We won’t be homeowners till we’re 37, say first-time buyers

YOUNG house-hunters think the average age at which they will be able to buy their first home is 37 – while two out of five people who are not yet on the housing ladder say they never intend to become property owners.

A new report found 9 per cent of people looking to buy a house had already saved for a deposit – while 6 per cent said they would play the lottery to try to land enough for a home deposit over asking their family and friends for financial help.

The UK has long been an economy where people aim to own their own home – unlike countries such as Germany, where a vast number of people have historically opted to rent for their entire lives.

“Home ownership is a really big thing here in the UK,” said Clare Francis, of Money- Supermarket.com, which published the study. “For years it has been something millions of people aspire to and therefore it’s surprising to see that this may be changing and that some people are giving up on the hope of ever owning their own home.”

The number of first-time buyer products on offer has slumped by 187 in a year to 1,337 – a 12 per cent drop.

“To a certain degree, it is perhaps understandable,” Ms Francis said. “Despite a stagnant housing market in many areas of the country, property prices remain exceptionally high.

“Coupled with this, mortgages remain hard to come by, with the number of loans available to those with a small deposit well down on pre-credit crunch days. Rising living costs are also making it harder for aspiring first-time buyers to save.”

The study found the average loan-to-value ratio for products available to new buyers is 78 per cent. That means someone taking out a mortgage on a £150,000 property would need a deposit of £33,000.

However, the number of mortgages available for those with only a 10 per cent deposit currently stands at 209 – up 20 per cent on 2011 – and the average interest rate for those has dropped by 1.14 per cent since April 2009.

“Many are taking the decision to rent for longer while they save a large enough deposit to buy their first home,” Ms Francis said. “On the plus side, the flat housing market means aspiring homeowners can take their time to build up a deposit as they don’t have to worry that prices will become unaffordable if they don’t buy now.”

MoneySupermarket.com also asked people what they had had to put on hold due to the economic climate. Some 17 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds said they had put off buying a house.

Sarah Spiers, director of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Scotland, said: “With the chaotic events in the eurozone and banks imposing tough conditions on loans to first-time buyers – coupled with the significant amount of money now required for a deposit and the increase in the cost of living – it is inevitable that many people are unable to access the market.”

Scott Brown, of estate agent Warners in Edinburgh, said: “People are waiting far longer.

“When prices were still rising, people would get a 100 per cent loan, the price of their property would rise, then they would move on up the ladder.”