I managed to buy a house by myself aged 25, and only needed a five per cent deposit

Welcome to In This Economy? An all-too-real series by The Tab, looking into the bleak money and job market young people in the UK are facing. A comfortable bank balance and no worries? Not in this economy. 

A woman has shared how she managed to buy a home solo aged 25, with only a five per cent deposit. 

Cerys Gardiner, now 27, had only saved £4,000 in a lifetime ISA, so she naturally assumed her dream to get on the property ladder by herself was unrealistic. But that was before she was introduced to the idea of buying a new-build home with a five per cent deposit incentive.

Cerys was then able to buy her first home with just a five per cent deposit and the developer giving another five per cent, arranged by Nationwide. 

While Cerys’ initial £4,000 wasn’t quite enough to secure the £250,000 three-bedroom house she had her sights set on, she spent six months saving up – putting aside £8,000 from her job as a marketing manager, as well as making additional freelance income.

Including legal fees, Cerys estimates she spent just under £15,000 in total to buy her home in August 2025.

Cerys’ mortgage is £982, or £1,400 including bills, which is around half of her take-home pay as a marketing manager.

‘I worked a hell of a lot of freelance jobs’

via SWNS

While it didn’t take Cerys very long to save up for her house deposit, she admits it wasn’t easy. Not only did she have to move home temporarily to save on rent, but she had to pick up many side gigs on top of her full-time job. 

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She said: “I worked a hell of a lot of freelance jobs in five to six months to be able to bolster that.

“I appreciate not everybody has a freelance income and don’t have a choice but to save for longer. I was able to make it happen and go from £4,000 to £12,000.”

‘Buying a house wasn’t on my radar’

via SWNS

After hearing “horror stories” about huge house deposits, Cerys initially wrote off the idea of buying a house.

Instead, her priorities in her early twenties were quite different. She explained: “I wanted to go out, make memories with my friends, go on holidays and that was kind of where I’d spent my money. Buying a house wasn’t on my radar.”

It was only after her mortgage advisor made her realise she didn’t “need to have thousands,” that the idea of being a house started to become a reality for Cerys. 

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Featured image via SWNS