Can I get a mortgage with no deposit in the UK in 2026?

Yes, Skipton Building Society's Track Record mortgage lends up to 100% of a property's value to renters with no deposit, using twelve months of on-time rent payments as proof instead of savings. You need to be at least 21, and you mustn't have owned a UK property in the past three years. The rate is fixed at 5.80% for five years (Skipton, 2026), and the deal includes a delayed-start feature letting you skip mortgage payments for up to three months after completion. It isn't the only low-deposit option: Santander's 2% deposit 'my first mortgage' deal, fixed at 5.19% for five years, lets buyers borrow up to 98% loan-to-value on properties up to £500,000, though it requires a minimum £10,000 deposit and isn't available to the self-employed or in Northern Ireland (Which?, 2026). If you can prove a steady rent history but have no lump sum saved, the Skipton route is worth investigating properly rather than assuming it doesn't exist.

Is a 100% mortgage more expensive than a normal mortgage?

Usually, yes, and the gap is real money each month. Skipton's no-deposit rate (5.80% fixed, 2026) sits well above mortgages that ask for even a small deposit; a mainstream 95% loan-to-value deal was available at 5.16% fixed for five years in June 2026 (Leeds Building Society, via Mortgage Notes). On a typical £213,000 first-time buyer purchase, that difference works out at roughly £144 a month over a 30-year mortgage: about £1,250 with no deposit against £1,106 with a 5% deposit of £10,650. You're paying a premium for the lender taking on the full value of the property with no buffer, which is a fair trade if you have no realistic way to save a deposit soon, but an expensive one if a modest deposit is within reach in the next year or two.

How much deposit do I actually need to buy my first home in 2026?

Technically, none, if you qualify for a scheme like Skipton's Track Record mortgage, though most first-time buyers will still put down at least 5%. The average first-time buyer deposit in England was £61,090 in 2026 (UK Finance), roughly 20% of the average purchase price, but that figure is skewed by London and the South East. Over one in five first-time buyers now puts down less than £20,000 (UK Finance, 2026), and 5% deposit mortgages, backed by the mortgage guarantee scheme and others, are more widely available than at any point in the past 17 years. On a typical £213,000 Birmingham first-time buyer purchase, 5% is £10,650. The honest answer is that the minimum required deposit has fallen close to zero for eligible renters, but the deposit that gets you the best rate is still worth saving for if you can do it within a year or two without prices outrunning you.

Is it cheaper to rent or buy with no deposit?

Not automatically. It comes down to your own rent against the mortgage payment you'd actually get, and the two don't always favour buying. Skipton reports that 53% of its Track Record borrowers pay less on their mortgage than they did in rent (Skipton Group, 2026), but that's a national average across very different regions and property types. Run a Birmingham example: a £213,000 first-time buyer property on a 100% mortgage costs around £1,250 a month, against an average Birmingham two-bed flat rent of £1,037 (ONS/rental market data, 2026), which is £213 a month more expensive to buy than to rent. In a higher-rent area, or on a smaller property, that comparison can flip the other way entirely. Check your own rent against your own likely mortgage payment on a rent-versus-buy calculator before deciding, rather than trusting a national average that may not describe your street.

No deposit? The 100% mortgage that costs £213 more than rent

You've done the maths a dozen times: put a couple of hundred pounds a month into a Lifetime ISA, wait for the 25% bonus, and you're still years away from a deposit while rents keep climbing and eat into what you can put aside. It feels like the sensible, patient thing to do. It might also be costing you money you don't need to lose, because the assumption underneath all of it, that no deposit means no mortgage, stopped being true a while ago.

A mortgage that needs no deposit at all is now available to first-time buyers who've been paying rent responsibly: no guarantor, no gifted lump sum, nothing borrowed from family. But before you assume that's the answer, run the numbers on a typical first-time buyer purchase in Birmingham and the no-deposit route costs £213 a month more than renting the equivalent flat, and £144 a month more than a mortgage with just a 5% deposit behind it. The myth isn't that you need a deposit. The myth is that not having one is automatically a free pass.

The 100% mortgage myth everyone still believes

Since the 2008 financial crisis, 100% mortgages became shorthand for reckless lending, and lenders pulled them from the market almost entirely. That history is exactly why most first-time buyers still assume every lender demands at least a 5% deposit before they'll even have a conversation with you, and treat saving a lump sum as the only realistic route onto the ladder.

That assumption is now out of date. Skipton Building Society brought back a genuine no-deposit mortgage under its Track Record range for renters, and it isn't a niche pilot: applications have passed £91.5m since launch, and the product has just marked its first birthday (Skipton Group, 2026). Separately, Santander launched a 2% deposit "my first mortgage" deal in 2026, lowering the bar further for buyers who can find a small sum rather than nothing at all (Which?, 2026).

So if you've been ruling yourself out of buying because you assume every lender wants a deposit up front, that assumption is now wrong. It's worth checking whether you qualify before you write off another year of saving.

How the no-deposit route actually works

Skipton's Track Record mortgage doesn't ask for savings evidence. Instead it uses your rent history: you need to be at least 21, you mustn't have owned a UK property in the past three years, and you must have paid twelve consecutive months of rent within the last eighteen months, with proof of household bill payments often requested too. The rate is fixed at 5.80% for five years (Skipton, 2026), and a delayed-start feature lets you skip payments for up to three months after completion, useful for covering moving costs.

