In the last few years, a popular economic myth has arisen. It blames young people’s small daily luxuries, such as an iced coffee on-the-go, for structural failures in the UK housing market. With this myth in mind, Updraft has investigated whether buying fewer coffees would really help a young adult save for a house deposit.
In 41 of the 43 UK cities we looked at, ten years of buying a coffee on weekdays comes to less than the amount the local first-time buyer deposit rose by in the ten years to 2024.
So, while spending less money on coffee may help with budgeting goals, cutting out coffees would not enable a young adult to keep up with how fast house deposits have grown.
There’s no harm in checking what those unconscious taps cost you, however. Use the calculator below to see how much you may be spending on coffee.
Coffee vs. House Deposit Cost Calculator
Your coffee habit next to a first-home deposit where you live.
Result
Your coffee spend
- Per week
- Per month
- Per year
- Share of a year's energy bill
- Equal to average UK rent for
10 years of coffee vs deposit growth
Compare all 43 cities
| City | Coffee | Deposit | Years |
|---|
How much does a coffee cost in the UK?
According to Finder’s coffee price analysis, the average price of a coffee in the UK is £3.97 (updated 6 August 2026). Unsurprisingly, London is the most expensive city at an average of £4.52. Perth and Inverness are the cheapest at £3.03.
Finder built its city prices from two crowd-sourced cost-of-living sites, Numbeo and Expatistan, using prices from March 2026. They are a fair guide to what a café coffee might cost, though they are not an official measure.
At £3.97, one coffee five days a week comes to £1,032 a year. One every day of the week comes to £1,445.
How long would coffee money take to cover a house deposit?
First-time buyers put down an average deposit of £61,090 in 2024, according to the Halifax First-Time Buyer Review published on 14 February 2025. At £1,032 a year, that is 59 years of weekday coffee.
In London, the average deposit has been calculated at £124,688 while a coffee costs £4.52. Using only coffee money to pay for a house deposit in the capital would take 106 years. The shortest wait in our list is Sunderland, at 31 years, because the North East has the lowest average deposit (£30,678).
An average deposit is not the minimum you need. Halifax’s average works out at about 20% of the purchase price, and a 95% mortgage needs a 5% deposit. On the average first-time buyer home in 2024 (£311,034), 5% is £15,552, which is still 15 years of weekday coffee.
Many first homes are not bought alone either. In the same review, Halifax reports that almost two thirds (62%) of Halifax, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland mortgage completions in 2024 were in two or more names. Halifax does not say whether that share covers first-time buyers only. The calculator lets you add a second person with the same habit, which halves each wait.
Did house deposits grow faster than coffee money could?
House deposits grow faster than coffee money ever could in all regions but one. Over the ten years to 2024 the average UK first-time buyer deposit rose from £33,935 to £61,090, an increase of £27,155, or 80%, according to Halifax.
Ten years of weekday coffee at today’s UK average price comes to £10,322. That total already flatters the coffee side of the sum, since it uses today’s price for every year. Finder found only 4 UK cities with an average coffee price above £3.50 in 2024, against 28 in 2026. Even so, the coffee money covers well under half of how far the average deposit moved.
Region | Average deposit 2014 | Average deposit 2024 | Rise | Rise (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
London | £70,522 | £124,688 | £54,166 | 77% |
Northern Ireland | £16,991 | £37,898 | £20,907 | 123% |
South West | £35,583 | £55,083 | £19,500 | 55% |
East of England | £37,261 | £56,526 | £19,265 | 52% |
South East | £43,798 | £61,744 | £17,946 | 41% |
North West | £22,210 | £39,574 | £17,364 | 78% |
Scotland | £26,220 | £43,537 | £17,317 | 66% |
Wales | £22,747 | £39,877 | £17,130 | 75% |
West Midlands | £26,658 | £42,898 | £16,240 | 61% |
East Midlands | £24,192 | £40,402 | £16,210 | 67% |
Yorkshire and The Humber | £22,101 | £36,731 | £14,630 | 66% |
North East | £22,315 | £30,678 | £8,363 | 37% |
Source: Halifax First-Time Buyer Review, 14 February 2025, Table 9. Averages for the 12 months to December of each year.
Where does skipping coffee come closest to keeping up?
The North East. Its average deposit rose by £8,363 over the decade, the smallest rise of any region. Ten years of weekday coffee in Newcastle upon Tyne (£9,568) or Sunderland (£9,828) comes to more than that rise.
