Mortgage lender Gen H has found that first-time buyers in London who use its income booster proposition typically purchase their first home at age 29, compared to an average age of 35. The earlier purchase means six additional years building equity rather than paying rent.
The lender's joint borrower proposition means that income boosters go on the mortgage but not the property deed to boost the buyer’s affordability.
But what difference can those 6 years make to a first-time buyer’s finances?
To illustrate the financial impact of those extra years on the property ladder, Gen H modelled the experience of a typical first-time buyer who purchased six years ago, in 2019.
Based on average house prices, mortgage rates, and rents over that period, a first-time buyer would have built £37,427 in equity repayments and gained £62,401 through house price appreciation, creating £99,828 in total equity. They would’ve spent £101,697 in monthly mortgage payments.
Over the same period, an equivalent renter would have spent £132,464 on rent and built no equity.
This scenario indicates that a first-time buyer who purchased six years earlier could now be £130,595 better off than someone who continued renting over that timeframe.
Gen H introduced its income booster proposition to market in 2020, and in 2025, 32.7% of the lender’s applications have had at least one income booster.
On average, owners without their income booster would need to borrow eight times their income to afford to buy. With their income booster added, this falls to just 2.7 times the group’s income.
Pete Dockar, chief commercial officer at Gen H, said: “Owning a home brings so many intangible benefits that dramatically increase the quality of a person’s life – investment in a community, a sense of security and safety – but we can’t overlook the financial benefit it can bring, too. A £130,000 leg up is huge in your mid-thirties – but imagine how this advantage could grow over the decades. And there is no extra cost to adding an income booster – this is simply homeownership, sooner, and that benefit could literally last a lifetime.”
