Since the 1960’s more people have
owned their own home than rented but, for many young Grantham people, the dream
of buying their own home is dying...or is it? Since the turn of the Millennium,
in Grantham (as in the rest of the Country) there has been a significant change
in the proportion of people who own their own home in Grantham. In 2001, 67.3% of
homes in Grantham were owner occupied, today the figure is 62.5%, a significant
decline in such a short time. Buy to let
landlords can find tenants because young people say they cannot afford a
deposit to buy unless they inherit money or are given a loan from the Bank of
Mum and Dad
In Grantham, only 45.62% of 25 to 34
year olds have a mortgage. When you compare Grantham against the national
average of 35.93%, it just shows how different parts of the country have
different housing markets. However, the really interesting fact is this ...Roll the clock back to 1991 and
nationally, 67% of 25 to 34 year olds had a mortgage. After WW2, the supply of
properties being built kept up with demand as millions of council homes were
built (the most being built in 1950s, surprisingly under Tory Governments!).
Also private house building increased in the 1950’s, but especially in the
1960’s and 1970’s, and as the Country
got more prosperous it meant that by 1971, there were more home owners
than renters.
However, since the 1970’s, the
population has grown but the number of new properties being built hasn’t kept
up at the same rate, the result is that there have been huge rises of property
prices in the early ‘70s, the late 80s and more recently between 1999 and 2004.
Interestingly, since the early 1970’s, out of the 34 richest countries in the
world, the UK has seen highest property prices rises.
95% mortgages have been available to
first time buyers since late 2009, but with property prices rising by 151.9%
since the Summer of 1996 in Grantham, as property prices have been rising and
first time buyers have been saving, the amount they have to save is continually
rising at the same time. The stress on saving even for that kind of deposit,
coupled with the new stricter mortgage rules introduced in 2014, means that most
20/30 something’s in Grantham are renting instead of buying.
The issue quite
simply comes back down to a lack of new homes being built. I
n Grantham, only
166 properties a year are being built whilst the population is rising by 204 a
year. The supply of new homes has been limited by planning laws, local councils
not having the money to build council houses, hard hitting green belt
limitations, and our old friend NIMBY’ism. With a rising population and net migration,
especially from the EU, the mismatch between demand and supply is why we have
the problem. Until Politian’s have the backbone to realise the Country needs a
lot more decent homes built, the problem will just get worse.
In the meantime, demand for rental
property will continue to grow because people need a roof over their head at
the end of the day ......fact.
