Homeowners not fullfilling housing ladder aspirations.
According to the latest research from Lloyds Bank many homeowners are not progressing up the housing ladder as quickly as they had hoped, with one in three expecting to be further up the ladder than they are now. This proportion is even higher for first time buyers, with almost half (44%) expecting to have been further forward than they are now.
In addition, four in five (83%) believe homeowners have to wait a lot longer to move into their long term family home than they would’ve done a decade ago, with just under a third of people worried that their own financial situation will create a barrier to moving.
Despite recent improvements in the housing market, four in ten (40%) still consider the housing market to be having an impact on aspirations, although this figure has fallen since 2013 (47%) and 2012 (53%).
Almost half (48%) of first time buyers think that the housing market will have an impact on how long it takes them to reach their family home, only today have we seen rightmove reporting average asking prices are just below all time high which justifies the concern of some.
Even with anticipated delays in moving up the housing ladder, almost half (44%) expect not to make any compromises and believe their long term home is a realistic achievement and 18% expect it to be a better property than their childhood home. Over a third (36%) hope to achieve their housing aspirations by the time they are 45.
The research also shows that despite an increase in the number of people feeling they need a bigger property, the house that the majority of homeowners in the UK aspire to own has three bedrooms. Fewer(24%) want four bedrooms, with many people aspiring to have nice gardens, conservatories and high quality kitchens and bathrooms.
Those looking to aspire to three bed properties, which are seen by many as long term homes, are on average 35 years old in London and the South East. This is a year older than the national average, long term family homes in the North and Wales are more affordable, as a result the average age of the applicants is lower than the national average (34) in Wales (33) and the same as the national average in the North.
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