Most people think that owning your own home is turning into a privilege for the elites as buying a home in the UK is harder than it has been for over a century, a survey from a major building society has found.
New research from the Yorkshire Building Society showed that almost four-fifths (78%) of UK first-time buyers and seven in ten remortgagors think homeownership is becoming an elite privilege.
Two-thirds of first-time buyers and over half of remortgagors think the UK is in danger of becoming a nation of renters within the space of five years.
This is even though the survey discovered that three fifths of landlords feel that they are being pushed out of the rental sector.
The building society’s Home Truths report that has been published today found that the increased cost of living, high house prices and higher interest rates have created a perfect storm resulting in many people struggling to buy a home of their own.
Despite the financial headwinds that potential first-time buyers are facing, two-fifths still aspire and budget to buy their own place within the next year.
Over half of the prospective first-time buyers are tired of felling like they are wasting money on renting accommodation.
The study also highlighted the sacrifices consumers are making to buy a home, for example, nine out ten said they are making lifestyle choices such as forgoing holidays to prioritise buying a house.
‘Family structures are changing’
Ben Merritt, Director of Mortgages at Yorkshire Building Society, said: “The reality is that family structures are changing due to things like greater life expectancy prompting a rise in multigenerational living.
“More people are working for themselves, or employed as contractors, meaning they have unstructured incomes; while factors like the shift to hybrid working following the global pandemic are changing what they want from a home, and therefore their borrowing needs. As a mutual building society, this means we have come full circle, and are stepping in to provide outside-the-box solutions – just as we were set up to do back in 1864.
“We’ll continue to rise to the modern-day challenges by innovating to offer today’s borrowers suitable pathways to home ownership.”
