Harry Dhaliwal: Average Briton spends £11,100 on rent before buying first home

Manchester based letting agent Harry Dhaliwal of the Belvoir group has carried out market research which found that the average British homeowner spends £11,100 on rent before buying their first property.

Letting agent Dhaliwal commissioned the research, surveying UK homeowners before forthcoming changes to buy-to-let stamp duty are introduced in April, which may have an effect on the UK rental market.

The analysis found that the average Briton rents for just over three years (38 months) before they buy their first home and that young Brits depart from their parental home under the age of 21 on average to rent their own place.

It was also found in the survey that 59% of British people think it’s financially not common sense to rent, whilst 25% of people do not view renting as unwise. Spending an average of £11,100.67 on rent, Brits shell out an average of £577.64 on letting fees and £587.93 in security deposits when renting.

An average amount of £511.73 of deposits is recouped by renters, with 80% of people getting full rental deposits back.

Dhaliwal stated, “Sometimes the rhetoric around generation rent becomes quite exaggerated and whilst the rental market is growing so is the quality and variety of rental property. The findings of our survey highlight that renting across the UK is not as expensive as sometimes reported and most people get full deposits back from landlords. It remains to be seen what affect the stamp duty changes to buy-to-let purchases will have in April.”

“Whilst the struggles for first time buyers in London and high rental cost in the capital are well documented, the picture across the UK in general may not be as grey as it is sometimes depicted. There are superb professional opportunities in most of the UK’s main cities and in the digital age the flexibility around employment and running a business mean renting or buying outside London has probably never been more attractive.”

General statistics on the UK rental market data state that 22% of households in Great Britain are now rented from private landlords, a huge increase from the figure of 9% in 1985.

Average rent in the UK is £761 per month including rents in London, though excluding London the average drops to £689 per month across the rest of the UK. Average monthly rent in London is now £1560.