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First time buyers need 3% less deposit per month now if they are lucky enough to get hold of a mortgage – the thaw is finally being felt by those who need the most help.

Mortgageforce has found that the deposits demanded by lenders have been dropping month by month – their average deposit for first-time buyers has decreased from 28.6% in June to 25.4% in July and 21.25% in August.

This might not sound like a huge amount, but Halifax says the average UK house price is just over £160,000 today – so first-time buyers could save nearly £5000 more than they could three months ago. That's a massive amount for anyone desperate to get onto the housing market.

Katie Tucker technical manager of Mortgageforce, says: "The ongoing stability of house prices reduces the risk of negative equity and repossessions that lenders are keen to avoid, so we should see more accommodating terms for first-time buyers from them now."

But things are still pretty tough for first-timers out there – Tucker says many discount rates that look inviting to first-time buyers may increase even if the official bank rate does not – because they are a discount from the lenders' own standard variable rate, which is changeable entirely at their own whim.

She says: "Although tracker and discount rates are looking very low currently, first-time owners or anyone on a restricted budget should consider very carefully whether they could continue to afford their mortgage payments if that rate does increase by a few percent."

The only way a first-time buyer has any hope of mortgage success these days is through a mortgage adviser. They can help them through the veritable minefield of small print and potholes that could lead to financial misery down the line – without a professional's advice, a person who has never had a mortgage could get lost very quickly indeed.

SOURCE: Halifax, 11/09/09, Mortgageforce, 14/09/09

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