Startling figures from the Countrywide high-end brand Hamptons International show how tough it is for young people to buy.

The agency says the average single first-time buyer across the UK as a whole would have to save for 10 and a half years to raise a 15 per cent deposit on their first home.

Amazingly this is actually down on the 11 years  average reported a year ago – that’s because of slow house price growth and a rise in incomes.  

The average single first-time buyer who started saving in Q1 2018 would not be able to purchase a home until the autumn of 2028, Hamptons says.

Meanwhile a single Londoner hoping to buy for the first time would need to save for 17 years to raise a 15 per cent deposit whereas a couple would need eight years.

It is now six months quicker for a couple to save up for a home in London than at the same period last year. A slowdown in London house price growth and higher income growth explains the change, claims Hamptons.

In Q1 2018 a single first-time buyer in London would not be able to move into their new home until 2035.

The fastest place to save for a 15 per cent deposit is in the North East, where it takes a couple just under three years (two years nine months), and a single person six years and three months.