Young couples are facing serious hurdles in purchasing a home
Young couples are facing serious hurdles in purchasing a home

Young couples are facing serious hurdles in purchasing a home

The hurdles weighting on young couples and result in excluding them from real estate market transactions.
Eirini Theofanidou
13.04.2022

The number of people aged from 20 to 34 who live with their parents in the UK has risen by 49% since the turn of the century, according to the country's National Statistics Office.

At the same time, the rate of home ownership for young couples is being significantly declined yoy, according to a recent study by the ECB.

Particularly in Greece, according to Mr. Theodoros Mitrakos, Managing Director and former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Greece, young people aged 25 to 34 and also aged 35 to 44, the percentage of home ownership has decreased by 20 percentage points in the last 20 to 30 years, a finding that follows the international long-term trend.

"This is due to the labor market, the level of prices, taxation, land use, the institutional framework that applies in each country, but the second factor that explains more than half of this decline is the conditions prevailing in the labor market." Mr. Mitrakos explained and clarified: "That is, uncertain incomes, long periods of unemployment and low wages are the main factors resulting in young people's inability to transact in the housing market.

Michael Edwards, a lecturer at University College London and a specialist in the relationship between real estate purchasing and design, attributes the inability of young people to purchase a property to the rising housing prices, high rents and low wages.“The housing system in London is pretty disastrous,” Edwards told CNBC. “For at least half the population, they are paying through the nose, very high prices for rent, or to save up to get enough deposit together to get a mortgage to buy.” 

Homebuyers who want to get a home equity loan have a hard time getting the loan they need, as banks are beginning to consider the cost of living when calculating the amount they can borrow. Mortgage lenders say rising energy bills, rising national insurance and rising household costs will push banks to tighten customer "fitness" tests on whether and how much to pay on mortgages. loan, making it harder for their customers to borrow as soon as possible.

However, as market participants point out, any significant reduction in the size of the loan offered is expected to slow down the real estate market, as buyers would be forced to lower their expectations.