The survey, by new homes website, SmartNewHomes, reveals that 40 per cent of first-time buyers ‘in waiting’ do not expect to own a home until they are over the age of 30.
First-time buyers blame financial problems for their struggle to get on the property ladder with 85 per cent pointing to rising house prices for pushing property out of their reach.
Buyers are facing two big financial hurdles as they struggle to secure a sufficient mortgage as well as raise a deposit.
The survey reveals that first-buyers expect to spend an average of £153,029 on their first home, more than seven times the average earnings of £21,266 for the age group 22 to 29.
Even with two people buying a property together, as over half of the first-time buyers questioned intend to do, salaries of this level would only secure a mortgage of around £116,000.
To get the best mortgage deals, first-time buyers will need a deposit of around £15,000 – half of all first-time buyers questioned cited this a major financial hurdle for them to overcome.
The majority of potential buyers have other financial commitments such as rent, repaying debts and student loans, that prevent them from saving.
One fifth of buyers are relying on help from parents to pay for a deposit, one in ten will use a bank loan or credit card, while one fifth will take out a 100 per cent mortgage with no deposit.
Devid Bexon, managing director of SmartNewHomes.com, comments: “This research highlights the severity of the struggle that first-time buyers are facing. If this trend continues then we could fact the very real threat of property ownership being a priviliege reserved for only the very wealthy.”
Bexon believes that the only solution is to increase the supply of affordable properties and says that the responsibility for this lies with the government.
“They have the ability to allow housebuilders to produce more affordable housing and the means by which to crease the infrastructure necessary to support such developments. Without significant and fundamental change at this level, first-time buyers could go from a rare breed to a virtually extinct one,” says Bexon.
