The average buyer is left thousands of pounds in debt when purchasing a house after under-estimating additional costs such as stamp duty, contents insurance and solicitors’ fees.

New research by Aviva showed the average house buyer budgeted £12,143 for costs which also included deposit, survey, furniture and buildings insurance.

But the research showed that the average additional cost figure was actually £18,624.

It also showed that more than half of first-time buyers in London had asked a family member for a loan to be able to afford their home, while the figure was also high in East Anglia (33%) and the East Midlands (43%).

Buyers in the South-West appear to find the financial burden easiest to shoulder, with just a quarter (25%) saying they had had to ask a family member for a loan.

Aviva’s marketing director Heath Smith said: “Scraping together the cash for the deposit alone can be a mammoth task, but that’s just the first hurdle. It’s the other essential costs such as solicitors’ fees and stamp duty which can be the sting in the tail – not forgetting any essential repairs which might be needed once the keys have been handed over.

“First-time buyers face walking into a money pit if a first dream home turns out to be a nightmare. If the cash outlay needed to buy the house isn’t expensive enough, a hefty bill for unforeseen essential repairs is the last thing needed.

“Anyone looking to buy a home should investigate every nook and cranny of the property before putting in an offer and must not be afraid of asking for several viewings.”

The findings show that people in East Anglia spent the longest amount of time saving for their first home, at just over four years, while in Scotland people needed to save for just under three years on average.

People in the South-East were least likely to give up on buying while saving (32%), while more than half (60%) of Londoners are likely to give up while saving.

Nearly one in four Londoners also said they had to take a second job to be able to afford their first home, compared to less than one in ten in Scotland.

The results were published following a survey of 2,000 homeowners in June.

The research can be seen here