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“Golden age” of home ownership is over, says CIH
16 August 2010
Millions of young people face a lifetime of renting, as home ownership becomes an increasingly unattainable goal, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has warned. CIH figures have revealed that in the most expensive parts of the country, first-time buyers require deposits of more than £40,000, almost double the average income. Hometrack research showed that a single person living in London would need to earn in excess of £50,000 a year in order to get a mortgage for a two-bed flat at the bottom end of the market. The CIH has called on the government to take action to help more than three million people in private residential housing, particularly what it classed the "in-betweens". These are people who earn more than £12,000 but less than £25,000, and so are too well off to get social housing, but too poor to get on the property ladder. It said that shared ownership schemes are also out of reach of this group. CIH chief executive Sarah Webb said that the "in-betweens" have done everything the government has asked, by working hard and not claiming benefits, but have got nothing in return. She said: "This idea that an Englishman's home is his castle gained momentum in the 1980s with right-to-buy and then post the 1990s downturn when people saw owning a home as not just accumulating somewhere to live but also an investment. "That home ownership is out of reach for a lot of people and we need to move to a situation where renting is a positive choice. A golden age of home ownership is coming to an end. The time has come to move away from the notion of 'right-to-buy' and 'wrong-to-rent'." Published by Mortgage Solutions
