Local Life - Wigan - June 2019

24
Home Ownership
Plummets
for 24-35 year olds
The proportion of 25 to 34-year olds who own
their home in Wigan has nearly halved in the last
20 years. As you can see from this graph, there has
been a 45.3% proportional drop in the number of
25 to 34-year olds owning their own home between
1999 and 2019.
German) model of
homeownership,
where
people buy their first
home in their 50’s instead
of their 20’s, usually after
inheriting their parents’
home. And all this has
happened at a time when
interest rates have hit
historic lows.
So, if you were born in the
late 1980’s or early 1990’s, the dream of owning a
home in Wigan has reduced dramatically over the
past 20 years as young adults’ wages and salaries
are now much lower in relation to Wigan house
prices. In 1999, the average mortgage rate paid by
UK homeowners was 6.54% whilst today it’s more
than halved to 2.64%.
My message to Wigan’s first-time buyers is to go
and get some mortgage advice! The cost of renting
smaller starter homes in Wigan is between 20%
and 25% more than the actual mortgage payments
would be for the same property. The fact is that
mortgage repayments take up a considerably
smaller proportion of take home pay, on average,
than they did before the Credit Crunch or in the late
1980’s.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies said recently the cost
of the average British home was just over 2.5 times
higher in 2015/6 than in 1995/6 after allowing for
inflation; and yet the average household income
(after tax) of 25 to 34-year olds grew by only 22% in
‘real-terms’ over those 20 years.
We are turning into a more European (especially
Don’t assume you can’t get a mortgage, as 95% and
100% mortgages are available, you just need the
right mortgage advisor to find the right deal for
you. However, do consider fixing the rate for as long
as you possibly can, though talk this through with
your mortgage advisor.
For more advice, email me on alan@alanbatt.co.uk,
call on 01942 233999 or check out my blog at http://
wiganpropertynews.blogspot.co.uk/
Alan Batt is a member of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and has
worked within the Wigan property market for over 30 years.
Alan Batt
For more of Alan’s tips, guidance and analysis on the Wigan
property market, check out
www.wiganpropertynews.blogspot.co.uk