Hampshire
Leading Bad Credit Mortgage Resource for Hampshire
Two big port cities priced below the regional average, a premium cathedral city, and commuter towns in between: this county offers more routes into ownership for adverse-credit buyers than most of the south.
A southern county with genuinely affordable cities
Hampshire, the historic County of Southampton, is unusual among southern counties in having two large cities where typical prices sit well below the South East average. Around them the spread widens considerably, from harbour towns at the bottom of the range to a cathedral city at double their price.
Southampton
The largest settlement is a spread-out, working port city with everything from Ocean Village flats to inter-war semis in Shirley and Bitterne. Its housing is priced on local wages rather than London salaries, which keeps deposits within reach.
Portsmouth
Packed onto Portsea Island, Portsmouth offers street after street of bay-fronted Victorian terraces at similar money to Southampton. The naval base and universities anchor demand, and the dense terrace stock suits buyers hunting at the lower end.
Gosport, Eastleigh and Fareham
Gosport, across the harbour from Portsmouth and reliant on the ferry or a long road loop, is consistently the cheapest substantial town in the county. Eastleigh and Fareham occupy the middle ground along the M27 corridor.
Basingstoke and Andover
The north runs at a commuter premium thanks to fast trains to Waterloo, with Basingstoke the clearest example. Andover offers similar rail access at gentler prices.
Winchester
The cathedral city stands apart. A constrained centre, strong schools and sub-hour London trains keep typical prices around double Portsmouth's, making it the local equivalent of the premium commuter towns found in Surrey and west Kent.
Prices and deposits from Gosport to Winchester
HM Land Registry's UK House Price Index puts typical values here in a range from roughly £250,000 in Gosport to around £500,000 in Winchester. The two cities and the M27 towns cluster towards the lower half of that range, which is where most adverse-credit purchases in the area happen.
Buyers with defaults, CCJs or a completed IVA should plan around deposits of 10 to 25 percent rather than the 5 percent floor available to some clean-credit applicants. The severity, age and status of the issues set where in that band a lender places you.
| Town/city | Typical price | 10% deposit | 15% deposit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gosport | £250,000 | £25,000 | £37,500 |
| Portsmouth | £260,000 | £26,000 | £39,000 |
| Southampton | £270,000 | £27,000 | £40,500 |
| Basingstoke | £320,000 | £32,000 | £48,000 |
| Winchester | £500,000 | £50,000 | £75,000 |
Commuting patterns and where the value sits
The local economy does not revolve around London the way Surrey's does, and that shows in its prices. Southampton and Portsmouth generate their own employment in the ports, defence, healthcare and the universities, so the cities' housing markets are priced on local wages rather than capital salaries. For a buyer whose credit history demands a 15 or 20 percent deposit, that local pricing is the difference between needing about £40,000 and needing £75,000 or more.
The London effect concentrates in the north. Basingstoke, Hook and Fleet along the M3 and the South Western main line carry a clear premium, though still a smaller one than equivalent Surrey towns a few miles further east. Winchester carries the largest premium of all. Buyers who work in London but hold an imperfect credit file often weigh an hour-plus commute from Southampton against the £100,000-plus price gap to Winchester, and the deposit consequences that follow from it.
One local note: the large armed forces presence around Portsmouth, Gosport and Aldershot means many buyers use Forces Help to Buy alongside a mortgage. The scheme interacts with lender criteria in its own way, and adverse credit is assessed by the lender as usual, so service personnel with defaults should raise both points with a broker together.
The application itself: national rules, local prices
No lender runs county-specific credit policy. Whether the property is a Portsea Island terrace or a Basingstoke new-build, specialist lenders score each default and CCJ on its age, its size and whether it is satisfied, then look at how you have managed credit since. Issues over three years old and settled are widely placeable. Anything registered in the last twelve months narrows the market and raises the deposit requirement, and entries fall off your file entirely after six years.
Worthwhile preparation before any application:
- Get all three statutory credit reports, from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and check every adverse entry for accuracy
- Dispute mistakes, especially default dates, settled accounts shown as open, and addresses that link you to someone else's debt
- Set a deposit target from the table above for the towns you are actually considering
- Use our eligibility checker to compare your file against typical specialist criteria, and our timeline planner to see how each passing year improves your options
- Place the application through a whole-of-market broker rather than applying directly, so declined searches do not accumulate on your file
Our role
We are an information website. DefaultMortgage.co.uk does not lend money, arrange mortgages or give regulated advice, and nothing on this page guarantees acceptance by any lender. Rates and criteria change frequently, so we focus on the parts that stay true: how adverse credit is assessed, and what local prices mean for the deposit you will need.
Common questions in Hampshire
Where in Hampshire is cheapest to buy with bad credit?
Gosport and Portsmouth have the county's lowest typical prices on HM Land Registry data, around £250,000 to £260,000, so a 10 percent deposit is roughly £25,000 to £26,000 and 15 percent around £37,500 to £39,000. Southampton runs close behind. Winchester, by contrast, needs roughly double the cash for the same percentage.
I am in the armed forces with a default. Does Forces Help to Buy still work?
Forces Help to Buy can provide an interest-free loan towards your deposit, but the mortgage lender still assesses your default on the usual criteria of age, value and satisfaction status. Some lenders accept the scheme alongside adverse credit and some do not, so it is worth using a broker who can match both requirements at once.
Are Portsmouth's Victorian terraces fine for specialist lenders?
Standard brick terraces, which make up most of Portsea Island, are acceptable to lenders in the normal way. Occasional complications come from flat conversions with short leases or unusual layouts rather than from the houses themselves. Your credit history is assessed separately, on national criteria.
Is Basingstoke or Southampton better for a first purchase after an IVA?
Lender criteria treat a completed IVA the same in both, typically becoming workable from around three years after the start date with deposits towards the higher end of the 10 to 25 percent range. The practical difference is price: the same 20 percent deposit is about £54,000 in Southampton and £64,000 in Basingstoke at typical values, so the choice is really about cash, commute and where you want to live.
Information Only - Not Financial Advice
This website provides guidance only. Always consult an FCA-regulated mortgage advisor before making decisions.
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