Home Ownership Among Young People Falls to Record Low

According to information released by the Labour Party, home ownership among young people has fallen to its joint lowest percentage since 1996.

The data shows that around 45% of people aged between 20 and 30 years old own a home- the only time it has fallen this low since 1996 was in 2013.

This news comes as many housing market analysts are releasing their economic forecasts for the coming year; their verdict: strong growth in house prices all along the country.

Rics (The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) has predict price growth of around 6%; they have also said that they expect to see a 3% increase in rents.

Unsurprisingly, Rics have said that the level of demand is higher than the rate of supply, and it is this that is causing such a high level of increase in the property market. Many experts have also said that areas outside of London such as the south-east and East Anglia will experience the biggest growth in 2016.

The figures, released by Labour, take into account shared ownership of properties, and they are derived from research conducted by Labour Force Survey. The information shows that the percentage of home ownership among people below the age of 30 was at its highest in 1999; at that point it sat at 62.7%.

Since then the proportion of young people who own a property has been going down consistently- dropping the most significantly in 2008 after the economic crisis.

In 1999 around 51.4% had purchased property with a loan or mortgage but in 2015 that proportion was only 32.5%.

The data suggests that there may have been a slight upswing in the number of homes being bought under shared ownership or outright.

Gloria De Piero, Labour 's shadow minister for young people, said:

"For many young people, all they wanted this Christmas was a home of their own.

"But soaring house prices, eye-watering rents and a lack of decently paid jobs are keeping young people off the property ladder.

"Let's hope the prime minister makes it his new year's resolution to help generation rent to get on in life."

The Department for Communities and Local Government released a statement saying that young people who aspire to owning a home should be provided with "the opportunity to do so".

The spokesman went on to say:

"That is why we recently announced the biggest, boldest and most ambitious plan for housing in a generation with a doubling of the housing budget".

"Furthermore, our initiatives have helped nearly 270,000 people to buy since 2010 and our Help to Buy ISA can boost the savings of young people by 25% towards their first home."

The chief economist at Nationwide, Robert Garner, said that a lift in people 's wages will result in a boost to the property market.

However, he went on to say:

"The main concern is that construction activity will lag behind strengthening demand, putting upward pressure on house prices and eventually reducing affordability.

"Overall, we expect UK house prices to rise by 3% to 6% over the next 12 months."