If buying your own home is the finish line, saving for the deposit is the marathon - and the organizers have apparently set the course through a bog. The "Your First Home" scheme, announced on Saturday, aims to help first-time buyers in England get on the housing ladder with a small deposit. Currently, a 5% deposit on the average UK house price of £272,000, plus moving costs and legal fees, will set you back about £16,850, according to financial information service Moneyfacts.

That's daunting, but experts say there are four ways to at least make a start. First: deposit an amount you can afford into a regular savers account the day after you are paid. Anna Bowes, savings expert at financial advisers The Private Office, suggests treating it "like another bill, but one that you can benefit from in the future." The right account depends on your circumstances - some of the highest-interest ones require holding a current account with the provider, and locking your money away longer can earn a better rate. If you lack a buffer of other savings, an easy access account lets you dip in for unexpected bills.

Second: the Lifetime Individual Savings Account (LISA), where you can save up to £4,000 a year and the government guarantees a 25% bonus - put in the full amount and the government adds £1,000 a year. But there's a catch that has left some people out of pocket. LISA money can only be used to buy a first home up to the value of £450,000, a threshold unchanged since 2017. The only other times you can withdraw are after age 60 or if you are terminally ill with less than 12 months to live. Withdraw under any other circumstances and you get hit with a penalty - meaning you could get back less than you put in. Ministers plan to replace the LISA with a new First Time Buyer ISA, but details are still vague.

Third: start early and let compound interest do the heavy lifting. Bowes says saving £50 a month from age 20 would give you about £41,000 in 30 years, assuming 5% annual interest. Start 10 years later and you'd need to save more than double - £101 a month - to have the same amount at 50. Investing in stocks and shares is another option, though values can go down as well as up.

Fourth: increasingly, lenders offer mortgages with little or no deposit. David Hollingworth from L&C points to deals with deposits starting from £5,000 and borrowing up to 98% or 99% of the purchase price. They might not always be the best option, and not everyone will be eligible. And, of course, some first-time buyers turn to their parents. A survey by Nationwide Building Society suggests more than half of parents who charge their adult children rent put some or all of that money towards helping them save for a home.

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