It is getting increasingly hard for young people to buy their own property, Nationwide says.
The proportion of 25-34 year olds owning a home has fallen to 36 per cent from 59 per cent over the past decade. Most first-time buyers (FTBs) traditionally are in this age group.
There is a significant decline in homeownership across the board. It has been on a steady decline since its peak in 2003, when the proportion of owners was 70.9 per cent. It has now reached the lowest level in almost thirty years (63.3 per cent).
On the other hand, the percentage of rented property, especially among younger generations, has soared over the past ten years – to 64 per cent now from 41 per cent then. Growth in the 16-to-24 age group has been particularly strong with the proportion of renters here now standing at 91 per cent compared to 76 per cent before.
“The increase has occurred in the private rental sector, which currently houses 19% of total households – the highest share since the 1960s. Over the past ten years, the number of privately rented households has nearly doubled to 4.4 million, while the percentage of households in social rental properties has declined from 18% to 17%.
“Despite the increase in the proportion of the population renting a home in recent years, the aspiration to eventually become a homeowner remains undiminished. The most recent English Housing Survey suggests that 25% of people in social housing and 61% of those in the private rental sector expect to be able to buy their own home in future. However, this remains a longer term aspiration, with around half of renters expecting it to take five years or more to take their first steps into the housing market,” Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner comments.
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