Young people need to compromise to reach the housing ladder

Young people who are looking to get themselves onto the UK property ladder are having to make major changes to their lifestyle simply in order to be able to afford the deposit and mortgage payments that will allow them to do so.

Katy John, press officer for PricedOut, said that in order for the younger generation to be able to afford to get themselves a deposit for the purchase of a home, they are having to compromise massively on how they want to live.

These changes include such aspects as staying at home with their parents for a longer period of time, despite the fact that they will have a desire to secure their own property, and moving to more remote areas with a longer commute to make sure they are buying cheaper homes.

The expert said that the only way to tackle this issue is for the government to cut out its short-term schemes to help first-time buyers onto the ladder, replacing them with more meaningful moves that will make a difference.

"The government needs to take real action now and stop looking to small-scale housing gimmicks such as the NewBuy scheme, which does more to help disgruntled house builders than first-time buyers.

"The government needs to recognise that buy-to-let, which had a major displacement effect on first-time buyers in the 2000s, is on its way back, threatening young people's chances even further and adding to inter-generational wealth disparity."

She went on to say that, with more people now being forced into the rental market, the government has a responsibility to protect them when they are living in rental homes.

Such moves would include making it harder for landlords to move people on, making tenancies more secure and longer-lasting, as well as adding laws to stop people having to pay higher rates of rent year after year.

Earlier this week, it was announced by Halifax that the sales of affordable homes are being dominated almost fully by first-time buyers, with 67 per cent of all these sales going to this demographic.