Yorkshire Building Society says there were around 18% more first-time buyer mortgage transactions in 2025 than in the previous year.
The number of people who got on the property ladder with a mortgage across the UK last year is estimated by a building society to be up by nearly a fifth compared with 2024.
YBS estimates some 390,324 first-time buyer mortgage transactions took place in 2025 – a calculation based on UK Finance completions data.
If accurate, this is an 18% increase on 2024 and close to the 2022 peak of 405,250.
Max Shepherd, group economist, says: “Tailwinds like real earnings growth, lower mortgage rates, and regulatory changes allowing lenders to lend borrowers more times their income are helping more people onto the ladder.
“But we must keep momentum going. We know how important the prospect of owning their own home is to people, yet many still struggle to save a deposit or meet affordability checks. We don’t want to see a growing divide between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ when it comes to home ownership.”
The society said the number of overall house purchases completed with mortgages was also expected to have risen by 16% to 717,588 in 2025, from 619,120 in 2024. This is helped by a surge in first-time buyers, who made up around 54% of the total.
The YBS also issued a warning to individuals with substantial sums in their current bank accounts, saying they are earning low levels of interest unnecesarily.
It claims over 12m current accounts are likely earning a mere 1% or less in interest on balances exceeding £5,001. This indicates that many are missing out on significant interest earnings and their money could be put to better use.
