Research reveals over a third of millennials never want to own a home –  and these are the reasons why

The younger generations are proving to be a powerful source for rewriting history. The UK, generally speaking, has always been a place of buying rather than renting property – but are the tables turning? New research reveals over a third, 34 per cent, of millennials never want to own a home.

The study, carried out by Hillary's, found younger generations don’t ever plan to buy a home of their own.

This is revealed alongside news of the current average age for first time buyers has risen, from 31 to 33, over a 10 year period.

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Buying a house is more of a challenge than ever before for this generation. Even with the introduction of help-to-buy ISAs and shared ownership schemes, first time buyers are still struggling to get on the property ladder. In the main part this is due to staggeringly high deposits and legal costs.

The interiors specialists, surveyed more than 2,761 millennials  to gain insight into their current living habits – and their future plans.

Respondents were provided with a list of scenarios and asked to select which one best applied to them. From this it was determined 38 per cent were currently saving for their own home.

Only 10 per cent weren’t currently saving for their own home but planned to at some stage. A reasonably low 18 per cent already own their own home, while the remaining 34 per cent stated they ‘never’ want to own their own home.

Of those who don’t plan to buy, 94 per cent are happy to stay in rented/shared accommodation.

Reasons millennials never want to own a home

The study found the top reasons cited for not wishing to buy a property include:

1. 'Don’t want to be tied down to one place' – 27 per cent
2. 'House deposits are too expensive' – 25 per cent.
3. 'I can’t/wouldn’t want to buy on my own' – 21 per cent.
4. 'I plan to go travelling rather than buy my own house' –16 per cent.
5. 'I will not be receiving any inheritance from family members' – 7 per cent.

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‘It really does seem harder than ever to get on the property ladder,’ says Lucy Askew, spokesperson for Hillarys.

‘But millennials shouldn’t feel pressured into buying just because their friends are. Everyone is at different stages in life so if you don’t buy until you’re in your 30’s, or decide against getting property altogether, that’s absolutely fine. Do not let anyone else dictate your life.’