Younger generation fear never owning their home

THREE-QUARTERS of people in Britain fear it will be impossible for future generations to have a home to settle down in, a poll has revealed.

The majority of Britons want to own their own home, but “generation rent” is giving up on getting on the property ladder, housing charity Shelter warned.

Shelter branded the findings “alarming” and warned the country is at the “mercy of the housing crisis”, which has left millions facing a “lifetime of instability”.

The Ipsos MORI survey, commissioned by Shelter and British Gas, found that for recent generations the chance to have a “forever home” has been slipping increasingly out of reach.

The poll of 1,906 people found 74 per cent of people in younger generations X and Y said it is harder for them to get a home to settle down in than it was for their parents’ generation.

This compares with 44 per cent of people born in the baby boomer or pre-war years.

A majority of people who do not live in a long-term home say they would like to own a home, either now or in the future, so they can have stability and put down roots, the charity said.

Yet this is out of reach for many, with the research showing 25- to 34-year-olds have moved more than twice as frequently per year of their lives as have pensioners.

The research comes as Britain faces a growing. housing crisis fuelledI by escalating rents, wage freezes and benefit cuts.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Our current housing shortage means millions are facing a lifetime of instability andpeople are giving up hope.”