For many, the only ‘viable’ renting option for pr...

Affordability is a serious problem, particularly in London, and this puts people wishing to buy their first property under a great deal of pressure and leaves them facing some tough decisions when trying to raise a deposit that go beyond simply cutting back on little luxuries

High property prices and affordability constraints means that many people living in the capital have little alternative but to rent, but those wishing to get a foot on the ladder can typically do so in less than five years by opting to rent a room in a house share over renting their own place, according to a new study.

The research from ideal flatmate looked at how much the average tenant could save in each borough by opting for a single room instead of renting a one-bedroom apartment of their own, based on the average cost of each across the capital.

The room share platform then analysed the required mortgage deposit at 10% of the average first-time buyer house price in each borough, before working out how many years it would take with the savings from property sharing to reach this deposit.

Across London the average cost of a one-bedroom property is £1,300 a month, while a room will set you back just £600, resulting in a saving of £700 a month, or £8,400 a year, with the average first-time buyer property price in London currently stood at £412,679, which means that it would take 4.9 years on average to save the £41,267 - 10% mortgage deposit – required.

Hounslow was identified as the most cost-effective borough to rent a room, which costs £596 a month on average. The average one-bedroom flat in comparison costs £1,300 to rent.

Enfield, Ealing, Tower Hamlets and Newham all provided a large enough saving to ensure tenants could save a mortgage deposit to live in the borough in less than five years.

At the other end of the table it would take tenants in Kensington and Chelsea 10.4 years to save a deposit with their room rental savings as a result of the extreme property prices in the borough.

Tom Gatzen, co-founder of ideal flatmate, said: “The financial barrier of transitioning from a tenant to a homeowner in London is huge and when coupled with a lack of suitable rental stock available, it’s currently one of the biggest factors putting a strain on the capital’s rental market.

“We completely understand that for many, the only viable option when living in the capital is to rent a room in a house or flat share already and there’s a very good chance that house prices in London will be higher than they are now in four to five years’ time.

“However, while we know the idea of saving for a mortgage deposit seems impossible, we wanted to get people thinking outside the box on ways they can make a lifestyle adjustment in order to start tackling this mammoth task, without compromising the area in which they live or having to forsake avocado for breakfast.”

Borough	Average Rent (1 bed)	Single Room Rent	Monthly Saving	Yearly Saving	FTB House Price	Mortgage Deposit Required @ 10%	Years of Saving Required
Hounslow	£1,300	£596	£704	£8,448	£353,076	£35,308	4.2
Enfield	£1,100	£442	£658	£7,896	£352,056	£35,206	4.5
Ealing	£1,200	£442	£758	£9,096	£426,620	£42,662	4.7
Tower Hamlets	£1,430	£693	£737	£8,844	£415,189	£41,519	4.7
Newham	£1,200	£592	£608	£7,296	£342,734	£34,273	4.7
Brent	£1,250	£592	£658	£7,896	£406,390	£40,639	5.1
Southwark	£1,300	£588	£712	£8,544	£446,372	£44,637	5.2
Hackney	£1,495	£667	£828	£9,936	£523,280	£52,328	5.3
Lambeth	£1,300	£596	£704	£8,448	£453,022	£45,302	5.4
Lewisham	£1,100	£550	£550	£6,600	£366,680	£36,668	5.6
Kingston	£1,100	£492	£608	£7,296	£409,397	£40,940	5.6
Haringey	£1,250	£567	£683	£8,196	£478,903	£47,890	5.8
Greenwich	£1,150	£650	£500	£6,000	£352,939	£35,294	5.9
Islington	£1,517	£701	£816	£9,792	£582,156	£58,216	5.9
Redbridge	£990	£476	£514	£6,168	£370,373	£37,037	6.0
Croydon	£900	£492	£408	£4,896	£302,758	£30,276	6.2
Barnet	£1,150	£548	£602	£7,224	£446,786	£44,679	6.2
Hillingdon	£1,000	£542	£458	£5,496	£341,413	£34,141	6.2
Harrow	£1,050	£539	£511	£6,132	£386,293	£38,629	6.3
Waltham Forest	£1,075	£523	£552	£6,624	£419,083	£41,908	6.3
Westminster	£1,842	£715	£1,127	£13,524	£895,636	£89,564	6.6
Wandsworth	£1,365	£713	£652	£7,824	£521,095	£52,110	6.7
Merton	£1,200	£642	£558	£6,696	£447,387	£44,739	6.7
Barking and Dagenham	£950	£592	£358	£4,296	£287,108	£28,711	6.7
Bromley	£950	£527	£423	£5,076	£353,448	£35,345	7.0
Sutton	£925	£550	£375	£4,500	£320,221	£32,022	7.1
Richmond	£1,200	£614	£586	£7,032	£528,510	£52,851	7.5
Camden	£1,582	£802	£780	£9,360	£706,879	£70,688	7.6
Havering	£875	£549	£326	£3,912	£312,903	£31,290	8.0
Hammersmith and Fulham	£1,400	£801	£599	£7,188	£641,542	£64,154	8.9
Bexley	£800	£550	£250	£3,000	£310,631	£31,063	10.4
Kensington and Chelsea	£1,950	£980	£970	£11,640	£1,207,159	£120,716	10.4

London	£1,300	£600	£700	£8,400	£412,679	£41,268	4.9

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26 February 2019 22:31 PM

Yep there are some very immature people around these days.
They DON'T seem grounded in reality like we were and are.
It is almost as though they have a child-like mentality.
I wouldn't even contemplate being able to afford to reside in Fulham!!
All I can say is this cleaner must be on about £40k per year!!!!!!!
I simply don't understand where these idiots get their sense of entitlement from!!
I never had it and realised that my coat would always be cut according to the cloth!
I simply can't even comprehend having a mindset like that of your cleaner.
It is simply alien to everything I have ever known.
Perhaps we are now society's deviants!?
To expect entitlement to everything no matter how unrealistic seems to be the the way people are supposed to be.
The trouble is these spoilt brats are being pandered to by this Govt and that is why we have policies such as S24 being imposed on us.
So like it or not this selfish childlike GR is affecting those of us who have realistic outlooks.
I think the rot set in around 1997 when Blair got in and promised the little darlings everything if only they went to university.
Those assertions have never worked out and as such this GR lot are resentful that they haven't got it all yet.
They were promised weren't they!?
Get a degree in some mickey mouse subject and you too can have a penthouse in the heart of London!
It is enough to make you weep at the naivety of these idiots.
Trouble is these idiots are putting us out of business.
I DON'T see any of this changing anytime soon.
This Govt is hell- bent on cosying up to GR in an attempt to ensure they vote Tory.
Ideologically the Tories should realise by now that GR is findamentally opposed to the Tory way.
So why the Tories are attempting to pander to the GR vote beats me.