Home ownership has ‘collapsed’ among middle earners, says IFS

End of the dream?

New figures reveal that home-ownership levels among young adults with middle incomes has “collapsed” over the past 20 years.

This means that those aged 25 to 34 now, have a slim 27 per cent chance of getting on the property ladder, compared to a 65 per cent chance in 1995-96. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), this group is defined by having a take-home pay of £22,200 to £30,600.

The average house prices, the report adds, were 152 per cent higher in 2015-16 than they were 20 years earlier after adjusting for inflation, while real net family incomes for those aged 25-34 had increased by only 22 per cent over the same period.

Senior research economist and author of the report, Andrew Hood, said: “The reason for this is that house prices have risen around seven times faster in real terms than the incomes of young adults over the last two decades.”

Housing minister Dominic Raab MP also told media: ‘Through schemes like Help to Buy, we’re helping more people on to the housing ladder and 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 that Britain needs for young families, key workers and those on low and middle incomes.’