05 Sep, 2018/ by Homeward Legal /First Time Buyer
"Generation Rent" still has its sights set on becoming home owners. A new report quizzed a panel of 20-44-year-olds in London and the south-east who live in rented accommodation and already own a home with an overwhelming majority saying they want to buy their own property.
London-based law firm Collyer Bristow convened the panel as part of its report entitled Home Ownership Attitudes and Aspirations.
The report says 73 percent of men and 57 percent of women hope to buy their own home within the next five years. A third (29 percent) say home ownership in that time frame is unrealistic, but only 9 percent said they had no aspiration of buying at all.
In the 20-24 age bracket, 100 percent of participants said they hope to buy their own home, but that percentage falls to 59 percent for 25-34-year-olds and up to 63 percent for 35-44-year-olds.
The panel was asked how they intended to finance a purchase or how they had financed buying a home: 63 percent of those who already have a home and 62 percent of renters pointed to a combination of personal and joint savings, with 32 percent calling on the Bank of Mum and Dad to help them out. Help to Buy helped 23 percent of the panel on to the property ladder.
Alex O'Connor, partner in commercial real estate at Collyer Bristow, said: "We all know there is a housing crisis in the UK and that it is particularly acute in London and the south-east.
We have seen developers bring forward new tenures, such as dedicated Build-to-Rent schemes, but home ownership remains the ultimate goal.
"It is interesting that all of our panel's 20-24 year olds say that they will own their own home, only for those hopes to be dashed when the reality of buying a property hits home. That picks up slightly, perhaps as our panel start to marry and think about starting a family.
The home market is changing rapidly with new tenures emerging and institutional money looking to change the rental market for the better. Whilst our panel might choose to rent for longer, home ownership remains the ultimate goal."