Is UK’s obsession with home ownership over?

Britons are renowned for their desire to own their own slice of the property market, and around two thirds of us do so.

However, a new survey of non-homeowners conducted for mortgage and home loans broker Ocean Finance has revealed that figure may be set to decline.

Just 28 per cent of non-homeowners questioned for Ocean say they would like to be able to buy a property one day, and expect to be able to do so.

Conversely, forty per cent of those questioned say that while they would like to be able to buy a home in the future, they do not expect they will ever be able to do so.

Meanwhile, one third claimed they are happy to continue renting and have no interest in buying.

These findings may suggest that people’s attitude to owning could be changing, whether through opinion or circumstance. Possible reasons include:

• Rising house prices, especially in London and the South East, which mean that even saving for the deposit for a property seems out of reach for many. For example, a 25 per cent deposit on the average house price is now £68,000; more than double the UK average income.
• Changes to the mortgage market mean it has become harder to access mortgages, with fewer higher loan-to-value products available and tighter affordability rules.
• Real income squeezed – with prices rising faster than income for the past few years, people have had less money to commit both to saving and to thinking about paying a mortgage.

The survey shows that 46 per cent of non-homeowners aged 25 to 34 didn’t think they would ever be able to afford a house. Yet adults aged under 25 remain quite optimistic, with 54 per cent of them both wanting to buy a house in the future and believing they will be able to do so.

For people who haven’t got on the housing ladder by the age of 55 the dream of home ownership has faded – just 4 per cent of non-homeowners over 55 still expect to be able to buy.