By First-time buyers are able to save for deposits at a faster rate than they did in 2016, according to new data by real estate agency Hamptons International.
As many as 8 out of 10 regions surveyed by Hamptons showed a decline in the length of time a single first-time buyer had to wait to save a 15 per cent deposit.
Single first-time buyers in the East, East Midlands and Wales saw the greatest reduction in waiting times, seeing them fall by as much as nine months over the course of two years.
In England and Wales as a whole, Hamptons estimated that the average single first-time buyer will take 10 years to save for a 15 per cent deposit, meaning they will be waiting until at least 2029 to afford a home, but this waiting time has been reduced by an average of six months since 2016.
Regional variations
Londoners face the longest waiting times out of the 10 regions surveyed by Hamptons in their new report, with single-first time buyers in that region waiting sixteen years to save on a 15 per cent deposit, with their waiting time actually increasing since 2016.
This means single buyers starting to save right now will face waiting until the mid-2030s, in order to afford a new home, if they are based in the capital.
In contrast, single first-time buyers only have to wait eight years if they are based in Yorkshire and Humber.
Couples have an even shorter waiting time than single first-time buyers, the new data suggests, with the average couple waiting five years to save on their deposit, half the amount of time they would have taken if they had been single.
Couples in the East Midlands have the shortest waiting time of all first-time buyers in the entire survey, having to wait just two years and nine months to save.
Increasing affordability
This trend of falling waiting times on saving for deposits suggests an overall increase in affordability for first-time buyers, according to Hamptons International. In the decade between 2008 and 2018, waiting times for single first-time buyers fell by six months, but couples now wait an extra nine months.
“Saving for a deposit is the biggest barrier to buying a home but things did improve in 2018. 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”, claimed Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International.
Aneisha addressed the wide variation first-time buyers face, especially in London, when compared to other regions, saying: “Conditions are hardest in the capital where house prices have increased the most over the last decade.”
This all comes as the government prepares to implement policies to try and boost house-building, particularly in and around London, as part of its pledge to ensure 300,000 new homes each year by the mid-2020s.
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