Research from Gocompare revealed the lack of affordable housing in the UK has resulted in people taking a dim view of their prospects of getting onto the property ladder.
The survey of 2,000 UK adults looking to buy a home revealed 26% feel that ‘the UK is becoming a two-tier society of property haves and have nots’.
Almost a quarter said ‘I expect I will only be able to buy a home if I buy with someone else’ and although 18% say that the Government is responsible for the shortage of affordable homes, 14% think that buy-to-let landlords are to blame. From the survey, 17% don’t think that they will ever own their own home and 6% are so fed up that they have completely given up looking for a home to buy.
Those surveyed said they would consider moving, on average, up to 26 miles away from their preferred location to find an affordable home. Over a fifth would expand their search to between 26 and 50 miles, while 5% would look for housing more than 101 miles away.
Matt Sanders, spokesperson for Gocompare.com Mortgages, said: “It’s easy to see why people feel so frustrated with the UK’s housing market. Not only are there not enough houses being built, but people face having to move away from their friends, families and hometowns if they want to buy a home of their own.
“It’s clear that the Government needs to do more to help address the lack of affordable housing if people are to take part in that most British of pursuits – owning a home. Everyone has a right to buy, but not everyone has the ability to do so. Schemes like Help to Buy have been successful, but this won’t be sustainable if the issue of property availability isn’t also tackled.”
