A COUPLE with a child in Liverpool face being locked out of home ownership for almost a decade, according to research released today by a leading housing charity.
Even childless couples face nearly five years of saving. It will leave many with the dilemma of getting on the property ladder or starting a family, says Shelter.
And if you are single and looking to buy a place on your own, you aren't going anywhere soon. Findings show you may have to rent or stay put at your mum’s for just under a decade to raise a mortgage deposit.
The Shelter research looked at average wages, house prices, rents and spending on essentials to show the formidable challenge faced by those trying to save for a home of their own in the North West.
It found that in Blackpool, families face more than 11 years to save for a deposit, in Manchester they will have to wait ten years.
With house prices at their highest for five years, Shelter blamed successive governments’ failure to build enough affordable homes, leaving "millions trapped in an unstable and expensive rental market, where saving enough for a home of their own is now just a distant dream".
A separate Populus poll for Shelter shows that 6 in 10 parents across the country believe that young people’s prospects for getting on the housing ladder have worsened over the last few years. For parents with children aged 16-18 the figure rocketed to over 70 percent.
Shelter boss Campbell Robb said: ‘The reality is that unless we get a grip on the housing shortage soon, children today could spend decades paying out dead money in expensive rents, or living at home well into adulthood with little hope of planning for their own families.
“Successive governments have announced scheme after scheme promising to help first time buyers, but these have just papered over the cracks.”
According to the Office of National Statistics, the number of 25-34 year olds who own their own homes has almost halved in the last decade.
Out of 23.4 million homes in the UK, 8.3 million (36 per cent) are now rented.
