Your First Home Scheme Calculator
The Your First Home scheme lets first-time buyers in England buy a new-build home with a 2.5% deposit and a 20% government equity loan. The loan is interest free for five years, and then it is not. This calculator shows the whole picture: your monthly mortgage, the loan fee in year 6 and from year 7, and what you would repay on the loan after 5 years, 10 years and at the end of your mortgage if your home's value changes. Figures from GOV.UK, updated 3 November 2026.
Read the explainer: what the 20% equity loan really costs, with a £250,000 home worked through.
Work out your costs
How to use this calculator
- Enter the home and your mortgage: the price, your deposit (at least 2.5%), the rate your lender quotes and the term.
- Choose a yearly change in value: this decides what you repay on the loan, because you repay 20% of the value at the time.
- Check the loan fee: 1.5% in year 6 and 3% from year 7 come from GOV.UK. Change them if the final rules differ.
- Add your area's price cap to check the home qualifies.
Method & sources
This calculator is educational, not advice. It works out costs from the numbers you enter and the scheme terms GOV.UK has published; it is not mortgage or financial advice and does not confirm you are eligible. Check with the scheme, your lender or a qualified mortgage adviser.
- Formula
Deposit = Home price x Deposit %. Equity loan = Home price x 20%. Mortgage = Home price - Deposit - Equity loan.
Monthly mortgage payment = Mortgage x r / (1 - (1 + r)^-n), where r = yearly rate / 12 and n = term in years x 12. At a 0% rate it is Mortgage / n.
Loan fee per month: £0 in years 1 to 5; Equity loan x Year 6 rate / 12 in year 6; Equity loan x Year 7 rate / 12 in year 7. In each later year the year 7 fee is raised by the yearly rise you enter (0% by default): fee in year y = Equity loan x Year 7 rate x (1 + rise)^(y - 7) / 12.
Total a month = Monthly mortgage payment + Loan fee for that period.
Home value after y years = Home price x (1 + Yearly change in value)^y. You repay = Home value after y years x 20%.
Fees paid so far = the sum of 12 x the monthly loan fee for each year from 1 to y. Cost above the loan = You repay + Fees paid so far - Equity loan. The repayment table shows y = 5, 10 and the mortgage term.
Price cap check: when a cap is entered, the home qualifies on price if Home price is at or below the cap; otherwise the page says by how much it is over.
- Rounding
- All maths runs at full floating-point precision; rounding is for display only. Every pound figure is rounded to the nearest whole pound.
- Inputs used
- Home price in £ (required, 10,000 to 2,000,000)
- Deposit as % of the price (required, 2.5 to 80; the scheme's minimum is 2.5%)
- Mortgage interest rate in % a year (required, 0 to 15)
- Mortgage term in whole years (required, 5 to 40)
- Yearly change in the home's value in % (required, -10 to 15)
- Year 6 loan interest in % (required, 0 to 10; 1.5 per GOV.UK)
- Loan interest from year 7 in % (required, 0 to 10; 3 per GOV.UK)
- Yearly rise in the loan fee from year 8 in % (optional, 0 to 10; blank is 0)
- Your area's price cap in £ (optional; blank skips the check)
- What this does not account for
- Income eligibility: the £110,000 (outside London) and £140,000 (London) household income limits are stated on the page but not checked
- Stamp duty, legal fees, mortgage arrangement fees and any fees for repaying the loan early, which GOV.UK says will be published later
- Mortgage rate changes: one rate is assumed for the whole term
- Part repayments of the equity loan: the table assumes the whole loan is repaid at once
- Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: the scheme is for England only
- Jurisdiction
- England only. Figures are in pounds sterling.
- Source
- GOV.UK, "Your First Home" (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, updated 3 November 2026)
- Effective date
- Scheme terms as published on GOV.UK on 3 November 2026. Applications are expected to open in February 2027; full eligibility rules and how the loan interest is collected will be published before then, so this card is due for review when they are.
- Version
- 1.0
- Last substantive review
- 2026-11-03
- Limitations
- GOV.UK states the rates (1.5% in year 6, 3% from year 7) but not what they are charged on. Its worked example charges them on the original £60,000 loan (£75 a month, then £150 a month), so this tool does the same. It does not say whether the rate rises over time; the yearly rise is your assumption and starts at 0%.
- What you repay depends on a future valuation. The yearly change in value is your own assumption, not a forecast.
