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The study finds that the sharpest fall in first-time buyer homeownership has been among those on middle-incomes (taken as being between £20,000-£30,000 in 2019) – with homeownership rates falling from 65% in 1996 to 27% two decades later. Of the new buyers entering the market today, 64% have household incomes of more than £40,000 and just 16% are individual buyers.

The biggest barrier cited by first-time buyers to get on the ladder is raising a deposit (30%), followed by getting a mortgage based on their income (15%). The challenges faced by today’s first-time buyers include house price inflation outstripping wage inflation – 47% vs 18% in the last ten years – as well as levels of student debt and the costs of childcare. The average age of a first-time buyer has increased from 25 to 33 years old in the last two decades, and 40% have already started a family. As a result, Santander found that the most sought-after first-time buyer property is now a three-bedroom house.

Santander’s research also found that aspiring homeowners are underestimating the size of the deposit they need to save. With the majority of mortgage borrowing limited to 4.5x gross salary, the deposit amount buyers’ in each region say they are looking to save would price individuals, or households relying on a single middle-income, out of every region in the UK.

The ‘Future of the homeownership dream’ report calls for industry and the government to think radically and work together to explore a range of new ideas to ensure the homeownership dream is kept alive for future generations. Potential new policy ideas suggested in the report include:

• Introducing a new lending model backed by the government to help those without family support to raise a deposit;

• Introducing more flexibility in lending affordability criteria, for example, less restrictive ‘stress rates’ for fixed-term mortgages; and
• Making better use of existing housing supply and encouraging greater circulation of homes by introducing a stamp duty incentive for downsizing.

Jerald Solis, Director, Experience Invest said “The Housing Crisis has received a lot of attention over recent years, and today’s study underlines exactly why. The shortage of housing across the UK has meant that demand far outstrips supply, in turn keeping prices prohibitively high for first-time buyers in many regions. Clearly a lot of young people no longer consider it viable to buy their own home.

The Northern Powerhouse. A concept coined by ex-Chancellor George Osborne five years ago, which at the time symbolised his ambitions to unite the great cities of the North – from Liverpool to Hull – and eradicate the North-South divide. Different strategies were laid out to achieve this goal, including the upgrade of modern transport links to better connect Northern cities like Liverpool and Hull, increased digital connectivity, devolved power to local authorities, and increased investment.

Collectively, it was hoped these steps would fuel powerful economic growth and enhance the prosperity of the North. Five years on, statistics confirm that substantial progress has been made. However, there is still much to be done to ensure that we build on the momentum and promote long-lasting, tangible benefits to those living and working in the North. With Boris Johnson stepping as the new Prime Minister, there is now an opportunity to reinvigorate the project. But how will Johnson go about injecting new life into the Northern Powerhouse?

Where does the Northern Powerhouse project stand today?

On balance, the project has thus far been successful. However, we cannot ignore some of the shortcomings that have been encountered. IPPR North pinpoints a lack of spending as a possible downfall, nothing that while transport spending in the North had increased by £149 per person in real terms since 2014, this was less than half the £330 per person increase in London. In practical terms, this has resulted in major falls in the quality and reliability of transport – almost one in every 20 transport services were either canceled or more than 30 minutes late arriving at its destination in 2018-19. To counteract this trend, we need to see some bold measures adopted by the government which is aimed at supporting transport and infrastructure.

Does Boris Johnson have the answers?

As it currently stands, this is precisely the approach that Boris Johnson appears to be supporting. At the end of July, during a speech delivered in Manchester, Johnson unveiled his plans to fund a high-speed rail route between Leeds and Manchester, asserting that this would help “turbo-charge the economy”.

More generally, the new Prime Minister has promised to rebalance power, growth, and productivity across the UK – with improved public services, enough affordable homes and more responsibility and accountability at the core of this ambition. How these promises will play out in practice remains to be seen. However, I am encouraged by the fact that Boris Johnson has placed the Northern Powerhouse at the heart of his strategy so early on in his role.