First-time buyers fear the process more than the deposit, study finds

Saving for a deposit has long dominated the conversation around first-time buyers. New research from Tembo, a digital savings and mortgage platform, suggests the greater anxiety now lies elsewhere.

A study of 525 UK first-time buyers found that more than half – 51% – rank the legal and administrative process of buying a home among their three biggest concerns. That compares with 43% who cited saving a deposit. Understanding mortgage advice and the lending process ranked lower still, cited by just 8% as a primary concern. House prices remained the top worry overall, at 78%.

The conveyancing process ranked as the top individual stressor for 17% of respondents, a fraction ahead of the 16% who pointed to the deposit itself.

Almost a third of respondents (33%) said they have low confidence in navigating the home-buying process at all. This means most first-time clients arrive at the point of advice already anxious about a process they do not understand.

Beyond the deposit: what first-time buyers find challenging

Conveyancing, surveys, searches and the administrative chain between them have always been integral to a property purchase in England and Wales. The average time from offer to completion stretches across several months. The difference now is that buyers who have spent years building a deposit are arriving at that stage with little preparation and even less transparency about what it will cost.

“For years, the conversation around first-time buyers has focused almost entirely on saving for a deposit. Our research suggests that’s no longer the whole story,” said Paul Elcino, mortgages director at Tembo. “Once buyers have overcome that hurdle, they’re entering a home-buying process that many find confusing, stressful and unpredictable.”

He noted that the frustration is familiar to most people. Many will know a friend or family member who has complained about delays or confusion during the legal stages of a purchase.

The research underlines what that experience looks like from the buyer’s side. “The legal work, surveys and administration are essential parts of buying a home, but too often they feel fragmented and opaque,” Elcino said. “Buyers don’t always know how long the process will take, who’s responsible for what, or what the final bill will look like.”

How can brokers help first-time buyers navigate the home-buying process?

The findings carry a direct implication for mortgage professionals. Three quarters of respondents (73%) had not yet spoken to anyone about buying their first home at the time of the survey. Only 17% believed the right time to approach a broker was when they first started considering a purchase.

That delayed engagement is a missed opportunity on both sides. For brokers, early client relationships offer the chance to address not just product selection but also helps ease the confusion that the Tembo research lays out.

First-time buyer activity is rising, and so is the complexity clients bring with them. Buyers who understand the process from the start – what conveyancing involves, what surveys cost, what charges tend to appear – are less likely to stall mid-transaction.

A major source of mid-process anxiety is hidden fees and unexpected transaction costs. Conveyancing quotes frequently exclude search fees, identity verification costs, indemnity insurance and various administration charges. These arrive later in a transaction, at a point when buyers are already stretched. Setting out the full likely cost of a purchase from the first appointment – not just the mortgage payment – changes the nature of the relationship.

The case for earlier conversations with first-time buyers

The broker’s role in a first-time buyer transaction has rarely been purely transactional. But Tembo’s findings suggest it may need to be framed differently to clients who delay engaging until they feel financially ready. As brokers working with first-time clients have found, buyers who understand the process early make better decisions throughout.

That means having the conveyancing conversation early, not at the point of offer. It means explaining what surveys exist and what they cover. It means naming the hidden charges before buyers encounter them on a solicitor’s invoice. Done well, this kind of guidance does not require brokers to take on work outside their remit – it requires them to position themselves as navigators.

One service for the whole home-buying journey

“Tembo has always existed to make home ownership more accessible,” said Richard Dana, founder and chief executive of Tembo. “With Tembo One, we’re taking that mission a step further, tackling one of the most frustrating parts of buying a home.”

Tembo One is the company’s response to the problem its own research describes. The service bundles mortgage advice, conveyancing, surveys and insurance into a single fixed-fee package, with fall-through protection if a purchase collapses before exchange. It removes the fragmented, invoice-by-surprise experience that the study’s respondents identified as a primary source of stress.

The model reflects a wider question for the industry: are mortgage professionals engaging first-time buyers early enough – or only once the anxiety has set in?

The Tembo research suggests that the answer, for many brokers, is the latter. Three quarters of first-time buyers surveyed had not yet spoken to anyone about buying when the research was conducted. This reflects a widespread assumption that professional guidance belongs to a later stage of the journey.

Brokers who challenge that assumption – who position themselves as guides to the whole transaction – are better placed to retain clients through to completion.