- Price caps are set for each local authority (GOV.UK list, updated 3 November 2026). The tool does not hold the list; enter your area's cap to check.
- The default mortgage rate of 4.5% is an example only, not a quoted market rate.
Reference cases
Five worked examples you can check by hand against the formula above.
Reference case 1: The page's default example, which matches GOV.UK's own £60,000 loan example: £300,000 home, 5% deposit, 4.5% over 30 years, value up 2% a year
- Home price: £300,000
- Deposit: 5%
- Mortgage rate: 4.5%
- Term: 30 years
- Yearly change in value: 2%
- Fees: 1.5% / 3% / 0% rise
Result: Deposit £15,000. Equity loan £60,000. Mortgage £225,000. Monthly payment £1,140. Loan fee £0, £75, £150 a month; totals £1,140, £1,215, £1,290. Repay after 5 years £66,245 (fees £0, cost £6,245); after 10 years £73,140 (fees £8,100, cost £21,240); after 30 years £108,682 (fees £44,100, cost £92,782).
Reference case 2: Minimum deposit and falling prices: £250,000, 2.5% deposit, 5% over 25 years, value down 1% a year
- Home price: £250,000
- Deposit: 2.5%
- Mortgage rate: 5%
- Term: 25 years
- Yearly change in value: -1%
Result: Deposit £6,250. Equity loan £50,000. Mortgage £193,750. Monthly payment £1,133. Loan fee £0, £62.50 shown as £63, £125. Repay after 10 years £45,219 (fees £6,750, cost £1,969); after 25 years £38,891 (fees £29,250, cost £18,141).
Reference case 3: A 0% mortgage rate and flat prices: £400,000, 10% deposit, 35 years, no change in value
- Home price: £400,000
- Deposit: 10%
- Mortgage rate: 0%
- Term: 35 years
- Yearly change in value: 0%
Result: Mortgage £280,000. Monthly payment £667. Loan fee £100 in year 6, £200 from year 7. Repay after 35 years £80,000, fees £70,800, cost £70,800.
Reference case 4: A fee that rises 2% a year from year 8: £200,000, 5% deposit, 4% over 30 years, value up 3% a year
- Home price: £200,000
- Deposit: 5%
- Mortgage rate: 4%
- Term: 30 years
- Yearly change in value: 3%
- Yearly rise in the fee: 2%
Result: Monthly payment £716. Loan fee £50 in year 6, £100 in year 7, £158 a month by year 30. Repay after 10 years £53,757 (fees £5,546, cost £19,303); after 30 years £97,090 (fees £37,106, cost £94,197).
Reference case 5: Price cap check: £300,000 home against a £275,000 cap (for example Ashfield)
- Home price: £300,000
- Price cap: £275,000
Result: Above your area's £275,000 price cap, by £25,000. A home at this price would not qualify.
Change log
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-11-03 | Card published (T-1374). Scheme figures fetched from GOV.UK on 3 November 2026. Reference cases computed in an independent Python re-implementation and checked on the page in a headless browser (tests/your-first-home.spec.js). |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
FAQ Index
Your First Home is a government scheme in England for first-time buyers of new-build homes. You put down a deposit of at least 2.5% of the price, the government lends you 20% of the price as an equity loan, and a repayment mortgage covers the rest. GOV.UK expects applications to open in February 2027 and the first sales in April 2027. Source: GOV.UK, Your First Home, updated 3 November 2026.
The equity loan is interest free for the first 5 years. Interest is 1.5% in year 6 and 3% from year 7. GOV.UK's example charges this on the original loan: on a £60,000 loan that is £75 a month in year 6 and £150 a month from year 7. The interest is paid separately from your mortgage and does not reduce what you owe on the loan. GOV.UK says how interest is collected will be published before applications open.
You normally repay 20% of your home's value at the time you repay, based on an independent valuation, not 20% of what you paid. If your home has gone up in value you repay more than you borrowed; if it has gone down you repay less. The loan is normally repaid when you sell, and you can repay part or all of it earlier.
Your total household income must be £110,000 a year or less outside London, or £140,000 or less in London. Full eligibility rules will be published before applications open.
Each local authority in England has its own price cap. They run from £215,000 in North Lincolnshire to £650,000 in 13 London boroughs and the City of London. The other 19 London boroughs have a £500,000 cap. GOV.UK publishes the full list by local authority.
Yes. You can repay part or all of the equity loan early. GOV.UK says the minimum amounts, valuation rules and any fees will be published later.