Britain's first-time buyers are seriously underestimating how much it costs to buy a home

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77% of first-time house buyers are forced to compromise on the quality of their first home, even though the majority of them are paying significantly more than they budgeted, according to a survey by developer Barratt Homes.

The homeowning market is increasingly difficult and expensive to navigate for first-time buyers, with mortgage approval rates dropping after Brexit and house prices still soaring.

And new research by Barratt Homes, which surveyed more than 2,000 prospective and first-time homeowners, shows that on average buyers are paying an average of £222,000 ($295,820), compared to the £210,000 they anticipated paying.

Furthermore, despite respondents citing house size, garden size, and location as the most important factors in choosing a home, those were the areas where most buyers were forced to compromise in order to purchase a first home.

One in six respondents ended up opting for one less bedroom than they had initially planned, and the same number ended up buying a smaller property with one less bedroom.

28% said they compromised on location. The survey also found that many people do not feel the need to make any changes to their new property: almost one in four did nothing to their first home after they moved in, and only 46% of people did any basic decorating at all.

A spokesperson for Barratt Homes said: "Our research shows that buying a first home can be a challenging process where some buyers can struggle to know what to expect or to compromise on.

"However, it's encouraging that almost a quarter of buyers are able to find the perfect first home without having to make any compromises at all."