A 5% deposit on the UK's 2025 median home (£297,000, HM Land Registry) is £14,850. But where that home actually is changes the figure by more than 7-to-1 — from £8,000 in Sunderland to £59,612 in Kensington and Chelsea.
Lenders offering 95% loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages size the deposit as a straight percentage of the purchase price, so the cash a buyer needs to find tracks the local property market almost exactly. Below is the 2025 median price in nine English cities (HM Land Registry, category A transactions, houses and flats), the 5% deposit each one demands, and the monthly cost of the remaining 95% loan at the Bank of England's quoted 5-year fixed rate.
The 5% deposit by city, 2025
| City | 2025 median price | 5% deposit | 95% LTV loan | Monthly at 4.32%\* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunderland | £160,000 | £8,000 | £152,000 | £829 |
| Liverpool | £182,000 | £9,100 | £172,900 | £943 |
| Nottingham | £200,000 | £10,000 | £190,000 | £1,037 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £209,075 | £10,454 | £198,621 | £1,084 |
| Sheffield | £220,000 | £11,000 | £209,000 | £1,140 |
| Birmingham | £239,000 | £11,950 | £227,050 | £1,239 |
| Leeds | £250,000 | £12,500 | £237,500 | £1,296 |
| Manchester | £253,000 | £12,650 | £240,350 | £1,312 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | £1,192,250 | £59,612 | £1,132,638 | £6,180 |
\Bank of England quoted rate for a 5-year fix at 75% LTV, 4.32% as of April 2026 (the most recent published figure) — used here as an indicative reference rate across the whole ladder; a 95% LTV product will typically carry a higher rate than the 75% LTV series quoted, so treat the monthly figures as a floor, not a quote. Calculated over a 25-year term.*
Medians calculated from HM Land Registry Price Paid transactions recorded in 2025 (category A, standard residential sales, houses and flats).
The deposit gap (7.5x between Sunderland and Kensington and Chelsea) is almost identical to the price gap itself (7.45x), because a percentage-of-price deposit scales in lockstep with the property's value. Nationally, the 2025 median across 810,635 category-A transactions was £297,000 — a 5% deposit of £14,850, which lands close to the Nottingham/Newcastle rung of this ladder.
Why the North-South deposit gap barely narrows at 95% LTV
A 95% LTV mortgage is designed to lower the deposit rate, not break the link between deposit cash and local prices. Buyers sometimes assume a smaller percentage deposit "levels the playing field" between cheap and expensive areas — it doesn't. A 5% deposit in Kensington and Chelsea still asks for more upfront cash (£59,612) than the entire purchase price of a typical home in Sunderland (£160,000).
What a lower deposit percentage changes is the size of the mortgage relative to the home's value, which affects the interest rate on offer (lenders generally price higher-LTV products at a premium over 75% LTV deals) and the total interest paid over the mortgage term — not the deposit's relationship to the local market.
The practical limit: not every home is sold at 95% LTV
Lenders restrict how much they'll advance at 95% LTV, both by a maximum loan size and by product availability — high-value properties like the Kensington and Chelsea example in this table are less likely to be offered a 95% LTV product in practice, even though the arithmetic works. The table above shows what the percentage implies at each price point, not a guarantee that a 95% LTV mortgage is available at every price. A mortgage broker or lender can confirm what's actually on offer for a specific property and income.
What the monthly figure doesn't include
The monthly repayment column is mortgage principal and interest only. It excludes:
- Council tax — varies by local authority band, not price (see Homecost's council tax explainer)
- Buildings insurance and maintenance
- Stamp Duty Land Tax, payable on completion rather than monthly, and zero for first-time buyers on homes under £300,000
- Energy costs, which vary by EPC rating rather than price
A property's full monthly cost of ownership — mortgage, council tax, energy and more — can be checked for any specific address via Homecost's postcode tool, for example Manchester, M1 1AE.
Try it with your own numbers
Homecost's mortgage calculator is pre-filled with the Leeds example from this table (£250,000 at a 5% deposit) — change the price, deposit or rate to see how the monthly figure moves for a different city or a different mortgage size.
For the companion question — how much deposit different percentage tiers actually require, and the cash gap across a wider set of cities — see Homecost's guides on how much deposit you need to buy a house and the deposit gap between the cheapest and dearest UK cities. For the full cash position at completion — deposit plus Stamp Duty plus fees — see cash to completion by UK city.
This is general information based on published data, not financial advice. Mortgage rates, LTV limits and product availability vary by lender, income and credit profile. Speak to a qualified mortgage adviser before acting.