One of the reports revealed that the Bank of Mum and Dad was still a major lender with seven per cent of owners having had help from a family member and four per cent having used an inheritance to buy their home.
The number of first-time buyers who were a brand new household stood at 41 per cent, which was the highest level since 1998. The average age of a first-time buyer was 30.
One in five homes were rented privately, and 61 per cent of people in these homes expected to buy in future. Of those who did not expect to buy, 52 per cent said they could not afford to.
The research found only 38 per cent of the lowest fifth percentile of earners expected to buy at some point and private renters spent 31 per cent of their income including housing support on rent, while those with a mortgage spent 18 per cent.
Private renters also spend more on weekly housing costs, at £198 rising to £340 in London, while those with a mortgage spent £174 a week.
Of the three million people in England who owned their own property outright, just under 400,000 were under the age of 45, while 2.8 million were aged between 45 and 64, and 5.1 million aged 65 and over.
The ‘energy-eating monster homes’ – and the older people trapped in them
The report from Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities also included information on older people’s housing.
It found the higher the energy efficiency rating of a home, the cheaper it was to heat and the less it cost to improve.
Households with higher incomes were more likely to live in the most energy efficient homes, with four per cent of the highest earners living in a home rated A or B, compared to two per cent of the two fifths of people on the lowest incomes.
For those that were able to be improved to at least a band C, the average annual energy cost savings were £282.
The average energy bill was £844. For those with gas central heating it was £811, for those with oil heating it was £1,590, and for those with room heaters rather than central heating it was £1,162.
Nearly 90 per cent of homes have a gas heating system. Only three per cent of homes were oil fired, but older people were more likely to have oil fired heating than any other age group, and also accounted for seven per cent of couples aged 60 and over.
The report found that while the majority of older households owned their home outright, a quarter still had either rent or mortgage payments.
Of the social renters aged 65 and over, 27 per cent, on average, of their household income went on rent when housing support was included, and 34 per cent when it was excluded.
Older private renting households spent 38 per cent of their household income on rent when housing support was included, and 48 per cent when it was excluded.
Older mortgagors paid, on average, 31 percent of their household income on their mortgage and more than half of older households lived in homes that had an Energy Efficiency Rating of D or below.
Less than one in 10 older households had moved home in the past three years, and only three per cent planned to move home within the next six months.
Sarah Coles, senior personal finance Analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown said older people and those on lower incomes were “trapped in energy-eating monster homes”.
She said: “While on average houses have been getting much more energy efficient, there’s a vast gulf between the best and the worst performing. Older people and those on lower incomes are most likely to live in the draughtiest houses and have been hit with the most horrendous energy bills. They’re also more likely to face a massive cost if they want to improve things.
“Since this survey was carried out in 2020/21, things will have got far worse. We had a sizable increase to the energy price cap at the end of 2021, along with a massive hike in April 2022. Meanwhile, the price of heating oil has risen 123 per cent in a year. It means the gulf between the best and worst performing will have widened.”
