Agents may want to emphasise the merits of home ownership to young people this Easter, as a fifth of those aged 23 to 27 have no desire to own a property, according to an attitudes survey by the Halifax.
The first Halifax Generation Report back in 2011 described young people who wanted to buy but couldn't afford to; three years on the latest survey, out today, shows that the love affair with ownership appears to be on the wane.
The 2014 report, produced for Halifax by the National Centre for Social Research and involving responses from 32,000 people, reveals that:
- 20 per cent of 23-27 year olds have no desire to own a home;
- 48 per cent believe Britain will become a nation of renters within the next generation;
- 46 per cent agree Britain is becoming more like Europe, where renting is more common;
- 86 per cent of renters refuse to sacrifice the quality of accommodation they currently live in to reduce the rent they pay in order to save for a deposit
- 57 per cent of would-be first time buyers would like to save but claim to not have any spare cash that they could save.
We may be heading towards the point where the aspiration to own a nice home will be replaced by the aspiration simply to live in one. People are now beginning to accept a lifetime of renting and this would not only change the way the property ladder looks in the future, it could even bring into question whether or not it will exist at all for some people, says Halifax spokesman Craig McKinlay.
Comments
I suspect that lack of desire may have more to do with affordability than anything else. Kids are still growing up, leaving the nest and wanting homes of their own, but with average prices at 6 times average wages, what chance have they got!