THE SAVINGS BATTLE DEPOSITS BY REGION

It’s a postcode lottery when saving for a deposit. In some areas buyers put down as little as £11,000 but in others the figure is well over £100,000.

Data released this weekend by Halifax and consumer group Which? reveals the huge regional disparity. First-time buyers in the Welsh town of Merthyr Tydfil, for example, require the least: there the average deposit for first-time purchases is just £11,622.

The highest deposits, unsurprisingly, can be found in London with buyers in 16 boroughs putting down more than £100,000. Hammersmith and Fulham boasted the highest average deposit at £143,834.

Outside of London, only buyers in Cambridge were paying an average of more than £100,000, with first-time buyers there paying £126,730. Buyers in varsity rival Oxford, on the other hand, pay on average £75,393.

The cheapest regions tend to be in North-west England, including Pendle at £14,592, Copeland at £13,770, Burnley at £13,343 and Hyndburn at £12,971.

The majority of first-time buyers put down a deposit of between 10pc and 25pc of the purchase price, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

On top of the deposit, first-time buyers will also need to pay stamp duty. Homes under the value of £125,000 are free from stamp duty, but between £125,000 and £250,000 buyers are liable for a payment of 2pc of the property value. The percentage is then scaled up as the value rises.