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Most tenants still want to own despite pandemic upheaval

Despite the global pandemic putting many major life plans on hold, almost three fifths of renters continue to have ownership as an ultimate goal.

Research by property service Wayhome shows that ownership is viewed as more of a priority than getting married or entering a civil partnership for 49 per cent of respondents, and more important than having a child for 48 per cent.

Despite Coronavirus effectively suspending the UK property market for a significant part of last year and house prices continuing to hit record levels, some 45 per cent of 18 to 23 year olds continue to foster strong desires for homeownership. 

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This appears to intensify with age with 56 per cent of 24 to 42 year olds and 58 per cent of 43 to 54 year olds viewing getting on the ladder as a key life milestone.

Women and parents were also more focussed on getting onto the property ladder, compared to men and those without children.

Wayhome chief executive Nigel Purves says: “The pandemic has done nothing to dampen people’s appetite for homeownership and we know it remains the ultimate life goal for significant numbers of people. 

 

“But the reality is that following on from the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, becoming a homeowner may be far harder than it ever was before. Indeed, with house prices ballooning, the cost of living rising and additional government support still in force – great numbers of people have no choice but to continue renting for the foreseeable future or compromising on the type of home they can afford to buy, which might not be suitable for their needs long-term. 

“If we want a sustainable housing system, which enables more people to take a step onto the ladder earlier in their lives, we need to see innovation within the industry. Aspiring homeowners deserve the security and stability that comes with homeownership.”

Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

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    The biggest barrier to becoming a homeowner is taking on expenses before buying. Live at home and don’t rent; don’t have children; don’t insist on the newest phone / car; don’t go on that ‘holiday of a lifetime’; don’t have expensive nights out all the time - these are all things that will help potential homeowners save.

    Once people prioritise ‘my own space’ / have children etc it becomes so hard to save enough for a deposit that many people will give up. The ‘must have it now / must have it new’ approach to life is the death knell for saving and the lack of financial education / understanding hamstrings a whole generation who will struggle to get on the housing ladder.

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    That's how we, and generations before us got on the property ladder, second hand car purchased for cash, weekends spent repairing that secondhand car, no overseas holidays in the sun, buying a run down property rolling sleeves up and renovating it before moving onto the next one, living on building sites in a caravan, but we cannot expect snowflakes to be doing this can we, the entitled generation who expect everything to be given to them

     
  • girish mehta

    Mostly is the failure of government policies over decades. The shortage of properties is beneficial to the economy as banks , investors make money .it pay for government to have policies which promises decent homes and make people work hard to achieve it. While getting their property they delay other important decision. It was manageable when people did not have large debt. Now with students loan ,credit card and easy access to loans
    People have more debt at early on.
    Government need to reform the whole economic model . If left at present lot of young people will feel ignored and move to different life choice

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    As Tricia says above, it's up to people to act sensibly and prioritise how they manage their finances.

    Government's only responsibility has been in making things harder and more expensive for private landlords, resulting in us making things harder and more expensive for tenants, but no one is forcing them to rent from us and we certainly don't want tenants who can't afford our rents.

     
  • icon

    It was wrong to abolish savers by bringing Bank Base Rate below 5%, anyone would have know what was going to happen after that, forcing people to buy an additional property to stop their money devaluating the rest is history. Another thing now wants everyone to pay by card & do away with cash. LBC is on about it every night but don’t know what they are talking about. I was going along with the idea until I seen some of my recent purchases paid by credit card where a 1% surcharge is added on. Wonderful I already had to pay 20% vat tax now plus 1% additional charge 1/5 of my money gone in the wind, incidentally my Bank pays me .01% so I have to pay the supplier 10 times this amount to spend my money, if cash is done away with all the Banks with charge for using the card, separately I pay £190 annual card fee as well. How can they save bring back savers.

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    Michael.

    You need a different card! I have regular savings accounts paying 2.75% and 3% ( was 5% last year), a credit card paying 1% cash back, a current account paying 2% and other current accounts who paid me over £100 to switch to them along with £5 per month for using the debit card.

    No need to pay banks or card issuers a penny - and btw, 1% is 100 times 0.1%, not 10 times.

     
    Bill Wood

    Robert - is this a typo? - '1% is 100 times 0.1%'
    Michael has it right.

     
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    Bill

    We're both wrong. Michael had 0.01% which is 1/100 of 1%, not 1/10 of 1%.

    I meant to put .01% but made a typo and put.1% by mistake. Don't know if Michael also just made a typo or got his sums wrong, but I do know many current accounts only pay 0.01% interest, although I have avoided those banks so far.

     
  • icon

    Very simple really, just save. Put your money into Premium Bonds no growth but also no loss and chance to win something. We need BBR low as it keeps borrowing rates low. Just save every day week month. Thats if you really want to buy your own. And if live at home pay your parents rent each month say £600 and say over 5 years that would be £36k which you the parent can give back to your child to help towards a deposit, simple really.

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    I put a lot of money which HMRC didn't ask for last July into Premium bonds and made £125 in prizes over the rest of 2020. In addition m by not going on holidays, to the pub etc. I didn't need to cash in all the bonds, so still have several thousand chances of £1 million every month.

    Incidentaly I've also saved about £50 on hair cuts over the last year and I suppose my wife will have saved about the same, although I can't understand how ladies hairdressers can survive, charging only £5 for a 2 hour appointment, but my wife assures me that's all they charge!

     
    Bill Wood

    Robert.
    My wife is Japanese, and I have to drive her (she won't go by train) 60 miles into London for a haircut, and it costs £60!
    Ah well!

     
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    Bill

    I'm shocked that you charge your wife £60 for that trip!

    That's 12 times the cost of her haircut!

    I got my hair cut in London once in 1972 and it cost £5, so I know that's the cost in London. Besides, surely my wife wouldn't lie about it?

    I still pay £5 now in Glasgow at OAP rates (well actually £4.50 plus a big tip of 10 bob - I would feel the standard 10% tip would be a bit mean now and in any case they never seem to have 5p pieces in the till when I have asked for it).

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    I haven't paid for a hair cut in more than 10 yrs, I've got so little left my wife or daughter use my beard trimmer to cut what little there is.

     
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    Robert you are right but which ever way you look at it, whether decimals or fraction it not very much, so I am 99 times worse of, sorry I didn’t have any further education, I just paid tax for 58 years to educate others to make a mess, although it is .01 % they pay me. I don’t have the time for switching Banks and jumping through hoops, it should be same for everyone but no it’s like energy Companies switching all over the place.

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    Education is not all it's cracked up to be, common sense is much more useful.

     
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