Santander's alternative asks for a minimum £10,000 deposit rather than nothing, fixed at 5.19% for five years with no product fee, up to 98% loan-to-value on properties up to £500,000. It isn't open to the self-employed or to buyers in Northern Ireland, and all lending is still subject to a maximum loan-to-income multiple of 4.45 times salary (Which?/Estate Agent Today, 2026).

So the real eligibility test for a no-deposit mortgage isn't how much you've saved, it's how reliably you've paid rent. If your rent record is clean, this route is genuinely open to you even with nothing set aside.

The maths nobody puts next to the marketing

Take a typical first-time buyer purchase: £213,000, the average price paid by first-time buyers in Birmingham in April 2026, provisional (ONS). Borrow the full amount on Skipton's Track Record deal at 5.80% fixed over a 30-year term and the repayment comes to roughly £1,250 a month. Save a 5% deposit instead, £10,650, and borrow £202,350 at a mainstream 95% loan-to-value rate of 5.16% fixed for five years (Leeds Building Society, via Mortgage Notes, June 2026), and the repayment drops to roughly £1,106 a month over the same term. That's a £144-a-month gap for the privilege of putting nothing down. Check your own numbers with our affordability calculator before assuming either figure applies to your situation.

Now compare both routes with simply renting. The average rent for a two-bed flat in Birmingham was £1,037 a month in May 2026 (ONS Private Rental Market Statistics/rental market data). Against that, the no-deposit mortgage isn't a bargain at all: it costs £213 a month more than renting the same type of home. Run your own rent against your likely mortgage payment with our rent vs buy calculator rather than assuming buying automatically wins.

The maths, in one place:

Birmingham first-time buyer example, £213,000 purchase (ONS, April 2026, provisional), both mortgage routes on a 30-year term · 100% mortgage (Skipton Track Record, 5.80% fixed 5yr) = £1,250/month · 5% deposit route (£10,650 down, 95% LTV, 5.16% fixed 5yr, Leeds Building Society/Mortgage Notes, June 2026) = £1,106/month · Average Birmingham 2-bed flat rent (ONS/rental market data, May 2026) = £1,037/month · No-deposit vs 5%-deposit mortgage: £144/month more · No-deposit mortgage vs renting: £213/month more.

So the no-deposit mortgage isn't the cheap option, it's the fast option. Knowing which one you actually need changes which route makes sense for you.

Why some renters genuinely come out ahead, and you might not be one of them

Skipton says 53% of its Track Record borrowers are already paying less on their mortgage than they were paying in rent (Skipton Group, May 2026). That statistic is genuine, but it's a national blended figure across very different regions and property types. In areas where rents run high relative to purchase prices, commuter towns around London are a common example, that comparison flips firmly in favour of buying. In Birmingham, on the numbers above, it currently doesn't.

This is exactly the kind of headline stat that sounds like a universal green light and isn't. If you already have a Lifetime ISA running, it's also worth checking what even a partial deposit does to your rate using our LISA calculator before assuming the extra saving time has been wasted.

So don't take a national "cheaper than rent" statistic at face value. Run your own rent against your own likely mortgage payment first, because the answer genuinely depends on where you live and what you're renting now.

Stamp Duty and the costs a no-deposit mortgage doesn't remove

There's one piece of good news in the maths above: first-time buyers in England and Northern Ireland pay no Stamp Duty Land Tax at all on the first £300,000 of a purchase, a threshold confirmed unchanged for 2026 (GOV.UK). At £213,000, no Stamp Duty is due on this example purchase whichever mortgage route you take. Scotland and Wales apply their own Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Land Transaction Tax instead, so always check which nation's rules apply to you; use our Stamp Duty calculator to confirm your own liability before assuming it's zero.

What a no-deposit mortgage doesn't remove is everything else: solicitor and conveyancing fees, valuation costs, survey fees, and the higher interest rate you're paying for borrowing the full value of the property with no buffer behind you. None of that disappears just because the deposit barrier has.

So budget for these costs separately, whichever route you take. Skipping the deposit doesn't mean skipping the rest of the bill for buying a home.

What this means for you

If your current rent already sits close to or above what a no-deposit mortgage payment would cost you, and you have no realistic path to a deposit within the next couple of years, the maths points toward taking the 100% mortgage route now rather than continuing to rent while prices and rates move against you. But if, like the Birmingham example above, your rent runs meaningfully below the no-deposit mortgage payment, most people in this position end up better off spending twelve to eighteen months pushing every spare pound into a deposit big enough to reach a materially lower rate band, because the gap between putting nothing down and putting even 5% down is worth £144 a month for the life of the deal.

Frankly, if you can close even half that deposit gap within eighteen months without your target area's prices outpacing your saving rate, that's usually the better trade financially. If prices where you're looking are rising faster than you can realistically save, the calculus flips back toward buying now on a 100% mortgage rather than waiting for terms that may never arrive. Either way, the decision should come from your own numbers, not from a headline that assumed you're already one of the renters for whom buying comes out cheaper.