The housing market has become so expensive and inaccessible that saving to buy a first home is not considered a priority for four in five non-property-owners.
According to a survey from ING International – which canvasses opinion about ‘money and life’ across 15 different countries – a significant 82% of Britons who are not currently on the housing ladder say they are prioritising at least one other life goal.
Examples include paying off education debt, raising a family or going travelling.
However, 71% of Britons agree that, from a financial perspective, it is “better to own than to rent”.
The ING survey also revealed that 43% of Britons expect house prices to continue to climb in 2020.
Jessica Exton, a behavioural scientist for the banking group, said: “Lots of us want to own our own home one day. Not only because it’s considered to be a smart financial decision, but because home ownership is an emotional and personal goal.
“But because property is so expensive – and there is a perception it will become more expensive – people are taking longer to save for a deposit and buying later in life.
“Given these extended timeframes, it’s not necessarily surprising that many are finding additional reasons both to spend and save in the shorter term. Funding travel today, while planning to buy a home soon, for example.”
Four in ten (39%) of renters who have never owned a property said they don’t expect to be able to buy at all, according to the survey – and those who do, expect it to be later in life.
A quarter (28%) of 25- to 34-year-olds anticipate being older than 35 before buying while just 9% anticipate buying before 30.
Separate findings from the Government’s English Housing Survey show the average age of first-time buyers in 2018 to 2019 was 33, rising to 37 in London.
The percentage of Britons who claim the country’s housing market is “heading in the wrong direction” has also climbed for the third year running, ING found.
More than half (58%) of Britons say their country is on the “wrong track” when it comes to housing, compared to 50% in 2017. Only 25% of respondents said the market was on the right track.
However, despite the survey findings, there is no shortage of first-time buyers in the property market.
According to the latest figures from UK Finance, the number of loans approved for home purchases hit 46,815 during December, a rise of nearly 20% on the year before and marking a four-year high.
Comments (3)
JMK I understand and agree completely with your observations. As I said it is a matter of their own choice but they should not complain if they later find the choice they made was not the one they wanted. I suggest we all take responsibility for the choices we make.
Probably the same people who can’t afford their rent because it costs so much to run off to Thailand to have their 200 guest wedding. And of course that new shiny Mercedes is essential get away for the weekend luxury hotel visit. We all choose our own priorities.
It’s also a different mindset these days. People will call Uber rather than buy a car, they stream videos instead of buying them, they subscribe to Spotify as opposed to buying the CD or vinyl, they’ll subscribe to the software packages on their computer (though often have little choice). As a society it’s the way we’re heading. Renting their home is more of the same.