Young Homeowner Proportion has Dropped by 10% in a Decade

The percentage of young people owning a home has witnessed a decline in the financial crisis and to make matters worse, there is little sign of improvement. Office for National Statistics (ONS) data reveals more…

Analysis carried out by the ONS found those aged 22 to 29 years old have become less likely to own a home, with the proportion of homeowners having fallen by 10 percentage points between 2008 and 2017 – from 37% to 27%.

There is also little sign of them becoming financially stable, with 53% of this cohort having no money in a savings account or ISA, compared with 41% between 2008 and 2010.

However, those who did had an average of £1,600 put away, up from £900.

Commenting on the figures, Ross Boyd, Founder of online Mortgage Adviser, commented: “For home ownership levels among those in their twenties to have fallen by 10% in less than a decade is a brutal reminder of the struggle young people face getting onto the property ladder.

“With house prices in so many areas of the country out of people’s reach, the transition from generation own to generation rent is accelerating by the day.

“To rub salt in the wound of many young people today, monthly rental payments are often considerably more expensive than the equivalent mortgage payments would be.

“This partly explains the increase in the number of people with nothing in a savings account. With inflation above target for so long, and rents so high, many young people have nothing left to put aside.

“Unless you’re fortunate enough to be able to cash a cheque from the Bank of Mum and Dad, finding the deposit required to buy a new home can be an insurmountable challenge, all the more so if you are paying off debt from university.

“In just a decade, the dynamic of home ownership in the UK has changed irreversibly. If this is to end, then something fundamental has to change, and mortgage lending itself has to evolve.”