Nearly 80% of people believe something should be done to make it easier for young people to buy a home and that it is the government, rather than mortgage lenders, house builders or local councils, that should be doing more to help.
This was cited by 80% of respondents in our survey, the findings of which were outlined at the CML's recent ‘future housing’ conference by our chief economist, Bob Pannell.
Other problems cited included too many people on housing waiting lists (48%), housing market boom and bust (44%) and the cost of moving home (37%). But when asked to identify the single most pressing concern, affordability problems for young would-be first-time buyers (47%) was a long way ahead of the second most cited issue, the failure to build enough new homes (13%).
Respondents were sceptical about the prospect of the government alleviating any of the problems identified in the survey. On every issue, a majority believed the government could not improve things.
The issues on which people believed the government would be most powerless to act were stopping private landlords squeezing out first-time buyers and reducing the number of people on the housing waiting list. In contrast, the issues on which the government was thought most likely to take effective action were the energy efficiency of property and the small size of new homes.
Almost everyone believed that Britain had housing problems. Only 4% of the poll, undertaken by YouGov, did not know of – or did not think there were – any current housing problems in Britain.
Once again, we asked adults their views about owning a home, updating the findings of a survey on housing aspirations that we have now conducted since 1975. It found that, despite recent problems in housing and mortgage markets, 85% of adults wanted to be home-owners in ten years’ time – the highest proportion we have ever recorded.
But the survey found that the proportion of adults who wanted to be home-owners in two years’ time – 76% – was lower than when we last conducted the survey in 2007, perhaps reflecting current uncertainty about the economy, the reduction in mortgage lending and the possibility of falling house prices in the short term.
The survey found that nearly all existing home-owners (94%) wished still to be in that tenure in two and 10 years’ time. By contrast, private renters were more likely to view the tenure as temporary, with 54% aspiring to be home-owners in two years’ time and 79% within 10 years. Social housing tenants were more attached to their tenure with 56% preferring still to be in social housing in two years, although 51% wanted to be home-owners 10 years from now.
Among all adults, nearly all aspirations for a change of tenure were towards home-ownership. The current post-credit crunch environment may have had a dampening effect on short-term aspirations – but the longer-term desire to own a home is still alive and well.
