Millennials would need to sacrifice 21,700 avocados to save deposit for first home

First time buyers urged to focus on resolutions that will make a real difference this New Year

First time homebuyers saving for a deposit should focus on long term saving plans and ignore the hype about sacrificing avocado on toast, as new research by reallymoving.com reveals they would need to give up 21,700 avocados in order to save a typical 10% deposit of £21,966[1].  If placed end to end, that would be enough avocados to reach twice the height of Mount Vesuvius.

A new tool developed by reallymoving, the First Time Buyer Deposit Savings Generator enables first time buyers to enter the deposit they need, to reveal the number of ‘luxuries’ such as avocados, lattes, beers, glasses of wine and monthly gym memberships they would need to give up in order to save that amount.

UK first time buyers, paying on average £219,660 for their home, would need to pledge to give up over 6,000 beers, nearly 9,000 lattes, more than 5,700 glasses of wine or 45 years’ worth of gym membership in order to raise a 10% deposit, which highlights how unfair some of the criticism aimed at millennial first time buyers really is. While lots of small lifestyle changes can add up, giving up avocado on toast isn’t going to make much difference to the savings mountain most first time buyers have to climb.

In London, the numbers become even more ludicrous, with a first time buyer required to give up almost 38,000 avocados, which is equivalent to one per day for 104 years, in order to save a typical deposit in the capital of £40,945.

A series of new guides published by reallymoving to help people make serious changes to their financial habits, offers genuinely helpful advice such as managing living with parents as a young adult, tips on earning extra cash and links to the best savings rates available on Lifetime and Help to Buy ISAs, which give first time buyers government bonuses on their savings. The guides include: Starting Saving for a Deposit for those just starting out; Sacrificing to Save for those who are working towards their goal; and Supersizing your Savings for those who have the end in sight.

Table 1; Luxuries a FTB needs to sacrifice to raise a 10% deposit

Rob Houghton, CEO of reallymoving.com said:

“Saving a deposit is without doubt the greatest challenge when buying a first home and this research highlights how unhelpful it is to suggest that millennials only need to be willing to sacrifice a few luxuries such as takeaway coffees and gym memberships, to get on the housing ladder.

 “While small changes can add up, we urge first time buyers making New Year Resolutions on the first of January this year to look at the bigger picture, make decisions such as moving back in with parents or downsizing, opening an Help to Buy ISA and paying in a fixed amount each month, or setting up a money saving app on their devices, to help monitor spending and saving.

“Our First Time Buyer Deposit Savings Generator is a fun tool designed to help first time buyers challenge any suggestion that saving for a deposit is easy, alongside a range of free resources to help them actually achieve their goal.”

Visit the reallymoving.com First Time Buyer Deposit Generator here: https://www.reallymoving.com/first-time-buyers/deposit-savings-generator.

[1] Based on reallymoving’s data on the average price paid by a first time buyer in the UK in 2018, which is £219,660, with a typical deposit of 10% of the purchase price.

Kindly shared by reallymoving.com