North East buyers reach the same target in under a year
London first-time buyers need more than six years to save for a home, while those in the North East can get there in under a year, according to new analysis from Konnect You.
The research puts London's upfront requirement at £59,689 against an average rent of £2,268, compared with £18,076 and £762 respectively in the North East.
The difference is stark: 73.7 months, or just over six years, in London against 11.1 months in the North East. Nationally, the minimum saving period sits at around 21 months, against an overall upfront requirement of £26,409.
Konnect You's model assumes a single full-time worker saving the entirety of their income remaining after tax, National Insurance and rent.
How the figures compare with other industry research
Separate research in July by home-moving comparison site Reallymoving points to a longer timeline for the same question. That analysis is based on a first-time buyer saving 10% of take-home pay each month, rather than the full amount left after rent, tax and National Insurance, and puts the national saving period at 113 months, or nine years and five months, to raise £27,315 in deposit and moving costs.
On a regional basis, Reallymoving's figures put London buyers at around 13 years to save £47,692, against six years and seven months to save £16,763 in the North East. The two sets of figures are not directly comparable, since each applies a different assumption about how much of a saver's income goes towards a deposit each month.
A second cost split along the same lines
London and the North East also sit at opposite ends of a separate cost. Zoopla found 79.7% of London first-time buyers paid stamp duty in early 2026, averaging £8,750, against 2.1% in the North East, where most purchases fall under the £300,000 threshold — a bill sitting on top of the deposit and moving costs already in Konnect You's £59,689 London figure.
The £26,409 figure comprises a 10% deposit of £22,800, conveyancing at £1,624, a survey at £509, a valuation at £354, removals at £1,080 and postal redirection at £42.
The monthly sums renters are working with
A typical salary provides an estimated £2,636 a month after tax and National Insurance; once the average UK private rent of £1,368 is deducted, £1,268 remains, and saving that consistently would take 20.8 months to reach £26,409, excluding food, bills, transport and childcare.
Another research from Skipton Building Society points to a similar constraint at the point of saving. A third of renters said they were saving £100 or less a month, a pace Skipton said could stretch the wait to as long as 35 years, with the average first-time buyer deposit now at £41,403 and 73% of those surveyed saying they felt locked out of homeownership.
Scotland followed at 11.6 months (£19,275 upfront, £1,018 rent); Wales and Yorkshire & Humber both recorded 13.4 months (£22,102/£822 and £21,669/£841); the North West took 14.0 months (£22,515/£937); the East Midlands recorded 15.6 months (£24,453/£901) and the West Midlands 15.7 months (£24,508/£957); the East of England reached 21.3 months (£31,493/£1,266) and the South West 21.5 months (£28,475/£1,221); the South East recorded the second-longest wait outside London at 24.2 months (£33,554/£1,402).
A government saving that covers a small share of the bill
The Government has announced reforms to the homebuying process that it says could save first-time buyers an average of £650 per transaction — about 2.5% of the £26,409 typical upfront requirement.
The £650 figure comes from a wider package, including upfront "sales packs" on a property's condition, leasehold costs and chain status. The Government said the current process takes around 120 days on average, with one in three sales falling through at a cost of up to £1.5 billion a year to the economy, and that the reforms should also cut completion times by around four weeks.
Konnect You on what the figures mean for buyers
Dave Sayce, founder and managing director of Konnect You, said the national figure gives an indication of the scale of the challenge, and pointed to the regional differences as interesting.
"A theoretical minimum saving period of around 21 months nationally ranges from just over 11 months in the North East to more than 6 years in London," said Sayce.
Sayce said looking only at house prices could give an incomplete picture, since first-time buyers must also find the money for completion and moving costs while continuing to pay rent.
"First-time buyers need to find the deposit alongside the costs of completing and moving into the property, while renters are trying to build that cash at the same time as paying for their accommodation," he said.
On the Government's proposed reform, Sayce called the £650 saving welcome but pointed out that it accounts for just 2.5% of the typical upfront requirement.
"The data shows that there remains a significant amount for first-time buyers to find before they make their first mortgage payment," he said.
A June survey by Mojo Mortgages found 22% of prospective buyers had stayed in jobs they described as toxic to protect their mortgage eligibility. Sales manager Kayleigh Jackson said many buyers focus only on deposit size rather than how they spend beforehand, and pointed to routes such as Track Record Mortgages, Shared Ownership, Deposit Unlock and joint-borrower-sole-proprietor arrangements as alternatives to a lump-sum deposit.
