The research into typical house prices and disposable incomes has highlighted how the widening deposit gap is a barrier to many buyers getting onto the property ladder in certain regions of Britain, including London.
It found that a worker who rents in London and saves his entire disposable income would take thirty years to save a typical 10% deposit for his first home.
This is based on the average property price in London of £554,000, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and ABC Finance’s analysis of disposable income in twelve UK cities. It found that workers in the capital are left with £154 a month after average salary, taxes and essential costs.
As such, a 10% deposit on a property worth £554,000, saving £154 per month, would take 360 months.
An employee renting in Derby, meanwhile, would reach the same milestone within 18 months, according to ABC Finance.
Here the average property for a first-time buyer costs £184,000, according to ONS data for October 2025. The typical disposable monthly income is £1,023, which, if saved monthly, would equate to the required £18,400 for a 10% deposit in 18 months.
It comes just after the ONS reported that regular wage growth slowed to 3.8% in the three months to January, the weakest figure since November 2020.
For young workers in London on lower starting salaries, who already face rents that eat up most of their take-home pay, a five-year trough in wage growth will widen the capital’s ownership gap even further, the report warned.
Gary Hemming, managing director of ABC Finance, said: “Wage growth at the slowest pace in five years, combined with costs that have not fallen, means London’s deposit shortage is not a static problem.
“It’s getting harder and harder. For young people starting out in the capital, owning their own home on an average salary isn’t a matter of patience. At current rates, it either requires significant outside support or a move to a city where the numbers actually work. Our research suggests there are plenty of those cities to choose from.”
The research also shows that a London worker earning the city’s average salary of £46,800 would need to earn £64,000 to have the same monthly disposable income as the typical Derby worker on £36,800.
That figure, 37% above London’s own median, reflects the extent to which London’s cost structure exceeds the salary premium.
Essential costs in London consume 95% of the average after-tax salary of £37,216 per year, leaving just £1,849 annually, according to ABC Finance.
In Derby, the same spending categories are responsible for 59% of the average take-home salary of £30,016, leaving £12,278.
Rent is the main driver. A one-bedroom apartment in central London costs an average of £2,100 per month, according to Zoopla’s March 2026 Rental Market Report, compared to £750 in Derby.