Single first-time buyers paid an average of £47,479 in deposits in 2019/20 in the year to March, according to the latest English Housing Survey.

This compares with joint first-time buyers who handed over £43,395 in deposits, in annual research published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

In London, an average of £136,798 was spent on deposits by new homeowners.

The MHCLG says the price of deposits “fluctuated with age”, with first-time buyers aged 45 or over, paying out £66,218, while those between 16 to 24 handed over £21,389 to secure a mortgage.

It adds that 19% of single buyers had a deposit of less than 10% of the purchase price, while 30% of joint FTBs found loans that required a deposit at this level or below.

The survey adds that 13% of Londoners found a deposit of less than 10%, compared to 27% of FTBs outside the capital.

Overall, in 2019-20 the report estimated there were 15.4 million owner-occupied households across the UK.

Of these, 8.3 million, or 54%, were owned outright, 6.9 million, 45%, had a mortgage, with 202,000, 1%, in shared ownership.

It adds that 52% of owner occupiers work full-time, 10% are in part-time employment, while 35% are retired.

The report says that 78% of private renters who applied for a mortgage in the previous 12 months had their application accepted, while 73% of social renters were also accepted for a home loan.

The most common reason that an application was refused among both groups was that their income was too low, which was mentioned by 42% of rejected applicants.