A baby born today needs to save £1,734 a year to get their first foot on the ladder

Research by national fast sale estate agent, Springbok Properties, has revealed the up-hill struggle facing those born today when it comes to getting onto the UK property ladder.

With the average FTB age thought to have stayed static for over a decade at 30 years old, Springbok looked at how much you would have to save every year of your life for those 30 years in order to accumulate a 10% deposit on the average FTB house price, and how this has changed since 2012.

The data shows that in 2012, the average FTB house price in the UK was £120,304, requiring £12,030 for a 10% deposit. This means that you would have had to save £401 every year since being born in 1982 to save enough for a deposit at that price in 2012.

Skip to today, and the average first-time buyer is now paying £154,238, requiring a deposit of £15,424, meaning those born in 1988 would have had to save £514 for every year of their life just to make it onto today’s ladder.

This is an increase in the yearly saving sum required of 28%, an average annual increase of 4% a year. Over the next 30 years that equates to an increase of 124% and would mean that a baby born today would have to tuck away £1,734 a year just to secure a 10% mortgage deposit of £52,493 in 2049.

This is, of course, a lot higher in some areas, with the yearly saving required for a baby born today to get onto the London ladder in 30 years coming in at an eye-watering £16,508!

In Cambridge and Bristol, this sum exceeds £9,000 at £9,975 and £9,772 respectively.

Aberdeen is the best place for a future home buyer to be born today, with a fall in house prices meaning it would actually be cheaper at £407 per year saved.

Founder and CEO of Springbok Properties, Shepherd Ncube, commented:

“We thought the task of getting on the ladder was hard in this day and age, but with house prices continuing to climb ever higher, it could be a much tougher ask for our children in the future.

£500 a year to get on to today’s ladder might not sound a lot today, but when you consider this is not only over a 30-year period but is still just a 10% deposit and not a full properties value, it really does drive home the monumental issues of affordability across the UK market.

I certainly hope for my kids’ sake, that these predictions don’t ring true and we don’t see the cost of buying spiral to these levels, however, if you would have told someone in 1988 they had to save £500 a year to get on the ladder in 30 years’ time, they probably would have laughed at you. So who knows what the future might hold?”

Table shows the average first-time buyer house price, deposit required and saving per year for 30 years to accumulate the deposit in both 2012 and 2018, how this has changed and the projected annual saving requirement for a baby born today to afford a property in 2049.

