Q: I am 28, want to buy my first house and have managed to save up £60,000 over the last few years.

My parents can’t afford to give me a lump sum to add to it but are happy give me some money each month to cover the bills if I need it.

I want to buy in north London near them and can afford up to about £350,000 on my salary. What is the best way for me to proceed?

A: Congratulations on saving so much so quickly. According to Barclays, the average first time buyer paid £281,900 for their home in 2021 with a deposit of £61,000.

London’s first-time buyers had to fork out an average £476,000 though, according to Statista Research, but both are averaged across all property types.

I hope you have been saving for your deposit using a Lifetime ISA (Lisa) —or the now unavailable Help to Buy ISA — as the government gives you a 25 per cent bonus on everything you save, currently up to a maximum £1,000 each year on the Lisa (up to £3,000 in total on the Help to Buy ISA).

With your deposit you will need a loan of 83 percent if you buy a £350,000 property. The bigger the deposit you have the lower the interest rate you pay will be.

Remember there will be associated costs with your purchase such as legal fees, survey, mortgage application fees and stamp duty.

As a first-time buyer you don’t have to pay any stamp duty on a property costing up to £300,000, then 5 per cent on the value above this up to £500,000.

You may want to hold aside some of this deposit for these costs. Look for deals offering a free survey and/or legal work.

There are fee free mortgages but these typically come with higher interest rates so you need to do the maths to see if it saves you anything in the long run. You may also need to budget for any work or decoration needed at your new home and costs such as home insurance.

As a first-time buyer it is probably worth speaking to a mortgage broker such as John Charcol (charcol.co.uk) or London & Country (landc.co.uk) to find the most suitable mortgage. If your parents are happy to chip in on a regular basis, maybe explore a joint mortgage which could allow you to borrow more.

If you go it alone, with a £60,000 deposit, the current best rate, based on the information you have given me is 2.05 percent from Monmouthshire Building Society fixed for two years.

If you want a five-year fix, the best is currently 2.31 per cent from HSBC. You can expect to pay around £1,230 a month on a repayment mortgage fixed for two years, £1,270 for a five-year fixed. If you only want to repay the interest and not the original loan, the repayments drop to approximately £500 a month for the two years and £560 for the five years. Happy house hunting.