Now 1 in ten of us owns a second home

Baby boomers behind 30% rise

ONE in ten adults now has a second home, say researchers.

Some 5.2million Britons own at least two properties – up by 30 per cent since 2002.

Half of these homes are owned by wealthy baby boomers – those born from 1946 to 1965 – most of whom live in southern England.

Another quarter are owned by the generation after them, those born from 1966 to 1980, who are known as Generation X.

But the research by the Resolution Foundation think-tank will add to concerns about declining home ownership, particularly among younger people born after 1980.

Researchers warned of a stark generational split – with pensioners snapping up multiple properties while their grandchildren are unable to get on the housing ladder. Four in ten adults do not own any property.

The Resolution Foundation found that the baby boomer generation and Generation X owned more property than any generations before them.

Researchers said baby boomers who own second homes mostly live in the South West, South East, East of England and London.

But the study showed that ‘millennials’ – those born from 1981 to 2000 – are the first generation on record to fare worse than their parents.

By the age of 30, nearly two thirds of baby boomers owned their own home, against 43 per cent of millennials.

Laura Gardiner, of the Reso- lution Foundation, said: ‘People with second homes not only have an investment they can turn to in times of need, for instance in later life when care is required.

But if the property is rented out they also see a boost to their incomes here and now.

‘Split between the generations’

These second home owners tend to be baby boomers who are very wealthy.

‘With young people much less likely to own a home at all than their predecessors at the same age, the growing concentration of property wealth among fewer families raises concerns not just for their living standards but for wealth inequality of our country as a whole.’

The research comes after Whitehall figures showed that home ownership was at its lowest level for 30 years.

The change prompted campaigners to warn that Margaret Thatcher’s work to turn Britain into a property-owning democracy was being reversed, with the rate of ownership at 67 per cent when the former prime minister left office in 1990 – compared with an estimated 62.9 per cent in 2017.

The think-tank said recent tax changes – including higher stamp duty on second homes and reforms to tax breaks on buy-to-let properties – would help more people get on the housing ladder.

But it also called for urgent action ‘to ensure home ownership doesn’t become the preserve of the wealthy’.

It added: ‘The reality of a larger, second home- owning group, made up largely of older, very affluent people cannot be ignored as we wrestle with the public finance pressures of an ageing society.’

Home ownership has plunged among younger people because house prices have soared while pay has stagnated.