The full North East deposit of £30,678 is still 31 to 32 years of that coffee money. In London the gap runs the other way. The deposit rose by £54,166, and ten years of weekday coffee at £4.52 comes to £11,752.
What else does a year of coffee pay for?
A year of weekday coffee at the UK average (£1,032) is about 60% of a typical household’s annual energy bill. Ofgem’s price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 puts that bill at £1,723 a year for a household using gas and electricity and paying by Direct Debit.
It is also about three quarters of a month’s rent. The ONS put average UK private rent at £1,400 a month in August 2026, in its private rent and house prices release of 16 September 2026. For anyone renting while they save, the rent comes out of the same pay as the deposit.
As a share of pay, weekday coffee at the UK average price is 2.6% of the ONS median full-time salary of £39,039 (April 2025). Every day of the week, it is 3.7%.
Let’s breakdown the data
The data shows the following.
- Café coffee prices by city in March 2026 (Finder, from Numbeo and Expatistan), and average first-time buyer deposits by region for 2014 and 2024 (Halifax).
- How far a coffee habit at today’s prices would go against those deposits.
We are working within these limits.
- Each city is matched to the average deposit for its whole region. A deposit in the city itself may be higher or lower.
- The ten-year coffee totals use today’s price for every year and include no interest on savings.
- The deposit figures stop at 2024, the latest year Halifax has published that we could find. We have not estimated 2025 or 2026.
- Other deposit data gives different numbers. UK Finance figures, as reported by Unbiased, put the average London first-time buyer deposit at £137,025 and England at £63,855.
- All figures are averages. Your own prices, pay and deposit will differ.
None of this says a coffee habit is a good or a bad use of money. That depends on what else your pay has to cover, and it is your decision. What the sums do suggest is that, in most of the UK, the rise in deposits over the last decade has been bigger than any coffee habit could make up.
If you are working out how to save for a first home, MoneyHelper, the free guidance service backed by government, has guides on buying a home.
Sources
- Finder, “The average price of a coffee in the UK and around the world in 2026”, Sophie Barber, updated 6 August 2026. https://www.finder.com/uk/banking/average-price-of-a-coffee
- Halifax (Lloyds Banking Group), “First-time buyer market rebounds as a fifth more stepped on the ladder last year”, press release and tables, 14 February 2025. https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/assets/pdfs/media/press-releases/2025-press-releases/halifax/250214-halifax-first-time-buyer-market-rebounds.pdf
- Halifax, “First time buyer mortgages”, accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.halifax.co.uk/mortgages/first-time-buyers.html
- Ofgem, “Energy price cap will rise by 4% from October 2026”, 26 August 2026. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/press-release/energy-price-cap-will-rise-4-october-2026
- Office for National Statistics, “Private rent and house prices, UK: September 2026”, 16 September 2026. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/privaterentandhousepricesuk/september2026
- Office for National Statistics, “Employee earnings in the UK: 2025”, October 2025. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2025
- UK Finance, “Key mortgage market data”, as reported by Unbiased, “What’s the average first-time buyer deposit in 2026?”, Rachel Lacey, updated 23 March 2026. https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data/key-mortgage-market-data and https://www.unbiased.co.uk/discover/mortgages-property/buying-a-home/average-first-time-buyer-deposit
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Frequently asked questions
How much does a coffee cost in the UK in 2026?
The average price of a coffee in the UK is £3.97, according to Finder's figures updated on 6 August 2026. London is the most expensive city at £4.52 and Perth and Inverness are the cheapest at £3.03. Finder based the prices on Numbeo and Expatistan data from March 2026.
How much does a coffee a day cost over a year?
At the UK average price of £3.97, one coffee every day comes to £1,445 a year. One coffee on each of five weekdays comes to £1,032 a year.
Can giving up coffee help you save a house deposit?
It helps a little, and the amount depends on where you live. The average first-time buyer deposit was £61,090 in 2024, according to Halifax, which is 59 years of weekday coffee at the UK average price. Between 2014 and 2024 the average deposit rose by £27,155, much more than the £10,322 that ten years of weekday coffee comes to.
What is the average first-time buyer deposit in the UK?
Halifax puts it at £61,090 for 2024, about 20% of the average first-time buyer home price of £311,034. It varies from £30,678 in the North East to £124,688 in London. UK Finance figures, reported by Unbiased, give a different set of regional averages, so the number depends on the source.
Does the coffee calculator store my salary?
No. The calculator does its sums in your browser. It does not send your salary anywhere and does not save it.