Rae Reid planned to buy her first home by the time she was 30. Now she’s hit that age, she thinks it will be another two years before she has enough for a deposit to purchase a home.
Rae is balancing saving with raising children and says rising living costs and childcare have forced her to adjust her homeownership timeline.
“My initial hope was to buy my first home before the age of 30 – but I am 30 now and have realised that realistically, I will be about 32 before I have enough money saved for a deposit,” she says.
Rae, who has a five-year-old son and a three-month-old son, is currently renting a home with her two children. She is trying to save for a house so she can live together with her partner, who is the children’s father.
She has managed to save around £8,000 towards a house deposit using the Lifetime ISA (LISA) – but doesn’t think this will be enough to get on the ladder.
She is trying to buy a new-build property, but after starting enquiries to begin the buying process she was told her deposit was too small, so she is trying to save more and is also looking at the shared ownership route.
She was working in a government role for four years, but was made redundant and now teaches teachers to assist children with special educational needs.
“I went into the teaching role about a month after I was made redundant, which was really good as quite a lot of my colleagues who were made redundant at the same time still haven’t found jobs,” she said.
“I have been in my new job for just over a year and I am trying to save as much as I can towards a house deposit, but it’s really hard, especially when you have a new baby as well.
“I am currently on maternity leave but will be going back to work in September so will have to pay childcare for my youngest. Having had to pay childcare for my five-year-old over the years has also made it harder to save.
“Everything is just so expensive and food prices have gone up so much. The income coming in is not matching the rise in spending and that also slows down the whole process for saving for a home.”
Using her Moneybox Lifetime ISA, which the government tops up with a 25 per cent bonus, she wants to save around £14,000.
Rae is paying £956-a-month rent for her two-bedroom flat and wishes she had started saving for a house deposit earlier.
She’s not alone in her struggles. Analysis by Moneybox shows that a typical buyer earning the national average wage and saving 20 per cent of their net take home pay in 2021 would have calculate a 4.5-year timeline to secure a 10 per cent deposit on a standard £228,000 home, assuming they were getting a 2 per cent interest rate on their money.
But house price growth in that time would have pushed the cost of that same home £37,250 higher, moving their deposit target out of reach. Even for the most committed first-time buyer, this would leave them facing a £3,541 shortfall on their deposit and another nine months of saving just to catch up.
Khera Higgins, 25, says she began saving for her first home after discovering the Lifetime ISA, but says the rising cost of living means she has to carefully adjust her monthly savings to stay on track.
Khera, who lives in Kent and works for the finance industry investigating fraud and crime, opened her LISA in February 2025 and currently has just under £6,000 saved in it including what she put in, the bonus and interest.
“I live with my partner and privately rent through her. She is in the fortunate position where she was able to buy her first property as she had been saving since she was 16.
“We are hoping that over the next few years, we can save up and hopefully buy a house together.”
Khera Higgins says the rising cost of living means she has to carefully adjust her monthly savings to stay on trackKhera says that although the maximum you can put into a LISA works out to be roughly £333 a month, her disposable income means she can only afford to save £250 a month. “The rising cost of living makes it more difficult to set money aside and my progress saving for a house is slower than I’d like.
“Rising fuel costs is a real issue as that is my transportation to and from work. On a good day, my commute to work is about 45 minutes, but on a bad day, it can be anything up to an hour and a half. Food prices are increasing too.
“You have to live – but I want to make sure I am investing in my future too. I would ideally like to save around £20,000 to £25,000 for a house deposit. Hopefully, by 2029, I will be in a much better position and be able to physically start looking at homes.”
Brian Byrnes, director of personal finance at Moneybox, said: “We speak to first-time buyers every day. Most are dedicated to their ambitions and saving habitually, but the frustration is obvious when it feels like the goalposts are constantly shifting.
“The most effective way to outpace the market is to ensure every single pound is working as hard as humanly possible from day one. Utilising a Lifetime ISA is a fantastic way to do this, giving you a 25 per cent boost on your savings paid monthly, which means up to £1,000 of free money from the government every year to help shrink that deposit gap.”
Hence then, the article about i planned to buy my first home using the lisa but then everything changed was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( I planned to buy my first home using the LISA – but then everything changed )
Also on site :
- Kaitlan Collins addresses Trump’s WHCD insults and tells viewers to focus on the president’s ‘non-answers’
- Amazon’s Rotating Countertop Organizer Easily Streamlines Even the Most Cluttered Vanities for Just $10
- 1992 Figure Skating Legend, the 1st Woman to Land a Triple Axel During the Olympics, Started a 'New Era in Women's Skating'