Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s flagship news programme Today, Stephen Smith, director, Legal & General Mortgage Club and housing disagreed with a PWC report this morning, which suggested half of the under 40s will be renting by 2025.
The report from the professional services firm also contends the UK’s owner occupation rate will fall to around 60% by 2025, down from its peak of just under 70% in the mid-2000s.
However, Smith disagreed, saying: “That seems to go against two trends. Firstly, Council of Mortgage Lender surveys continually confirm owner occupation as the stated preference of the majority and government after government of whatever hue have supported owner occupancy, solidifying it as a political trend.”
Today presenter Justin Webb asked Smith if the trend toward renting was good or bad?
Smith said it was neither and simply a feature of the market that will have implications further down the line.
“It’s important when people approach retirement to think about the equity in their properties to help them fund their retirement. If we have fewer people going into owner occupation in future, their abilities to deal with the cost of retirement may be diminished,” he added.
Pressed on whether the mortgage market is facing a bubble, Smith said the Mortgage Market Review is continuing to play its part as a heavy constraint on mortgage lending.
Victoria Hartley is contributing editor at Mortgage Solutions, Specialist Lending Solutions, Your Money and Your Mortgage at London-based publishing company AE3 Media.
She has an MA in Radio from Goldsmiths after gaining a 2:1 in a Comparative American Studies BA at Warwick University. She also holds a TEFL qualification and taught overseas in Mexico and Japan from 1994 to 1997.
Her role includes editorial oversight of the news, analysis and features, event content management and strategic and editorial consultancy for the AE3 Media group. She is an experienced video, broadcast and live-event host and regularly chairs web and podcast debates and interviews.
Multiple award nominations have resulted in two wins: Santander Media Awards, trade journalist of the year and Headlinemoney Awards, mortgage journalist of the year (B2B). Here is one of the award-winning pieces: https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/news/2011/07/21/exclusive-tale-bailey-fraud-witness/
Previous roles include editorships of Mortgage Solutions, consumer title What Mortgage and trade title Credit Today as well as a stint freelancing for a variety of outlets including The Guardian and Which? Money.
