Saving for that home deposit? It’s going to take you until 2029

A FIRST-TIME buyer faces an average wait of ten years to save enough money to get on to the property ladder, research suggests – rising to nearly 16 years in London.

Across England and Wales, the average time it takes a single first-time buyer to raise a 15 per cent deposit is ten years and three months, according to calculations from Hamptons International.

The figures, based on the fourth quarter of last year, are an improvement on the fourth quarter of 2016, when it took an estimated ten years and nine months.

Aneisha Beveridge, of 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.’

In Wales, a single buyer needing a 15 per cent deposit can expect to get on the property ladder after eight years and six months – down from nine years and three months in the fourth quarter of 2016.

In London, the wait is 15 years and nine months, a slight improvement on the 16 years needed in 2016.

Clubbing together with a friend or a partner helps buyers get on to the property ladder much faster, taking four years and nine months on average.

A couple in London saving together could gather a deposit in seven years and six months.

At the other end of the scale, a couple saving in the North East of England would take two years and nine months on average to raise a 15 per cent deposit.

‘Slowing house price growth’