UK house prices: Home ownership is a distant dream even for middle England
Almost half of people who don't own their own home believe they never will as the time needed to save for a deposit hits an astonishing 24 years.
Even a quarter of the richest of non-home owners think they will never get a foot on the first rung of the property ladder, new research reveals.
"Low to middle income households saving five per cent of their disposable income a year were able to accumulate the deposit required for an average first time buyer home over the course of around three years in the 1990s. Today that figure is 24 years," said Matthew Whittaker, chief economist of the Resolution Foundation think tank, which analysed the latest data from the Bank of England.
Some 46 per cent of those who don't own their own home said they never expect to, according to the latest BOE household survey.
For those on the lowest income that stands at 57 per cent. But even for the highest earners, 25 per cent believe the same, as do 42 per cent of those on middle incomes, as housing demand outstrips supply.
Of the 2,000 people surveyed, the biggest barrier to buying were the purchase costs – deposit, fees, stamp duty and other costs. Mortgage costs were the second biggest barrier, followed by lack of access to a mortgage.
