London homes are set to be frozen out of a new Help to Buy scheme despite £134,000 deposits for first-timers

From the Newshound archive · first published 25 October 2026.

London's first-time buyers already need a £134,000 deposit to get on the ladder. Renting a two-bedroom home in the capital now costs more than £2,200 a month, and a single room can top £1,000. Almost 75,000 families are stuck in temporary accommodation, more than double the figure at the start of the 2010s. The city's rate of housebuilding has fallen to its lowest point in decades.

Teachers, nurses, retail and transport workers have already moved out to cheaper areas.

Families are leaving the capital and the birthrate is plummeting.

Earlier this decade, London councils began the biggest council house building drive since the 1970s.