Britons are shunning big white weddings in a bid to get on the property ladder, new research from Barclays has revealed. 52 per cent of Britons – more than half the UK population – would choose to put their savings towards a deposit for a property – proving that home really is where the heart is.
Marriages are in the minority with just one in ten (12 per cent) opting for wedding bells over their own doorbell.
Perhaps most surprisingly, the wedding charge is led by men with almost twice as many men choosing marriage over bricks and mortar than women (16 per cent versus nine per cent).
With the cost of a wedding averaging £20,000, the findings reveal that almost one in ten Britons have decided to downsize the scale of their nuptials or delay them altogether in an effort to save for a property purchase.
So daunting is the prospect for many that 13 per cent would consider asking guests for a monetary contribution towards the cost of their wedding instead of a traditional gift if they were looking to tighten the purse strings.
Laoiseach Lynch, head of mortgage products at Barclays, said “With the average home deposit costing in the region of £16,000, it’s not surprising that couples are having to think twice about the way in which they tackle the dilemma of tying the knot and buying a property.
“What we’ve seen, however, is that with a little lateral thinking and some sensible saving and budgeting they are finding increasingly savvy ways to have their wedding cake and eat it.”
As emotive and potentially thorny as the subject may be, it seems couples are bound not in matrimony but in agreement – just five per cent admit to disagreeing on whether to get married or buy a home.
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