Just 28% 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, a third (32%) of those questioned 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. And there are numerous reasons why this may be the case.
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% 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 is also squeezed and 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.
In fact, the survey shows that nearly half (46%) of non-homeowners in the key first-time buyer bracket of 25 to 34 years old did not think that they would ever be able to afford to buy a house. Perhaps surprisingly, adults aged under 25 remain quite optimistic about their future prospects; with 54% of them both wanting to buy a house in the future and believing that 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% of non-homeowners aged over 55 still expect to be able to buy.
Ian Williams, spokesman for Ocean, says:
“Homeownership is already at a 25-year low, and our survey suggests that this figure is likely to continue to fall. While four in 10 people still say they’d like to own a property one day, they already seem resigned to not being able to do so.”
