First-time buyers ‘wait a decade to raise deposit’

First-time buyers face a typical decade-long wait to save enough money to get on to the property ladder - rising to 15 years in London - research suggests.

By The Newsroom

Published 8th Apr 2019, 07:00 BST

This means that if a single first-time buyer started saving now, they could expect to get the keys to their first home in 2029.

The latest figures, based on the fourth quarter of 2018, are an improvement compared with the fourth quarter of 2016, when it took an estimated 10 years and nine months to save.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research, Hamptons International, said: “Slowing house price growth - which is expected to continue - combined with rising wages, meant that last year it was six months quicker to save for a home than it was two years earlier.

“However, despite the slight improvement in affordability, it still takes a single person more than a decade to save up to buy a home.”

In London, a single first-time buyer faces waiting 15 years and nine months to save for a deposit - an improvement on the fourth quarter of 2016 when it took 16 years.

London