UK buyers need to save for up to 24 years to get on housing ladder | Business | The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/d ... osit-study

I could believe it since I've been saving since 2001, Coke and figurine addictions notwithstanding

Let's say 10% on a £200,000 house, so £20,000.
At £100 per month, which isn't an overly large amount, That's 16.6 years.
Most places have houses for less than that. I could only see it being that long in London

You are forgetting that

- Houses are increasing in value - so your £200K house in 16 yrs now costs £250K so you need to have up another £5K (so another 4 yrs)
- Stamp Duty £2.5K
- Legal Fees etc £2.5K

So thats another £5K (or 4 yrs)

175k is 4x 43 000. How many people outside London have that kind of income?

This is the kicker. House prices in many parts of the country are rising faster than wages are, so you have to save more and more of your earnings or fall behind the 'house price curve'. People only have so much disposable income to do this with- their rate of accumulation of deposit (for want of a better term) can plateau, whereas house prices don't necessarily have to.