Nine out of 10 people renting property in Britain cannot scrape together enough savings to cover even a quarter of the deposit needed to buy the average first home, according to research.

The analysis by the Equality Trust charity found that 86% of renters – who make up about 6m households – have less than the £8,838 needed for a 5% deposit on the average home.

It comes after it emerged on Monday that the housing crisis has spread far from London, engulfing major cities in the north of England and the Midlands.

High private rents mean few families are able to save enough for the huge deposits needed to buy a home despite mortgage interest rates falling to historically low levels.



Londoners already spend more than 60% of their income on rent, while in many other parts of the country landlords are collecting about half the take-home pay of private tenants.

Average rents in the UK are £764 a month, while in the capital they are £1,543.

Available houses in the window of an estates agents in London. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Equality Trust said: “The vast majority of renters are locked out of home ownership through a lack of income and savings, with many unable to afford even the cheapest housing.”

It said the wealth of the richest 100 people in the UK increased by £15bn last year, and nearly a quarter of them accumulated their wealth in part through interests in housing.

The charity found that in the local authority with the cheapest houses in Britain – Burnley – eight out of 10 people still do not have enough savings to fund a quarter of the deposit needed to buy.

John Hood, the acting director of the Equality Trust, said: “It’s startling to see just how many people are priced out of owning their own home. At the same time, a small number of people at the top are making huge wealth from our dysfunctional housing market.



“This isn’t sustainable, and we need action from our politicians. That means reforming council tax, which hits the poorest hardest, and a substantial house building programme. Anything less threatens to lock a generation out of home ownership and into insecurity and punishingly high rents.”



Separate research by the Resolution Foundation found that home ownership in England has fallen to its lowest level in 30 years as the gap widens between earnings and property prices.

Theresa May has pledged to tackle the housing deficit. The prime minister said last month that unless the issue was dealt with young people will “find it even harder to afford their own home”.

“The divide between those who inherit wealth and those who don’t will become more pronounced,” she added. “More and more of the country’s money will go into expensive housing.”