Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment

Four out of 10 young adults say they will not settle down until they can buy a family home, housing campaign group finds

Amelia Hill, social affairs correspondent

Despite the growing need for cheaper homes, housebuilding has fallen to its lowest level since 1923. Photograph: David Goddard/Getty Images

Couples are delaying getting married and starting families because they cannot afford to buy their own homes, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by a housing campaign group.

Four out of 10 young adults have said they will not settle down until they can buy their own house.

A further 7% of people aged between 18 and 30 said they had put off marriage because they could not afford to buy a property or were saving up for one.

“We are in danger of locking a whole generation of young people out of the housing market because prices are simply too high,” said David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, which commissioned the survey of 1,096 young adults who did not own their own home.

“A chronic shortage of new affordable homes has sent prices rocketing over the last decade, well out of reach of the vast majority of first-time buyers.”

Almost two-thirds of those questioned said high prices were to blame for them being unable to buy a house. Just over 40% said banks had refused to offer a mortgage. One in five said uncertainty over the economy was another key factor in their decision. … Continue reading