A new survey reveals that almost 50% of people in the UK, who have not bought their home by the time they’re in their mid-thirties, doubt they ever will.
Despite a desire to own their home, first time buyers are being increasingly squeezed out of the property market.
Yorkshire Building Society commissioned a new research which showed that 49% of those who are between 35 and 40 years old and don’t own a home, but aspire to, think that is “unlikely” or “very unlikely” for them to ever own their property.
NatCen Social Research conducted the survey and found that 69% of young adults (aged 18 to 40) described owning their own home as something essential to feeling like they succeeded in life, as well as it being a source of social and financial security.
Still, the importance young adults place on home ownership is not matched by the same optimism regarding the fulfillment of this milestone, especially among older respondents. Therefore, the research suggests that the inability to buy a home is pushing a lot of young Britons towards an “early life crisis”.
“It is very sad to see how the hope of owning a home is fading for so many, especially as people approach their mid-thirties. For most people, owning a home is not just about security, it is also evidently integral to their feelings of self-worth, success and self-esteem,” said Andy Caton, executive director of Yorkshire Building Society.
“Hundreds of thousands of adults across the UK feel unable to reach this important milestone in their lives, with many reaching the conclusion that they will never be able to buy their own home like their parents and grandparents did,” he added.
All in all, the survey revealed the following figures:
- 69% want to own a home
- 45% don’t think they’re earning enough to buy their own place
- 46% are afraid they won’t be able to keep up the mortgage repayments
- 38% can’t afford the required deposit
- 10% name the lack in job security as preventing them from owning their home
Approximately 31% of renters aged 35 to 40 have given up the dream of ever buying, explaining they don’t think they will ever be able to afford it. This figure equals around half a million people across the UK, who never expect to own their home, unless house prices go down dramatically.
Latest UK house price figures reveal that property prices have reached an all-time record high, with the first time buyer buyer paying 7.1% more than they would have one year ago.
At the same time, the monthly rises in property prices continue to outstrip wage growth, leading to even more problems for wannabe homeowners who are already struggling to save or find a mortgage lender. To put this in perspective, an average home now costs 9.37 times the average salary, in 1971 it was 4.5 times.
In London the situation is even more polarised. Almost half of London’s first time buyers name the high house prices as the main factor preventing them from buying a home and 43% said they would be willing to move to a more affordable part of the country if that meant they could be owning their own home.
More drastically, some 26% of Londoners would even consider moving to another country to buy their own home. At the same time, 20% of wannabe first time buyers claim they moved down to lower quality in their rental accommodation to save for their deposit.
Source: Property Wire
