Proportion of home owners in UK rises slightly but average first-time buyer age remains high

The number of people in England that own a home has increased slightly in the last financial year, according to the annual English Housing Survey.

The report, published by the government, shows that 64 per cent of people owned a house in 2017-18, one per cent up on the data from the year before.

However it was still significantly down on the peak of 71 per cent in 2003 and it remains younger people who bare the brunt of that, with far fewer young buyers than a decade ago.

The average age of a first-time buyer is 33 according to the data, up from 31 in 2007-08, as many more adults aged under 44 continue to rent privately compared with 10 years ago.

Just 38 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds are homeowners, with the majority forced to live with parents or rent privately, despite the latter using up more monthly household income than a mortgage would.

The same age range had a 55 per cent home ownership rate just 10 years ago.

People aged 65 or over are more likely to own their own home than they were a decade earlier though, with 79 per cent of that group now homeowners, while the majority have paid off their mortgage, the report says.

The rate of home ownership in the UK has been steady since 2013-14, with the Ministry of Housing calling the small increase from last year “statistically insignificant”.

This year saw an increase in the number of households that were "buying with a mortgage" from 28 per cent to 30 per cent, while the number owning outright remained stable at 34 per cent.

The news that house prices have remained stable since last year with growth at a six year low will be welcomed by young buyers who are trying to get on the market