85% of consumers want to be home owners
Share
A consumer opinion survey undertaken by YouGov for the Council of Mortgage Lenders shows some 85% of people aim to be home owners in the next decade.
The CML has asked the same questions about home-ownership aspirations periodically since 1975.
Last time the survey was undertaken, in 2007, the proportion who expected to be home-owners in ten years’ time was 84%.
Over the short term, the desire for home-ownership has dipped a little. 76% of those surveyed saw home-ownership as their ideal tenure in two years’ time - down from 78% last time the survey was undertaken in 2007.
This primarily reflects a much lower short-term appetite, 42% for home-ownership among adults aged 18 to 24 - although this is also the age group with the highest ten-year home-ownership aspirations, 88%.
The CML says it is highly likely that this reflects younger people’s lifestyle choices, favouring more flexibility and mobility in the short term, as well as a realistic assessment of the difficulty of entering the housing market under current affordability conditions.
CML chief economist Bob Pannell will be looking in more depth at the survey’s other findings, and the issues arising from them, at the CML’s Future Housing conference next week.
It will pose the question “can an age of austerity also be an age of aspiration?”, and will be looking at the role not only of home-ownership but also the private and social rented sectors, and the future of intermediate tenure.
Michael Coogan, director general of the CML, says: It is crystal clear that most people see home-ownership as their tenure of choice over the long term.
“But the unintended consequence of regulatory change is that it is going to be permanently tougher for people - especially young people - to fulfil that aspiration in the future, even if they are responsible with their finances.
“Home-ownership levels are already falling, and they will continue to fall. Is that the outcome that policymakers want? It is certainly not what consumers want, but it’s what they’re likely to end up with.
“We urge politicians and regulators to pause and think again about the cumulative effects of their well-intentioned but poorly targeted package of regulatory changes.”
If you enjoyed this article, sign up here to receive daily email updates from Mortgage Strategy and Follow @mortgagestrat
Readers' comments (3)
Anonymous | 16 Sep 2010 11:11 am
This is very promising results and is definitely one in the eye for those people who have been claiming that we will move from ownership to renting as a country. An Englishan home is his castle would apparently still hold true...
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Tal | 16 Sep 2010 12:25 pm
85% from 84%. Hmm - Yougov sampled 2056 people for this survey. So the change isn't statistically significant. For it to be you'd need a 5% change (at the 95% confidence level). You'd think Yougov would know this.
The story headline should be: People's desires for home ownership the same as it ever was.
But I suppose that wouldn't be a good story
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
John Gilbert | 16 Sep 2010 12:27 pm
Perhaps the survey should also have asked about future house prices. It is very difficult to see how such aspirations can be met without a substantial fall in house prices to improve affordability - resulting in a much reduced need for mortgage finance. I am not sure that is what the industry wants.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment