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Sam Volpe

Online calculator shows how long it would take different professions to own a dream home in the UK

Have you ever wondered how long it'd take you to save up enough to buy a dream home?

A new online calculator now explores how long it'd take people working in different professions - from hairdresser to football coach or even news reporter - to earn enough to buy a dream home. The calculator, put together by Victorian Plumbing, reveals that according to new research it would take a hairdresser 266 years in order to buy an idyllic house, Wales Online reports.

The research highlights how the UK housing market is out of reach for many hard working people around the UK - with it often almost impossible to get a foot on the property ladder. A swimming teacher would need to save up for 62 years to afford a Barbie-style dream home on Tyneside, compared to 52 years for a vet and 88 years for a sales assistant.

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But it's not just about the dream - even properties which are classed as averagely priced are out of reach for most UK workers trying to buy their first home let alone something more palatial. The calculations are based on Barbie's fantastical mansion costing you £4.5 million in London, £1.2 million in Scotland and £2.29 million in the east of England.

In London a teacher will take 144 years, a waitress 258 years, a nurse 113 years, a policeman 97 years and a pilot 48 years to buy that dream home, while in Northern Ireland a hairdresser would need 53 years to save up. Barbie's had hundreds of different jobs - including President - but we are left wondering: how could she afford a three-story house with eight rooms, a lift, a pool, a party room?

If the blonde icon still worked as a waitress, it would take her 258 years saving £17,000 per year for her dream pad in London, compared to 118 years if she worked as a computer engineer and 98 years if she worked as a yoga teacher.

Even during her stint as a pilot, jet-setting round the world, with a very tidy take-home of over £95,000 a year, it would take about 24 years to afford her dream house in Yorkshire with all the bells and whistles and double that in London.

Joe Pascoe, chief marketing officer at Victorian Plumbing, had this to say about the launch of the online calculator: "Barbie has been a cultural icon for generations, and her dream home has been a part of many of our childhood memories. With over 200 professions under her belt, the iconic character has ‘bossed’ it and created her dream home."

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