The property market is almost completely inaccessible to young people in the United Kingdom.
LONDON (PRWEB) April 27, 2020
Property lenders Quinshaw Finance have analysed new data from the Office Of National Statistics revealing that young people are still struggling to get on the property ladder.
The latest UK House Price Index, released in March 2020, shows that only 14.1% of mortgage-paying first-time buyers in the United Kingdom are under 25.
The biggest demographic of mortgage paying first-time buyers are Brits aged 26 to 35, who make up 57.7% of the total, followed by those aged 35 to 44, who make up 20.3%.
There have been no major improvements in these figures since 2010. They have fluctuated between 13.7% and 16.8% since the turn of the previous decade, with 2011 being the best year for under-25s securing a mortgage on their first home and 2017 being the worst.
The Office Of National Statistics’s figures date back to 1990 and show that it was much more common for under 25s to secure a mortgage and purchase a starter home thirty years ago. In 1990, the amount of under-25s who were mortgage-paying first-time buyers was 30%, twice the amount it is now.
Greg Davies, head analyst at Quinshaw Finance, blames rising house prices across the UK for these figures and believes that “more needs to be done” in order to help under-25s enter the housing market.
He said: “The property market is almost completely inaccessible to young people in the United Kingdom with latest figures showing the average house price for first-time buyers is £217,000.
“If you figure that the average deposit is at least 5%, young people will be required to save around £10,850 in order to simply make a down payment. For many young people just entering the job market, it would take years to afford this deposit.”
He concluded: “There are ways that under-25s can begin saving to ensure they are in the best possible position, whilst mortgage and financial advisors can offer bespoke advice, but simply more needs to be done to help make homes affordable for young, first-time buyers.”