Financial implications of purchasing a first home?
Congrats! Make sure you nail down NOW what happens to the house should you eventually separate. I know lots of unmarried couples who have stayed together for decades and look likely to do so for life; I've also seen some marriages break up that I wouldn't have expected to. Better to have this discussion NOW.  Beyond that: Main immediate implications are that you have new costs (taxes, utilities, maintenance) and new tax issues (mortgage interest and property tax deductability) and you're going to have to figure out how to allocate those between you (if there is a between; not sure whether unmarried couples can file jointly these days).
I am not a financial expert, but I'm pretty sure that it DOES matter.  When you take out a mortgage on a home, you are using the home itself as collateral. If you fail to make payments on that home, and go into foreclosure, the bank takes possession of your home. With that understanding, imagine you borrow $500K for a purchase of a home. If the cost of the home was $1M, the bank will have more confidence they can recover the money they lent you (by selling the home should it go into foreclosure) than they would if the house was only worth $700K. In effect, the larger your down payment, the easier it would be for the bank to recover their money should you go into foreclosure early on. As far as 50% overcoming a low credit score... that's a very open-ended question. There are just too many factors at play to give a simple yes or no answer to that. "But why? To expand Amazon's Fresh delivery service? Whole Foods is stupid expensive to shop at, I'm not sure at what premium I'd be willing to have home delivery.  Edit: a Politico article gives a clearer reason: ""But the purchase of Whole Foods and its 460 stores in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. gives the company access to instant infrastructure — including the expensive facilities needed for handling perishables — in scores of urban and suburban markets.""   That makes sense, I'm assuming since Whole Foods hasn't been in the best financial shape recently it was ripe to be acquired." Ebates is great for getting a little extra discount once you find what you are looking for.  You can usually get about 2%-4% off from places like Dell, Staples, Home Depot, etc. What I do is do my research/shopping first and then add the item to the cart, then head over to Ebates and click through back to the store I was just on, and then purchase the item.  Ebates will track the purchase and send you a check about once every 3 months.  It is not much and not reflected in the price immediately but still it is a savings of some sort. "You could debate the ""why""s of tax policy endlessly. There are lots of things in tax law that I think are bad ideas, and probably a few here and there that I think are good ideas. I am well aware that there are things that I think are good ideas that others think are bad ideas and vice versa.  To your specific point: I suppose you could say that having a place to live is a necessity. But most people do not live in the absolute minimum necessary to give them a place to sleep and protection from the weather. You could survive with a one-room apartment with a bed on one side and a toilet and some minimal cooking facilities on the other. Most people have considerably more than that. At some point that's luxury and not necessity. And if you want to push it, you COULD live in a cardboard box under a bridge, you don't NEED a house or apartment to survive. Personally I think it's absurd that as a home-owner I get a deduction for my mortgage interest, while if someone were to rent an identical house with a monthly rental equal to exactly the same amount that I am paying on my mortgage, he would receive no deduction. The stated goal of that one was to encourage home ownership. But people who own homes are generally richer than those who rent, so the net result is that the poor are paying higher taxes to help subsidize the homes of the rich. And then the rich congratulate themselves on how they are giving these tax breaks to help make housing more affordable for poor people. To reiterate @keshlam, tax laws only makes sense when understood politically. Yes, some people have fine ideas about what is fair and just. Others simply want tax breaks that benefit their business or people with tough financial situations that just happen by chance to resemble their own. Many of the people with noble ideas have little concept of what the implications of the policies they push are. Many of the ideas that some people view as worthy and noble, others view as frivolous, counter-productive, or even evil. Then you mash all these competing groups and interest together and see what comes out." My experience with owning a home is that its like putting down roots and can be like an anchor holding you to an area.  Before considering whether you can financially own a home consider some of the other implications. Once you own it you are stuck for awhile and cannot quickly move away like you can with renting.  So if a better job opportunity comes up or your employer moves you to another office across town that doubles your commute time, you'll be regretting the home purchase as it will be a barrier to moving to a more convenient location.   I, along with my fiancée and two children, are being forced to move out of my parents home ASAP.  Do not rush buying a home.  Take your time and find what you want.  I made the mistake once of buying a home thinking I could take on some DIY remodeling to correct some features I wasn't fond of.  Life intervenes and finding extra time for DIY house updates doesn't come easy, especially with children.   Speaking of children, consider the school district when buying a home too.  Often times homes in good school districts cost more.  If you don't consider the school district now, then you may be faced with a difficult decision when the kids start school.   IF you are confident you won't want to move anytime soon and can find a house you like and want to jump into home ownership there are some programs that can help first time buyers, but they can require some effort on your part.  FHA has a first time buyer program with a 3.5% down payment.  You will need to search for a lender that offers FHA loans and work with them.  FHA covers this program by charging mortgage insurance every month that's part of your house payment. Fannie Mae has the HomeReady program where first time home buyers can purchase a foreclosed home from their inventory for as little as 3% down and possibly get up to 3% from the seller to apply toward closing costs.  Private mortgage insurance (PMI) is required with this program too.  Their inventory of homes can be found on the https://www.homepath.com/ website. There is also NACA, which requires attending workshops and creating a detailed plan to prove you're ready for homeownership.  This might be a good option if they have workshops in your area and you want to talk with someone in person. https://www.naca.com/about/ From a slightly different perspective, in my experience of buying a house you will find some unexpected costs due repairs that need to be made which were overlooked during the home inspection etc. You will need some financial cushion to fall back onto for these unexpected costs so for that reason alone I'd try to pay off as much of the credit card debt as I can. The £500 are an expense associated with the loan, just like interest. You should have an expense account where you can put such financing expenses (or should create a new one). Again, treat it the same way you'll treat interest charges in future statements. Mortgage qualification is typically done based on pretax income. To keep the math easy, let's assume $10K/month gross.  A well written loan allows 28% or $2800 to be used for the mortgage and property tax. Property tax varies, but 1% is the average of the 2 states mentioned. This results in $7500/yr property or $625/mo tax leaving $2175/mo. Note here - OP stated $750K house.  $2175 will finance $450K at 4%/30 years. $2175 will finance $300K at 3.5% /15years. Let me pause here. Facts are most important to make these decisions. Unless you're clear on gross income, which may be higher, the constraints above quickly come into play.  Once the numbers are spelled out, you may find that you are qualified to only borrow $350K based on a 30 year note. Nathan's $2500 payment was correct, but for the mortgage only. Add property tax and you'd be at $3125. You'd need a gross $11,160/mo. to meet the 28% rule.  The above discussion would render any further thoughts (of mine) moot.