Partner Article

Young choose fun over housing

Young people are giving up on trying to climb the property ladder and aiming to have fun instead. The average age of a first-time buyer has risen by 26% during the past 30 years, increasing from 27 in 1977 to 34 today, according to mortgage lender GE Money Home Lending.

But while some of this rise can be put down to soaring house prices, there has also been a big change in attitudes and priorities. Half as many 25-year-olds cite buying a home and getting married as being a priority as did in 1977. Instead, today’s young people are far more likely to prioritise spending time with friends or on leisure pursuits, with 22% saying this was a priority, compared with just 7% of people 30 years ago. Travel is important for 9%, and 6% want to focus on their career.

This shift in attitudes has led to an increase in the average age in which people carry out major life events. The typical age at which people get married has risen from 24 to 31 over the period, while people are now around 30 when they have children compared with 27 in 1977.

GE’s Gerry Bell said: “The fact that taking the first step on to the property ladder now occurs later in life is due in no small part to economic factors such as house prices. However, our analysis also reveals that today’s potential younger buyers also have vastly different attitudes, aspirations and lifestyles to their counterparts 30 years ago. This refusal to conform to traditional family-oriented motivations and the desire to gain independence and experience undoubtedly delays the purchase of a first home.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .