• Dedicate some time to go over your spending. Identify any areas where you can trim expenses. Focus on the essentials. How much could you save for a house? Is moving in with a friend or relative an option?
• Our mobile app Insights tool can help by sorting spending into 12 categories, offering a clear view of your financial habits. Use this feature to see personalised insights, such as monthly expense changes or key expenditure categories.
• You can also take a look at our Save money by negotiating

Once you've identified where you want to spend less, create a budget. If you are a NatWest customer our budget feature in the app allows you to set a monthly budget on any of the spending categories. You can view your monthly summary to track how you're doing against it.

Having a savings account solely to save up for a house helps manage your money. The best account will depend upon:

• Your total house savings goal

• How frequently and how much you will save for your deposit

• Your deadline for when you want to buy your house

• We know it's hard to start saving for a house, so there are a few things you could consider to boost your savings.
• Start small by switching on Round Ups to effortlessly save spare change from your spending. Mobile app criteria apply.
• If you are a NatWest current account customer, you can get rewarded for your everyday banking with a NatWest Reward bank account, you can exchange the Rewards you earn for money which you can use for your house deposit. Specific account criteria and terms and conditions apply. £2 Monthly fee.
• Set up a regular transfer around your payday for easy, automatic deposits into your savings account.
• Use the information you have learned on your spending to create a realistic Savings Goal and break it into smaller, manageable targets. Adjust your goals and timeline as needed. You can even add a photo of your dream home to your goal to keep you motivated and if you'd rather hide your savings so you won't be tempted, you can do that too.

Want to spice up your savings routine? Try some savings challenges like the 1p challenge or no spend challenge. They're a fun way to make saving more enjoyable and work towards saving money for a house. 

• Consider family and friends support.  A gifted deposit could help, depending upon your circumstances or you could consider buying a house with a friend or family. 
• Take advantage of our free financial health check. 
• There are government-backed schemes designed to help you buy a house. 

A legal representative, usually a solicitor you will have hired, will act on your behalf throughout this process. 

• They will manage the movement of funds to the selling party's legal representative. 
• You should be careful and aware of scams when transferring large sums of money. 

• Your credit rating can impact your ability to get a mortgage and the products that lenders could offer you. 
• A larger deposit may increase the number of mortgage products available to you, but this will be considered together with your circumstances.

Learn more about what credit score you need to get a mortgage. 

When you apply for a mortgage, you will have to provide a potential lender with information about the source of your deposit, which they will verify.

Although it is possible that a lender could accept a loan as a source of mortgage deposit, it is highly likely that they won't. If you are borrowing money for a deposit, you would effectively be borrowing 100% of the price of your property (when you include the mortgage loan too). This would be seen as too risky and NatWest would not accept this as a source of deposit. 

Wondering how soon you could save for a home? It depends on your savings amount, house costs in your area, and whether you're buying with someone else. 

Here's a look based on a typical house price of £285,000 in December 2023, needing a 5% deposit of £14,250.

• Save £150 monthly - it will take around eight years to achieve your deposit
• Save £200 monthly - expect to reach your goal in about six years
• Save £300 monthly - you could be ready in roughly four years

This depends on your personal circumstances and how much you can realistically afford to save on a regular basis. If you are aiming for a 5% deposit which is £5,000.  If you save:

• £150 monthly - it will take around three years to achieve your deposit
• Save £200 monthly - expect to reach your goal in about two years
• Save £300 monthly - you could be ready in roughly over a year 

Saving for a home deposit doesn't happen overnight and ties to how much you save monthly. A 5% deposit on a £200,000 home needs £10,000.

Here's a brief roadmap:

• Save £150 each month, and you may need five and a half years
• If it's £200 a month, expect around four years
• With £300 per month, the timeline could shrink to under three years

A 5% deposit is £15,000, and the time to save depends on your monthly savings. Check these estimates:

• £150 monthly may take over 8 years
• Capitalise saving £200 monthly could reach your goal in six and half years
• £300 monthly might achieve it in just over four years

If it’s your goal to save a deposit for a house in 5 years you need to look at ways to boost your saving and cut costs. 

Have a look at our Guidance for saving for a house.