I'm surprised it's still as high as twenty per cent.

From the BBC:

Home ownership among 25-year-olds has fallen by more than half in 20 years, according to council leaders.

A survey carried out for the Local Government Association (LGA) by estate agents Savills showed that just 20% of those aged 25 own their own property, compared with 46% two decades ago…

The Home-Owner-Ist target is zero percent – unless they are helped out by Bank of Mum & Dad taking out a second mortgage on their own home - so they’ve still some way to go.

The LGA said government needed to tackle the shortage of affordable homes to rent and buy. It says it found that, on average, private renters pay 34% of their household income on rent, while social and affordable renters pay 29%. Homeowners, however, spend an average of 18% of their household income on their mortgage.

False comparison. The average amount paid in mortgage repayments is irrelevant, the question is, what percentage of your income would you have to buy a home today? Probably about the same as if you stayed renting.

But the average size of a deposit to get a mortgage is 62% of annual incomes, or 131% in London.

‘Nuff said.

Responding to the LGA survey, a Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “We’ve halted the decline in homeownership, with the number of first-time buyers up nearly 60%, and over 335,000 households helped into homeownership through government-backed schemes since 2010. Our upcoming Housing White Paper will clearly set out how we plan to build the homes this country needs.”

That’s the sickening bit. The owner-occupation rate is steadily drifting downwards as planned, and to maintain a 75% owner-occupation rate there have to be around 300,000 first time buyer households every year, not 335,000 over six an a half years. And they chuck in the ‘lack of supply’ myth just to emphasise how little they really care.