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Young people struggling in UK housing market

Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005

A new study has revealed that young people are struggling to afford to enter the UK housing market.

Figures produced on behalf of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation show that around 1.25 million younger households in the UK can not afford to buy a property but are on incomes which are too high to qualify for government housing help.

It is hoped that the study will encourage policy makers, regional planners and housing providers to consider ways of making housing more affordable for employed youngsters.

"This analysis reveals a yawning gap in the market for intermediate housing products such as shared ownership and attractively priced private renting that is potentially much larger than previously recognised by government or housing providers" said the author of the new study, Steve Wilcox of the University of York.

He added: "At the very least the figures justify some new and creative thinking on ways that the current range of intermediate housing products could be expanded to appeal to the growing number of young, working households who simply cannot afford local house prices."

The problem is thought to be significant in the London, the South East and South West regions, where the ratio of house prices to working household incomes are at record levels.


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