First-time buyer costs on £320,000 (2026/27)

First-time buyer costs on £320,000

Pre-filled for first-time buyer assumptions so you can compare against mover and second-home cases quickly.

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Guides for the costs at this price

What changes at this threshold?

Compare nearby price brackets with the same assumptions to see how tax and all-in totals move.

How a first-time buyer's £1,000 on £320,000 is worked out

First-time buyer relief swaps the normal bands for its own. For a first-time buyer at £320,000 the working is:

1. The first £300,000: £300,000 at 0% = £0
2. £300,001 to £320,000: £20,000 at 5% = £1,000
3. Total SDLT: £1,000, or 0.31% of the price

Source: GOV.UK: Stamp Duty rates for first-time buyers

The relief limit and £320,000

A first-time buyer pays £1,000: nothing on the first £300,000, then 5% on the £20,000 above it. That is £5,000 less than a home mover pays.

The relief has a hard limit. At £500,000 a first-time buyer pays £10,000, but at £500,001 the relief is lost on the whole price and the bill is £15,000. This price is £180,000 below that limit, so check that the final agreed price, including anything paid separately for fixtures, stays at or under £500,000.

A Lifetime ISA can go towards a first home costing up to £450,000, so £320,000 is inside the limit and the savings and bonus can be used without a withdrawal charge, provided the other Lifetime ISA conditions are met.

Source: GOV.UK: Lifetime ISA withdrawal charges

Cash a first-time buyer needs at £320,000

On top of the deposit a first-time buyer needs about £2,940 to £5,090: the £1,000 Stamp Duty, conveyancing (£1,340 average 2026 freehold quote at this price), a RICS Level 2 survey (£600 to £700) and up to £2,050 of mortgage fees. A fee-free mortgage gives the lower end.

Lenders set their own deposit rules. Conveyancing from Compare My Move; survey and mortgage fees from HomeOwners Alliance.

A first-time buyer at £320,000 in Scotland and Wales

In Scotland a first-time buyer pays £5,000 LBTT at £320,000: the relief there has no price limit but is worth at most £600.

Wales has no first-time buyer relief, so a first-time buyer pays the full £5,700 LTT. In England and Northern Ireland the same buyer pays £1,000, against £6,000 for a home mover.

Source: Revenue Scotland: Land and Buildings Transaction Tax · Welsh Government: Land Transaction Tax rates and bands

First-time buyer prices either side of £320,000

The first-time buyer column is the one to watch: the relief is lost on the whole price above £500,000.

England and Northern Ireland, 2026/27 rates, from the same calculator as the figures above.

Monthly mortgage on a £320,000 first home

Most first-time buyers borrow most of the £320,000. The table shows the mortgage left after a 5%, 10% and 15% deposit and what it would cost each month. The £1,000 Stamp Duty and the fees are paid from savings on top of the deposit, unless the lender lets you add its own fees to the loan.

Each extra £1,000 on the price costs a first-time buyer £50 up to £500,000. At £501,000 the bill would be £15,050: the relief stops, so £320,000 is £180,000 from a £5,050 jump.

Monthly repayments use an example 5% rate over 30 years, capital and interest. They are not a quote: your lender's rate and term set the real figure.

Registering your first home at £320,000

The £1,000 figure only applies if every buyer on the purchase is a first-time buyer: someone who has never owned a home in the UK or anywhere else. If one of you has, the purchase is taxed at the home mover rates, £6,000 at £320,000, or more if that person still owns another home.

Registering a first home at £320,000 with HM Land Registry costs £150 through the portal or £330 by post (the £200,001 to £500,000 fee band).

Your conveyancer pays it after completion and adds it to the bill, so check that the quote shows it as a disbursement.

Source: HM Land Registry: registration services fees

Your First Home at £320,000

Your First Home is the government scheme for first-time buyers of new-build homes in England, with applications expected from February 2027. At £320,000 the minimum 2.5% deposit is £8,000, the government's 20% equity loan is £64,000 and the mortgage is £248,000.

At our example rate that mortgage costs about £1,331 a month in years 1 to 5, against £1,632 for a 95% mortgage of £304,000. The loan is interest free for 5 years, then adds about £80 a month in year 6 and £160 from year 7.

Local price caps apply and the full list is not published yet. Of the published examples, £320,000 is within the cap in North Devon, Manchester, Reading, Outer London, Inner London.

Monthly repayments use an example 5% rate over 30 years, capital and interest. They are not a quote: your lender's rate and term set the real figure.

Source: GOV.UK: Your First Home

Where first-time buyers typically pay £320,000

In August 2026, the average first-time buyer's home cost closest to £320,000 in Bracknell Forest, Adur and Trafford, according to HM Land Registry's House Price Index.

In England a first-time buyer pays £1,000 stamp duty at this price; no Scottish council area comes close (the highest is Edinburgh at £252,487), but £320,000 there would mean £5,000 LBTT; no Welsh council area comes close (the highest is Monmouthshire at £264,431), but £320,000 there would mean £5,700 LTT (Wales has no first-time buyer relief).

78 of 349 council areas have a higher average first-time buyer price than £320,000, and 271 a lower one.

HM Land Registry UK House Price Index, August 2026 (provisional). The tax column is this page's price under each area's own nation's rules, 2026/27.

Source: HM Land Registry: UK House Price Index data downloads, August 2026

Conveyancing at £320,000

Average 2026 conveyancing quotes in the £300,001 to £400,000 band were £1,340 for a freehold purchase and £1,490 for a leasehold (Compare My Move), and the Land Registry fee at this price is £150 online. See conveyancing fees on a £320,000 home for every price band, each region and what a quote should include.

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