I’m a first-time buyer, what should I do?

Lenders are requiring deposits as high as 40% for the best deals and closing their doors to “risky” customers making it tougher for first-time buyers to get on the property ladder.

There are no longer deals at 100% of the property price, so you will need a deposit of at least 5%. Mortgage brokers say 10% is preferable.

If you have a deposit of 5% you can get a five-year fix with HSBC for 6.99%. This would mean repayments of £1,412 on a £200,000 loan. With a 10% deposit Skipton building society offers 5.79%, with repayments of £1,263. Lenders still accept parents as guarantors, which may secure a better deal.

Lenders will base guarantor mortgages on parents’ income when deciding whether to grant the loan. Most high street lenders do guarantor mortgages, but Halifax is unlikely to offer one with a 5% deposit.

Katrina Rochowski, 29, a personal assistant, and Leigh Williamson, a web designer, managed to save a deposit of £23,500 to buy their first home for £235,000 in north London.

Williamson said: “It’s been an absolute nightmare. We were lucky enough to get a three-year fixed rate deal for 5.9%, so we are very scared Abbey will turn round and say no, especially after we’ve paid all this money for the surveys.”

I can’t sell, what do I do?

Sellers can get protection from down valuations by undertaking some research before putting a property on the market. Richard Sexton, of E.surv, said: “There is now a proliferation of online sites, including the Land Registry, which provide data on house sales by postcode and street.”

Spending a couple of thousand redecorating rather than on expensive extensions can add about 5% to a property’s value, according to Kate Faulkner of Which?

Faulkner said: “The only thing I would look at doing is decorating throughout. I wouldn’t expect it to increase the value, but it would help me sell faster than other homes on the market.”

And if I’m remortgaging?

Homeowners who don’t have a lot of equity in their homes are more vulnerable to a property down valuation as it could drain the equity in their property, costing thousands of pounds in higher interest repayments as lenders reserve the best deals for those with the highest deposits.

Halifax charges 6.65% or £1,369 a month on a £200,000 loan for a three-year fixed rate mortgage for those with a 10% deposit or equity, while those with 25% can get a rate of 6.24%, £1,318 on a £200,000 deal — £1,836 cheaper over the life of the loan.

David Black of Defaqto, a financial data firm, said that in some cases it was worth going on the standard variable rate rather than remortgaging.

Black said: “Two-year deals are waning in popularity as there has been an increase in rates charged and, secondly, the costs of remortgaging can be fairly substantial.”