More than 250,000 non-home owners in the UK seem to have given up hope on ever owning their house, with prices being named as the main concern, a new research shows.
This marks the first drop in five years of the number of non-home owners in the UK who are also not aspiring to own their place.
One third of first-time buyers are now spending 5 years to save for their home
The 2017 annual survey from the HomeOwners Alliance and BLP Insurance revealed that the number of people aspiring to own a home saw a constant increase between 2013 and 2016, peaking at 73% last year. Now they’ve gone back down to 71%.
In number, this drop translates into 253,166 people who have given up on home ownership over the last twelve months.
As the main reasons for the decrease, the survey names house prices, saving for a deposit and the availability of homes to buy. Among home buying hopefuls, 86% say house prices are the biggest challenge they are facing, 85% say saving for a deposit is a serious issue and 80% worry about the supply of homes.
The research furthermore reveals that those concerns are rising across almost all regions of the country, with Londoners being the most concerned.
About 87% of respondents in London have concerns regarding the house prices and 81% worrying about supply.
Paula Higgins, chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance, explained:
“These latest findings show that the housing crisis is deepening across the UK. This in turn is impacting on people’s aspirations to get on the property ladder. While we are used to stories about people not being able to buy a home until they are 40, the story has taken a turn for the worse with people increasingly giving up altogether on the dream of home ownership.”
“People are feeling less optimistic about their chances of buying their first property. With the election approaching, it is vital that housing is placed at the forefront of the policy agenda and that whatever party is elected, it takes serious steps to address the growing concerns of aspiring home owners.”
