Research reveals a nation of tenants striving to be homeowners

Nearly half of those currently renting a home believe that they will never be able to afford to buy a property.

Four in every ten renters expect to be renting forever, according to the latest Post Office Money Mortgages report.

The struggle to get on the property ladder has led 8.5 million UK renters to assume they will never be able to afford their own home and a further 2.5 million have said they don’t ever want to buy a property.

It isn’t all bad news for first-time buyers, as the average age that prospective home buyers expect to get their first foot on the property ladder has decreased steadily since 2013 from 38 to 34 years old this year.

The number of renters who say they will never be able to afford their own home has decreased from 45 per cent in 2015 to 40 per cent this year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, those in the south-west of the UK are the least optimistic, with renters expecting to be 37 when they buy their first home.

Recent news that the Help to Buy ISA cannot be used for the initial deposit on a new home will be a blow for the third of renters who say struggling to afford a deposit is the main reason they do not already own a home, particularly as a quarter are relying on the Help to Buy scheme to help with this.

For 16 per cent of tenants, monthly mortgage repayments are the main barrier to home ownership.

A similar number responded that they are currently saving for a deposit while over one in ten respondents don’t want to own a home – some renters just prefer the freedom of being able to move whenever they want.

Prospective homeowners believe that it will take them eight years to save enough money for a deposit, with 7 million renters, or a third of the total number, expecting to be saving for more than a decade.

The study shows that the struggle that first-time buyers face remains a huge concern and confidence among the group is low.

High house prices and concerns about the cost of living have left many assuming that owning their own property is a distant dream rather than an achievable goal.

We hope government initiatives like the Lifetime ISA will offer more of a helping hand to struggling savers.

There are other avenues of assistance too. Only a third of prospective buyers expect to save the full deposit amount on their own, with 23 per cent relying on help from their partner and 17 per cent depending on money from an inheritance.

The struggle that first-time buyers face remains a huge concern and confidence among the group is low

One in ten will look to make a withdrawal from the “bank of mum and dad”.

Of those who don’t currently own their own home, nearly half would be encouraged to buy in the near future if house prices were lower.

Many prospective buyers would like more government assistance, such as the re-introduction of no stamp duty for first-time buyers to encourage them to buy.

More needs to be done to boost the confidence of first-time buyers and help them reach their goal of home ownership.

Hopefully the recent interest rate cut will be reassuring for those looking for their first home.