Shelter: First-time buyers need to save for more than a decade

A new report from Shelter has found that buying a home is a fantasy for many renters.

A Home of Their Own found that the shortage of homes in England now means young couples with children, on typical incomes, face 12 years of saving before they can afford to buy their first home. This affects a whole range of areas in every region of the country (18.6 years in Brighton and Hove, 17.8 years in Cornwall, Walsall 13.8 years, North Tyneside 12.6 years).

To assess the extent to which young people are excluded from home-ownership, Shelter commissioned Liverpool Economics to produce estimates of the time it would take first-time buyers to save a 20% deposit in each county and unitary authority in England.

These estimates take into account current and projected house prices, incomes, essential costs (food, transport utilities) and rent by household type across the country. The analysis assesses the length of time households currently in their 20s can expect to save for a deposit for their first home.

In London, Shelter said it would take a couple with a household income of £53,384 13.5 years to save a 20% deposit. It would also take more than 10 years for an average-earning couple in Brighton, Windsor and Maidenhead, Oxfordshire, Surrey and Devon.

Couples with children face an even bigger struggle if one parent works full-time and the other part-time. Across England, Shelter said it would take a couple with one child 12 years to build a 20% deposit, and in more than 70% of unitary authorities it would take them more than a decade.

And if you're single in London, it's even worse news. Solo buyers in the capital need to save up for a whopping 29 years to get a deposit together compared to an average of 13 years across England.

Shelter's chief executive Campbell Robb said: Homeownership used to be within most people's reach, but the rising shortage of affordable homes has pushed house prices up so high that for millions of young people it's now just a fantasy, however how hard they work or save.

Parents are right to be worried. The reality is that unless we get a grip on the housing shortage soon, children today could spend decades paying out dead money in expensive rents, or living at home well into adulthood with little hope of planning for their own families.