Darlo1973
Striker
Whilst that's great, it always seems like a bit of a false economy unless your house is too big for you. I mean, I got a cheap place, just wanted to be on the property ladder, cost me £77000. Now, 5 years on, it's valued at £91000. Which sounds great but I couldn't move anywhere smaller, so if I go for a house that was £100000 it's probably now £125000, so all the "extra" money in my house will go when I try to move up the ladder. Like I say it's great if you bought a 4 bedroom place but the kids have moved out and you want a 2, then you'll benefit. For the OP though I would always recommend saving for even longer and stretching as much as you can for your first house, it's difficult to move up the ladder if you start at the bottom
For me, the benefit for me of a larger deposit was that I could afford to skip the lowest rung of the ladder so I could afford a slightly better house in a better location. I wasn't interested in a "project" so wanted something in move-in condition.
At present I have no interest in moving up the ladder. The time the equity will be useful will be if I decide to retire back to the NE when I will be able to buy something cheaper outright and liberate a bundle of cash to have some fun with.