You'll be amazed by what millennials are giving up to save for a house deposit

Is the rate of marriages declining because millennials just aren't that into it anymore? And are they giving up alcohol because they are conscious about their health? No, is the answer to both questions. In fact, millennials are not getting married and drinking less because... they're saving up to buy a house. 

A recent poll of 2,200 people aged 23 to 38, all of them in long-term relationships and who had bought a house (typically their first) in the last two years, shows that, on average, they had been saving for seven years to put together enough for a deposit, and had managed to save an impressive £4,000 per year over that time period.

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How did they achieve such a great saving rate? The answer is frugality, which in some cases meant bypassing milestones some couples still consider very important. The biggest of them is, of course, the big white wedding, which a huge 60 per cent of the respondents decided to pass on in order to save money. With weddings now often costing upwards of £10,000, you can see how not bothering with one is a sound financial decision, even if it will seem unromantic to some. 

Going out and drinking alcohol, holidays abroad, eating out and takeaways have been forsaken by over 70 per cent of the respondents, but even this frugal lifestyle was still not enough, with 77 per cent admitting to borrowing money from family members in order to cobble together a deposit.

And was it all worth it in the end? Well, not quite, or not for all of the people polled. Only 31 per cent of the respondents were completely happy with their house purchase, and over half (54 per cent) were worried that they'd never be able to move again due to the huge costs involved.   

Commenting on the findings of the study, Richard Petrie, Marketing Director at Thomas Sanderson, who conducted the survey, says, 'It’s promising to see that so many young people are mature enough to alter their lifestyle in order to be able to save up for a house, but it perhaps shouldn’t be the case. Certainly, nobody should be put off marriage because they won’t be able to afford a house, but that is the harsh reality that we live in.' 

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