The effect of the pandemic on home ownership aspirations

Our report, For The Few Not The Many, shows the majority of aspiring homeowners believe the pandemic has damaged their chances of buying a home – making affordable housing initiatives more important than ever.

The coronavirus pandemic changed all of our lives. One worrying impact of the pandemic is that it's deepened uncertainty for prospective first-time buyers across the country. The housing market has boomed, but rising prices have left many out in the cold.

We surveyed 2,000 people in the UK (November 2021) and found that 76% of those looking to buy in the next five years believe the pandemic has had a negative impact on their ability to buy a home.

• A fifth said their purchase or move had been delayed by at least three years.
• For Generation Z, only 21% of 18-24-year-olds think they’ll ever be able to afford a deposit without significant financial help from family.
• We also found that 47% of people think the housing ladder is no longer accessible to young people.

The average price of a UK home has risen by 13.4% in the last year – marking the highest annual growth rate since November 2004. Buyers are faced with the task of finding larger deposits than ever before.

Affordable solutions?

Our research also shows that awareness and understanding of affordable home ownership schemes is still relatively low.

While 85 per cent of respondents had heard of shared ownership before, less than two thirds understood the basic fundamentals of how it worked. A quarter believed it involved physically sharing a house with someone.

We also uncovered a large gap in awareness between those in the north of the country, compared to the south, where the tenure is used more commonly as a route around the capital’s expensive property prices.

You can learn more about the impact of the pandemic on the housing market by downloading our full For The Few Not The Many report.