On-going love affair with home ownership

Eight out of ten of the people who took part in a survey for the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said they hoped to own a home within ten years and three quarters aspired to do so within the next two years.

The findings show how the desire for home ownership remains “strongly entrenched”, the CML said.

Compared with five years ago, the figures have declined a little on the 78 per cent of people in 2007 who said they wanted to own their home in the next two years and the 84 per cent who wanted to achieve this goal within ten years.

The CML found that aspirations are much higher than actual home ownership levels among those aged under 35.

It found that most people who were privately renting or sharing with family and friends were in this age group, and 54 per cent would like to become home owners in the next couple of years. But only a third of those who hope to be home owners in two years time said they actually expect this to happen.

Bob Pannell, CML chief economist said: “The results clearly show that the British love affair with home ownership is far from over.”

He added: “We need to recognise that for the overwhelming majority of people, home ownership is still the ultimate goal.”

Housing minister Grant Shapps said: “This survey from the CML makes clear that many young people continue to dream of owning their own home, and I’m determined that we do all we can to help those looking to get on the property ladder.

“That’s why we’ve worked with builders and lenders to offer the NewBuy Guarantee, which enables people to buy a newly built home with just a fraction of the deposit they would normally require, and nearly 3,000 new homeowners have been created thanks to the FirstBuy scheme, which offers a valuable alternative to the Bank of Mum and Dad.

“On top of this, £19.5bn is being invested by Government and the private sector in an affordable homes programme set to exceed expectations and deliver up to 170,000 new homes for rent and affordable homeownership.”