How To Leave University With A Deposit For Your First Property

You may not be thinking of leaving uni with anything other than a good grade and good memories, but you would be smart to think about being financially savvy before you enter the big bad world of full time work and responsibilities! 

Here we are going to give you the real lowdown on how you could leave uni with enough money saved for a house deposit. No silly talk about skipping avocado breakfasts or borrowing small fortunes from your parents here. You need the best student accommodation Leeds! 

The average cost of a house in the UK has just topped £226,000 and with lenders unwilling to lend anything more than 95% of the cost of the house you will need to have a deposit of at least £11,300 to buy the average UK house. 

The best advice is to reign in your expectations (sorry to rain on your parade) – we agree this is not fair but if you want to set an achievable goal you should look at properties that are affordable for your budget. 

It very possible to get a three bed house in a popular city such as Leeds for £130,000 which is certainly a realistic target. 

A five percent deposit on a house like this is going to set you back £6500. The way to getting to this figure is regularly saving small amounts and making sure you don’t get left behind by the housing market! “How can we possibly do this?” we hear you say. Well, through UOWN, a convenient investing platform, you can save through property crowdfunding. UOWN allows you to invest into property as part of the crowd. You own your proportional share of the house and receive your proportion of the rent. Not only can you earn up to 7% per year from the rental income but your investment also grows with the housing market. 

So that’s all well and good we hear you say but what do I actually have to do to have £6500 by the time I leave uni? 

You can reach £6500 by saving £150 a month a while earning between 6% and 7% interest on those investments. You have to do that each month for the full 3 years you’re at university. For some, that’s less than one weeks rent! We know though that as a student £150 is a lot of money so this may still be difficult. Here are a couple of potential ways you could get to £150. 

Save The Money From Your Part Time Job 

Set aside some money from your part time job to make the £150. £150 at minimum wage is roughly 20 hours of work per week. No one likes to work but if you already have a part time job it’s never too early to start setting some of that money aside for your future house deposit. 

Generous Parents Might Match Your Contributions 

This might be cheeky, and we know not every parent is in the position to do so, but ask if your parents can match your contributions. If you put in £75, they put in £75 too. This is an option worth exploring, especially if they know you’re serious about saving for a house. 

Save Your Student Loan 

Some students might not need all their student loan. If that’s you and you know you don’t need all your maintenance load, you could set aside some of it at the beginning of the term. This might also means that you have to save for an even shorter period of time! 

Do you have any more tips on saving for a house deposit? Let us know and if UOWN sounds like something you’d be interested in.