08.09.14
Would-be home owners stuck in rental ‘black hole’ - LGA
Almost three-quarters of would-be home owners believe they are trapped in a rental “black hole”, according to a new survey from the Local Government Association (LGA).
Approximately 70% of respondents in a national poll carried out by the LGA, which represents almost 400 local authorities in England and Wales, said they were “not confident” about the prospects of buying a home. Those not currently owning a home in Wales (83%) and Yorkshire and Humberside (82%) were particularly pessimistic.
People under 30 have the least confidence that they will ever be home owners. Seventy per cent of those aged 18-24 and 59% of those aged 25-29 have no confidence they will ever get on the property ladder.
The survey also reveals that almost two-thirds of mums and dads (65%) have given or anticipate they will have to give a financial leg-up to their children or other family members to enable them to buy a home. Meanwhile, almost 30% of parents giving or planning to give financial support are concerned about the impact this will have on their financial position in retirement.
The LGA says that the survey findings support their call for a range of new measures to tackle the housing crisis. These include the government putting in place an incentive scheme for private developers to speed up the delivery of housing already with planning permission; the creation of council-led local land trusts with powers to pool surplus local and central government land for housing; the removal of the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap; and the scrapping of the complex arrangements for councils in the Right to Buy scheme.
LGA chairman councillor David Sparks said: “This survey lays bare the full extent of the current housing crisis. A generation of parents who thought they'd paid off their mortgages are now finding themselves having to foot the bill for their children's mortgages. The housing bubble is not just a London issue it's a national problem being felt in urban and rural areas in every region.
“The shortage of houses in this country is a top priority for people, but buying a house is increasingly out of reach for many. Over the last two Parliaments, the number of people under 45 who can afford their own home has fallen by a fifth.”
He added that the LGA’s plans would see half a million new homes built, transforming the lives of hundreds of thousands of families.
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