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

27th December 2018: 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 . If placed end to end, that would be enough avocadoes 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, 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.  

UK - Average deposit £21,966				London – Average deposit £40,945
Luxury	Price	Quantity		Luxury	Price	Quantity
Beers	£3.65	6,018		Beers	£3.91	10,464
Lattes	£2.45	8,966		Lattes	£2.63	15,590
Glasses of wine	£3.81	5,765		Glasses of wine	£4.08	10,025
Gym membership (months)	£40.53	542		Gym membership (months)	£43.45	942
Avocados	£1.01	21,749		Avocados	£1.08	37,817
Meal Deal	£3.00	7,322		Meal Deal	£3.00	13,648

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

Notes to Editors:
About the Research

• Average price represents the mean buying price of 34,074 First Time Buyers entered on registration forms for a conveyancing quote at reallymoving.com between 1^st January and 25^th October 2018.
• Deposit is assumed to be 10% of house price.
• Pricing for pint of beer, glass of wine and avocado comes from ONS Time Series RPI (Retail Price Index).
• Pricing for Latte represents the cost of a medium latte at both Costa and Caffe Nero.
• Price of a meal deal is assumed to be £3, the cost at both Tesco and Sainsbury’s, the UK’s two largest supermarkets according to Statista.
• Gym Membership price is based on research published by BBC News on 16^th July 2018.
• Regional prices (except for Meal Deal) are adjusted by the ONS CPI, to better reflect regional variations in consumer prices.

About reallymoving.com

Launched in 1999, reallymoving.com has become the UK's leading provider of free instant quotes for home-moving services, serving its 2 millionth customer at the beginning of 2018. It is an independent and privately financed company, majority owned by its management and Directors.

During 2017 reallymoving.com received 280,000 registrations and generated 980,000 quotes on behalf of its UK-wide network of partners, representing approximately £172 million worth of work in 12 months. reallymoving.com believes approximately 8% of the UK’s home movers in 2017 received quotes from the site.

reallymoving.com provides instant quotes for Conveyancing, Surveys, Removals, Home Reports (in Scotland) and Energy Performance Certificates.

www.reallymoving.com

 For press information please contact: Sarah Lawrence  [email protected] 07984 422 461