'Collapse' in home-ownership among young adults on middle incomes, study finds

Home-ownership has 'collapsed' among 25 to 34-year-olds. Credit: PA

Young adults aged between 25 and 34 are less likely to own their own home than those born even just five years earlier, research has found.

Home-ownership levels among those classed as earning "middle incomes" in particular have collapsed in the past two decades.

A study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) looked at 25 to 34-year-olds on incomes falling into the middle 20 per cent - ie those with incomes of between £22,200 and £30,600 after tax, including their partner's wage.

  • In 1995/96,65% of that group owned their own home

  • By 2015/16, 27% of that group owned their own home

One of the report's author's, Andrew Hood - a senior IFS research economist - said soaring house prices were part of the problem.

Average house prices were 152 per cent higher in 2015/16 than they were in the mid-90s, after adjusting for inflation, the report revealed - while incomes only rose 22 per cent in that time.

Housing Minister Dominic Raab said schemes like Help to Buy meant last year saw the highest number of first-time buyers in the UK since 2006.

"But we want to go further and faster and our ambitious plan backed by targeted investment will help even more people by delivering the homes Britain needs for young families, key workers and those on low and middle incomes," he added.