House prices blamed as fewer homeowners start families

Researchers find a ‘clear change’ in relationship between owning a home and becoming a parent

GETTING married, buying a house and then starting a family was once considered the traditional trajectory in life.

But a study suggests that young people are increasingly likely to become parents while renting their home.

Researchers from the Centre for Population Change at the University of Southampton said their findings showed a shift from eras when parents were more likely to be home-owners.

They added that the study, published in the journal Demography, suggested a “new family formation dynamic” had begun to emerge in Britain, involving a change in the relationship between owning a home and becoming a parent.

The study found that until 2012 the likelihood of conceiving a first child was higher for homeowners compared with private tenants, regardless of socio-economic or demographic status. But since 2013 there had been a “clear change” in the relationship between owning a home and becoming a parent.

Prof Ann Berrington, who led the research, said: “Between 1991 and 2016 the percentage of homeowners having a first birth each year declined from 6 per cent to 4 per cent, whilst the percentage of private renters having a birth stayed roughly the same, at 2.5 per cent. In the 1990s homeowners were 2.5 times as likely to have a first birth, whilst in the period 2013-2016 they were only 1.6 times more likely.”

The researchers suggested that the cost of owning a home was now in direct competition with the costs of raising children.

Prof Berrington added: “This disconnection between owning a home and becoming a parent has significant implications for parenthood in general.

“If it is the case, as we propose, that home-ownership is increasingly competing with the costs of having children then it is likely that those who do manage to buy a home might well postpone or even forgo having children.

“So the families that people may have planned to have will be unfulfilled for many young people now reaching the traditional parenthood ages.”

More protection was needed for the growing number of families in rented accommodation, Prof Berrington said, adding: “The private rental housing market in Britain remains un-family friendly, unregulated, and insecure. Housing uncertainty among private renters might arise from the threat of evictions, unregulated increases in rental prices and the lack of rights around property maintenance.”

The researchers analysed a sample of 5,082 women who were childless at the time of their first interview.

“This signals a radical change from the recent past, when buying a house with a partner was often experienced as the step before family formation,” they said.