The home ownership dream is in danger of being crushed by soaring house prices.
Ministers are all too aware of the problem and know they need to do more to help young people onto the housing ladder, or risk losing votes at the next election. And in the past month, they have trailed a series of proposals to do just that.
Here, Money Mail analyses how (and if) these policies could work, from slashing stamp duty for downsizers to shaking up the mortgage market…
Soaring house prices: A home in England now costs an average of 9.1 times average earnings — up from 7.9 in early 2020 and 3.5 in 1997
The generation going back to mum and dad
Soaring rental prices, an overheated property market and the general cost-of-living crisis means ‘generation boomerang’ is growing by the day.
There are now 100,000 more adults under 35 living back with their parents than there were before the pandemic, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research.
But it’s little wonder when a home in England now costs an average of 9.1 times average earnings — up from 7.9 in early 2020 and 3.5 in 1997.
Back in 1995, two-thirds of people aged between 25 and 34 owned a property, but today that figure has fallen to a quarter.
And the average age of a first-time buyer is now 32, up from 30 a decade ago, according to UK Finance.
The problem is being exacerbated by soaring living costs, which bite into first-time buyers’ ability to save for a deposit.
The property portal Zoopla estimates that rents across the country have increased by 11 per cent in the past 12 months, to a 14-year high.
Renter Chris Cawley spends £750 a month for his flatshare in Hackney, London — and that’s before bills are taken into account.
He says: ‘This rental year, I have already paid £5,000 to my landlord. It’s impossible to save when rents are so high.’
The boomerang blues
Ina Pace is back living with her parents aged 30
Ina Pace spent her 20s travelling the world, living in Canada, Vietnam and Australia.
She never expected that now, aged 30, she would be back in her childhood bedroom in Yorkshire, living under the same roof as her parents and brother.
Ina says: ‘I have boomeranged between home and renting for six years. I am having to sacrifice a lot of my independence but it’s the only thing …….