The property portal believes that homebuyers taking on the build themselves can save over £55,000 after spending out on land, materials and labour costs. This equates to a nationwide saving of £1.1 billion each year.
Today's new builds cost approximately £267,600, taking account of regional variations, compared to the £212,850 total propertyfinder.com believes a three-bed self-build project would come in at.
Currently 20,000 self-builds are commissioned each year, making up 12 per cent of all housing completions - a figure which is set to grow as homeowners look for a viable way to afford their ideal home.
However it is not just labour and planning issues that have to be factored in, but the cost of the land itself.
Getting hold of it will pose the biggest problem according to Nicholas Leeming, director of propertyfinder.com.
"The relationship between land prices and house prices is the most important factor. Land in London is so scarce - and planning permission so hard to come by - it is barely worth the cost and effort of attempting your own project. However, other regions show enormous savings, especially the South East and South West.”
In London a hectare of land, including planning permission, will set buyers back £9.6 million. This compares to £1.9 million in the East Midlands, relatively cheap at a fifth of the cost. Therefore working around a smaller plot size may be the biggest constraint on building a dream home down South.
However the savings that Southern self-builders enjoy make up for this. At £101,389 those in the South East save three times the £33,229 average in Yorkshire.
Londoners save less than the national average, however this is still a huge £43,813 when compared to buying an 'off the shelf' new build.
Leeming continued: “The price of new homes has underperformed the wider housing market by 20 per cent over the last five years and build costs have risen faster than the cost of buying a new home in all regions except London. But it can still make financial sense depending where you live and how high your pain threshold is.
"Other countries are much more used to having homes built than we are here. The Germans and Australians, for example, enthusiastically build and are particularly proud of the more varied domestic architecture that has resulted.”
