This is the average age people buy their first home in the UK

It might make you feel a bit better about your own situation.

If you're on the path to owning your first home, you'll know there's a lot more to it than forgoing a few avocado-on-toasts at independent cafés. UK house prices are increasing at a significantly faster rate than our salaries, making it feel all the more hard to grab on to the bottom rung of the ladder.

But if you were starting to get down and out about the endless cycle of expensive rent > struggling to save for a house deposit (and round and round it goes), new research has worked out the average age of a first-time homebuyer in the UK - and it might make you feel better.

Across the whole country, people are now aged 33.1 years on average before they can afford to put down roots in a home of their own. In London, the number is even higher, with the average age being 35.

It's not necessarily surprising it can take so long to build up a deposit and a big enough salary to be granted a mortgage when you consider the average house price these days. In 2021, the average cost nationwide of a property is £248,496. In London, it's significantly higher at £465,549.

The enlightening data was gathered by Compare The Market, whose experts also did the maths to forecast how the average age of first-time home owners is set to increase over the coming years. In news that will come as a shock to precisely no-one, the average age is only going in one direction - and that's up. Here's what it's set to look like over the next decade:

2022

Average age of first-time buyers nationwide: 33.2

Average age of first-time buyers in London: 35.2

2023

Average age of first-time buyers nationwide: 33.4

Average age of first-time buyers in London: 35.4

2024

Average age of first-time buyers nationwide: 33.6

Average age of first-time buyers in London: 35.6

2025

Average age of first-time buyers nationwide: 33.7

Average age of first-time buyers in London: 35.8

2026

Average age of first-time buyers nationwide: 33.9

Average age of first-time buyers in London: 36.0

2027

Average age of first-time buyers nationwide: 34.1

Average age of first-time buyers in London: 36.2

2028

Average age of first-time buyers nationwide: 34.2

Average age of first-time buyers in London: 36.4

2029

Average age of first-time buyers nationwide: 34.4

Average age of first-time buyers in London: 36.6

2030

Average age of first-time buyers nationwide: 34.6

Average age of first-time buyers in London: 36.8

2031

Average age of first-time buyers nationwide: 34.7

Average age of first-time buyers in London: 37.0

The older we get before being able to secure a mortgage, the longer we'll have to continue to work to pay it, which will have repercussions later in life. So let's hope we start to see something change where the housing market is, or there'll be a lot less people buying their own homes full stop.

And in the meantime, it's back to the Pinterest board for that imaginary house...