Scotland tops UK for youngest first-time buyers

Scotland has the youngest average age of first-time buyers in the UK, according to a bank’s data.

TSB analysed its first-time buyer data for the third quarter of this year and found the average age was 31, compared with 32 in the third quarter of 2024.

London maintained the highest average age for first-time buyers, at 33, with Wales and Scotland the lowest, at 30.

London maintained the highest average first-time buyer age at 33, TSB said (Yui Mok/PA Archive). PA Media

Survey research commissioned by the bank among first-time buyers who have got on the property ladder in the past five years also found that 17% hope to be mortgage free before 40.

The survey of more than 1,000 first-time buyers who had purchased a home in the past five years by Censuswide in October found the majority (57%) hope to shave time off their mortgage term. Of those that have made overpayments, over two-fifths (43%) make them monthly.

Craig Calder, director of mortgages at TSB, said: “Overpaying can be a great way of shaving years off your mortgage.”

Here is the average first-time buyer age in the third quarter of 2024 followed by the third quarter of 2025 according to TSB’s data:

East Anglia: 33, 32

East Midlands: 31, 32

London: 33, 33

North West: 31, 32

North East: 30, 31

South East: 33, 32

South West: 31, 32

Scotland: 30, 30

West Midlands: 32, 31

Wales: 31, 30