A first-time buyer in Brent faces one of the longest waits to save up enough money for a deposit for a house in the borough, a new report claims.

Brent & Kilburn Times: Dame Tessa Jowell (Pic credit: PA)Dame Tessa Jowell (Pic credit: PA) (Image: PA Archive/Press Association Images - yellow image)

According to a report commissioned by Dame Tessa Jowell, a full time worker on the average wage in Brent would have to save up for nearly 18 years until they have a 10 per cent deposit without outside financial assistance.

The figures are based on a resident saving seven per cent of a £28,000 salary against the average house prices of almost £350,000 in Brent.

The gloomy figures means first time buyers in Brent have the seventh longest wait in London out of the 32 local authorities in the city.

With an average of 32-and-a-half years, Kensington & Chelsea topped the list.

Barking and Dagenham came at the bottom with ‘just’ nine-and-a-half years.

The average for England on the whole is 13 years.

Dame Tessa, who hopes to be selected as a Mayor of London candidate, said: “This is the hard truth about how London’s housing crisis denies the dream of owning your own home to young people in places like Brent, Wembley and Harrow.

“We need to build one London not two where everyone has the chance to live in a decent home and first time buyers aren’t excluded from the housing market unless they have access to the bank of mum and dad.

“First things first - the next Mayor has to build many more homes, plain and simple, but we also have to develop a serious plan to help thousands more Londoners get on the housing ladder.

“A more equal London has to mean that it’s possible to buy your own home. We have to solve London’s housing crisis if we want our city to succeed, with a Labour government and mayor working together.”