive help first-time buyers?

If you're planning to start saving for your first home then why not check out the Homebuyer Lifetime ISA, the account that's been designed to boost your first-home savings. Or, if you're all saved up and wondering what's next visit our mortgages section and see how Mortgage Advice Bureau could help you find the right mortgage. Nottingham Building Society commissioned consumer research company Consumer Intelligence to interview 1,023 UK adults, of which 160 expect to buy their first homes within the next five years. They were interviewed online between 18th and 21st February 2022.