Mortgages for first-time buyers

Buying your first home is exciting and we’re thrilled you chose us to help you on that journey. Before you start choosing paint colours it’s important that you understand everything that's involved, from saving for a deposit, to speaking to a mortgage adviser and then getting the keys to your home. There could be things you haven't thought of too, such as legal fees and property searches, however with our experience, knowledge and expert partners, we can help you every step of the way.

Get expert mortgage advice

See the Homebuying Process

What is a mortgage?

A mortgage is a loan agreement between you and a lender that allows you to purchase a house. Mortgages can range from anywhere between six months and 40 years, and you'll be required to make monthly repayments throughout that time to keep the property.

Do I need a mortgage?

If you're looking to get onto the property ladder, we expect that you will need a mortgage. That's because if you're a first-time buyer and you're currently renting a property or living with parents and are hoping to move out soon, you might not have the money to buy a property outright.

What is a house deposit?

When buying a house you’ll typically need to use some of your own cash, this is called a ‘deposit’, and can be anything from 5% upwards of the property’s value. Generally, the more you save could mean the better mortgage deal you'll get.

Types of mortgages for first-time buyers

As a first-time buyer, you should be able to access most types of mortgages. There are several different ones to choose from, so we've created a guide that explains the most popular types of mortgages which will help you decide the right option for you.

Saving for a house deposit

Anyone saving for a deposit may ask "Are there any accounts that help me buy my first house?" and that's exactly where Beehive can help. We have an account called the Lifetime ISA (LISA) which, if you'd like to buy your first home sooner, could be a great option for you.

With our LISA, if you're aged between 18 and 39, you can save up to £4,000 per year which is boosted by 25% thanks to the Government. That’s right, you can get up to £1,000 a year totally free. There are account limitations to consider, such as you can’t withdraw money from this account for pretty much any other reason than purchasing your first home - and if you do, you’ll have to pay a 25% Government withdrawal charge.

Learn more about the LISA and if it's right for you, open one online today.

Find your first mortgage deal with our expert partner

We’ve partnered with Mortgage Advice Bureau to help first-time buyers find a mortgage. They’re a leading mortgage broker which means they have access to thousands of deals that are currently on the market. Here you can see a just a few of the lenders they’ll look at when finding you a deal. And it doesn’t stop there, they have advisers online now who look at over 90 different lenders so you can start your search today and be confident you’re getting the right mortgage.

Tell us a little about yourself including what type of property you’re looking for, how much you need to borrow, when you want to buy it and a few other simple questions and an expert adviser will call you back.

It's really important you know that

Your home may be repossessed if you don’t keep up repayments on your mortgage.

There may be a fee for mortgage advice. The actual amount you pay will depend on your circumstances. The fee is up to 1.00%, but a typical fee is 0.30% of the amount borrowed. However, Beehive Lifetime ISA customers using their savings to purchase a house will not pay an advice fee.

Helping first-time buyers

We're passionate about providing you with tools and information to help you through your homebuying journey. Check how much you can afford to borrow, how much deposit you'll need, what your monthly repayments might look like, plus information about our homebuying partners who can help you with all the house buying support you'll need.

Affordability calculator

Knowing how much lenders will borrow you essentially determines which properties are within your budget so we feel this is a good place to start. Use our affordability calculator to get a rough understanding of your borrowing limits.

How much can you borrow?

Deposit calculator

You might ask yourself ‘how much deposit do I need to save?’ when buying your first home. As long as you know how much the property is and what percentage deposit you need, we can give you the answer based on your current and future savings.

Use our deposit calculator

Mortgage calculator

If you’ve saved up enough of a deposit to buy your home it’s good to get a rough idea of how much your monthly repayments could be. Answer a few questions on our mortgage calculator and get the answer in seconds.

Use our mortgage calculator

House buying process

Our house buying guide does what it says on the tin – it explains all the steps you’ll go through when buying a home for the first time, from saving a deposit all the way to getting your keys. We think you’ll find this super useful.

House buying process explained

Stamp duty calculator

Stamp duty is a tax that you have to pay when buying a property in England or Northern Ireland. Thankfully, first-time buyers pay a reduced amount or in many cases there’s nothing to pay at all but it’s good to check beforehand.

Calculate stamp duty

Conveyancing

Conveyancing services are the legalities that you need to go through in order to buy a property. It covers things like HM Land Registry, contracts, transferring money and making sure the legal ownership is passed on to the right person.

Learn more about conveyancing

Home surveys

A home survey is a recommended inspection carried out by an expert home surveyor on the house you’re buying or selling to determine its condition. Whoever instructs the survey (usually the buyer) will get a report at the end with the results.

Home surveys information

Improve your credit position

Your credit position is one of the things that mortgage lenders scrutinise when it comes to your application. The good news is that reporting on your rent payments could boost your credit position and can help you seem like a more reliable person to lend to.

Improve your credit position

Get mortgage advice today

We’ve partnered with one of the leading mortgage brokers, Mortgage Advice Bureau, so together, we can be confident that you’ll get quality mortgage advice. They’ll search thousands of deals from over 90 different lenders.

What is mortgage advice?

It's not just us who think Mortgage Advice Bureau are great

Reviews are a great way of letting others know how great a company is and more about the experience you’ve had with them. Mortgage Advice Bureau have over 20,000 Feefo reviews and have a score of 4.9 out of 5 – that’s one of the many reasons why we chose them as our mortgage partner.

Take a look at a few of Mortgage Advice Bureau’s reviews displayed here or click on the Feefo logo above to read more customer feedback.

Quick, easy and had great support/communication throughout. Would recommend.

CRAIG - OCT 2022

Effective and efficient friendly service from Graham and the rest of the team.

PAUL - OCT 2022

Our broker has been extremely helpful and responsive. It took us only 3 weeks to receive our mortgage offer.

THUY - SEP 2022