ASPIRING homeowners pay out more than £63,000 in rent before they can afford to get on the property ladder.

Those who bought their first home in the UK in the last five years were paying a landlord £625 a month while they were saving up for a deposit, according to an investigation by housebuilder Keepmoat Homes.

“This means they have already spent the equivalent of more than a quarter of the average £228,903 property in the UK,” says Tim Beale, the firm’s chief executive officer.

These figures are cheap compared with the cost of getting a roof over your head in the private sector in places like Bucks where property prices are sky high.

Average asking price for one of the 8,079 homes for sale in the county on Tuesday this week was £509,569, according to online analyst home.co.uk.

Typical rent for one of the 364 homes to let in Wycombe was £1,020 a month. Aylesbury was cheaper. The average rent for a home there this week was £832 a month.

In Chesham the average price to rent was £1,389, in Princes Risborough it was £1,119, Marlow £1,823, Amersham £1,824 and Beaconsfield £3,297.

Threequarters of renters who spoke to the researchers for the national findings said it was “impossible” to put money into savings for a deposit out of what was left after they’d paid their rent.

Those who had managed to achieve the seemingly impossible had spent the best part of five years gathering enough for the £24,033 which is the current national average paid up front by first time buyers.

Twenty four thousand is more than 80 per cent of the average adult’s salary.

Four in 10 of the lucky ones received financial help from parents, a fifth used money left to them in a will and a quarter moved back to live with their parents to reduce the outgoings in rent.

Those who are still relying on their own resources to achieve their aim believe it will be “at least another four years” before they are in a position to think about buying their own home.

The developer who carried out the research mainly builds developments in the north of England.

A spokesman said 18 per cent of renters had taken on two jobs in a bid to save for a deposit at the same time as paying rent for their present pad.

“One in four have forsaken holidays, a third have cut back on luxuries like magazines, flowers in the home and TV and movie costs while 30 per cent said they had started taking a packed lunch to work.

“Eighteen per cent tried to do all their shopping in the reduced section of the supermarket rather than paying full price.”

When he became prime minister Boris Johnson promised to help more get onto the housing ladder.

He said: “We are going to bring forward plans to build starter homes on brownfield sites [land where once there were buildings but now ripe for redevelopment] that will give young people the real prospect of owning share of their home at least, if not the whole thing.”

On Tuesday this week the first five houses to be offered for shared ownership by Wycombe-based housing association Red Kite this week were completed by the building contractor. For more property news, take a look at our 12-page supplement this week.