A letting agent’s study into the UK rental market has found that the average Briton spends £11,100 on rent before buying their first home.

The research also found that the average person rents for 38 months before buying for the first time.

The research was carried out by letting agent Harry Dhaliwal of the national property group Belvoir, ahead of forthcoming changes to buy-to-let stamp duty being introduced in April. He found that British people leave home to rent at an average age of 21 years.

In addition to spending an average of £11,100.67 on rent, the average person spends £577.64 on letting fees when renting and £587.93 in security deposits.

Of those deposits an average amount of £511.73 is recouped by renters, with 80% of people getting full rental deposits back. Cleaning fees are the most common reason for deductions from deposits, whilst damage to property is the second most frequent reason.

While 59% of people believe it is financially unwise to rent, 25% do not view renting as unwise. The most common number of homes rented before buying is one (for 56% of people) followed by two (20%), with most people renting alone (29%) or with one other person (55.51%).

Dhaliwal who runs the Manchester franchise of the Belvoir group, said: “Sometimes the rhetoric around generation rent becomes quite exaggerated and whilst the rental market is growing so is the quality and variety of rental property. The findings of our survey highlight that renting across the UK is not as expensive as sometimes reported and most people get full deposits back from landlords. It remains to be seen what affect the stamp duty changes to buy-to-let purchases will have in April.

“Whilst the struggles for first time buyers in London and high rental cost in the capital are well documented, the picture across the UK in general may not be as grey as it is sometimes depicted. There are superb professional opportunities in most of the UK’s main cities and in the digital age the flexibility around employment and running a business mean renting or buying outside London has probably never been more attractive.”