Location	2012			2018			Change		2049*
Location	Average FTB house price	Deposit	Saving per year	Average FTB house price	Deposit	Saving per year	Total change in annual saving	Average yearly change	Projected saving required for 30 years
London	£264,682	£26,468	£882	£418,149	£41,815	£1,394	58.0%	8.3%	£16,508
Cambridge	£254,911	£25,491	£850	£378,196	£37,820	£1,261	48.4%	6.9%	£9,975
Bristol	£161,622	£16,162	£539	£254,724	£25,472	£849	57.6%	8.2%	£9,772
Oxford	£260,796	£26,080	£869	£364,613	£36,461	£1,215	39.8%	5.7%	£6,777
Portsmouth	£138,045	£13,805	£460	£196,218	£19,622	£654	42.1%	6.0%	£3,982
Manchester	£110,953	£11,095	£370	£161,476	£16,148	£538	45.5%	6.5%	£3,792
Southampton	£138,136	£13,814	£460	£189,113	£18,911	£630	36.9%	5.3%	£3,125
Bournemouth	£150,679	£15,068	£502	£202,143	£20,214	£674	34.2%	4.9%	£2,969
Leicester	£109,753	£10,975	£366	£154,469	£15,447	£515	40.7%	5.8%	£2,956
Birmingham	£116,025	£11,603	£387	£161,267	£16,127	£538	39.0%	5.6%	£2,911
Nottingham	£92,627	£9,263	£309	£130,207	£13,021	£434	40.6%	5.8%	£2,492
Cardiff	£136,464	£13,646	£455	£179,800	£17,980	£599	31.8%	4.5%	£2,346
Edinburgh	£163,465	£16,347	£545	£207,235	£20,724	£691	26.8%	3.8%	£2,195
Newport	£111,173	£11,117	£371	£149,488	£14,949	£498	34.5%	4.9%	£2,195
Leeds	£118,398	£11,840	£395	£155,153	£15,515	£517	31.0%	4.4%	£1,965
Sheffield	£109,940	£10,994	£366	£141,774	£14,177	£473	29.0%	4.1%	£1,642
Plymouth	£126,426	£12,643	£421	£155,437	£15,544	£518	22.9%	3.3%	£1,418
Glasgow	£92,890	£9,289	£310	£117,955	£11,796	£393	27.0%	3.9%	£1,287
Liverpool	£94,758	£9,476	£316	£116,090	£11,609	£387	22.5%	3.2%	£1,027
Swansea	£112,637	£11,264	£375	£133,159	£13,316	£444	18.2%	2.6%	£984
Newcastle	£119,489	£11,949	£398	£139,018	£13,902	£463	16.3%	2.3%	£938
Aberdeen	£136,849	£13,685	£456	£134,078	£13,408	£447	-2.0%	-0.3%	£407
England	£148,467	£14,847	£495	£205,733	£20,573	£686	38.6%	5.5%	£3,606
Wales	£110,772	£11,077	£369	£135,926	£13,593	£453	22.7%	3.2%	£1,203
Scotland	£101,673	£10,167	£339	£121,047	£12,105	£403	19.1%	2.7%	£922
United Kingdom	£120,304	£12,030	£401	£154,235	£15,424	£514	28.2%	4.0%	£1,750
*Projection found by applying the average yearly increase to the current saving per year cost over a 30 year period
Source: Land Registry House Price Index

Table shows the annual cost saving required for each of the 30 FTB years to accumulate a 10% deposit on the average FTB house price in each year. E.g. to afford a deposit in 2012 you would have had to save £401 a year for the previous 30 years.

Location	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Location	Saving per year from birth	Saving per year from birth	Saving per year from birth	Saving per year from birth	Saving per year from birth	Saving per year from birth	Saving per year from birth
London	£882	£957	£1,126	£1,239	£1,365	£1,404	£1,394
Cambridge	£850	£926	£1,025	£1,154	£1,214	£1,252	£1,261
Oxford	£869	£889	£993	£1,119	£1,201	£1,230	£1,215
Bristol	£539	£556	£619	£677	£772	£817	£849
Edinburgh	£545	£540	£575	£606	£608	£634	£691
Bournemouth	£502	£509	£543	£583	£617	£649	£674
Portsmouth	£460	£472	£506	£547	£586	£630	£654
Southampton	£460	£460	£500	£537	£586	£617	£630
Cardiff	£455	£464	£498	£524	£554	£574	£599
Manchester	£370	£371	£402	£430	£468	£508	£538
Birmingham	£387	£394	£417	£438	£474	£509	£538
Plymouth	£421	£428	£452	£468	£485	£505	£518
Leeds	£395	£396	£421	£442	£474	£496	£517
Leicester	£366	£376	£395	£415	£450	£479	£515
Newport	£371	£369	£389	£400	£424	£452	£498
Sheffield	£366	£370	£395	£415	£431	£449	£473
Newcastle	£398	£399	£413	£438	£451	£455	£463
Aberdeen	£456	£474	£536	£540	£494	£465	£447
Swansea	£375	£379	£398	£399	£414	£428	£444
Nottingham	£309	£311	£340	£357	£382	£410	£434
Glasgow	£310	£307	£319	£335	£345	£367	£393
Liverpool	£316	£316	£332	£342	£351	£369	£387
England	£495	£509	£554	£591	£638	£668	£686
Wales	£369	£370	£390	£400	£417	£434	£453
Scotland	£339	£340	£355	£370	£375	£386	£403
United Kingdom	£401	£406	£433	£454	£476	£496	£514
Source: Land Registry House Price Index

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