Previous to Covid, the average FTB took 6.6 years to gather a deposit, until they were 32 years old
The financial consequences of Covid may have pushed the average age of a first-time buyer (FTB) by almost two years, calculations by GetAgent.co.uk show.
The firm argues that with the average gross salary coming to just over £31,000, anybody who moved onto the government’s furlough scheme during Covid will have retained an income of almost £32,000 over the 19 months it was active for.
This comes to a loss of nearly £8,000.
GetAgent.co.uk assumes a savings rate of 20% of net income per month – £377 – to collect a 15% deposit of £30,000, which was, as of 2020, the average amount an FTB put down.
This meant that, previous to Covid, the average FTB took 6.6 years to gather a deposit, until they were 32 years old.
The losses incurred through Covid added another 1.8 years to this, taking the average age to nearly 34 years old.
GetAgent.co.uk concludes that the £8,000 loss mentioned previously adds another 1.8 years on top of this, taking the first time somebody buys a house to almost 34 years old.
Despite these hardships, earlier this month, Barclays reported that the number of FTBs across the UK doubled in 2021, with an average deposit of £61,100. However, this cohort also had an average income of £50,800.
Founder and chief executive Colby Short says: Buying that first home has always been one of life’s milestones and in recent times it has become particularly hard to reach as a result of ever increasing house prices, with FTBs saving for far longer simply to amass enough to secure a mortgage deposit.
He said: The pandemic will have only added to this difficulty and those who were furloughed, or worse made redundant, will have seen their journey to homeownership become all the longer as a result of a reduction in earnings and their ability to save.