Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her Majesty’s
Government what percentage of the United Kingdom population own
their home either outright or with a mortgage; and what assessment
they have made of whether this figure may increase or decrease in
future. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Communities and Local Government and Northern Ireland...Request free trial
Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of the
United Kingdom population own their home either outright or
with a mortgage; and what assessment they have made of
whether this figure may increase or decrease in future.
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Communities and Local Government and Northern Ireland
Office (Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth) (Con)
My Lords, in 2015-16, the latest year for which data are
available, 34% of households in England owned their home
outright, while 29% bought their home with a mortgage. DCLG
does not hold data for the United Kingdom. After falling
from 71% in 2003, the percentage has stabilised at 63% from
2013 to 2016.
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(Lab)
With home ownership at a 30-year low and more young people
than ever before priced out of the mortgage market, is the
Minister aware of the work undertaken by the Building
Societies Association, which has highlighted that one in
four people whose borrowing extends beyond the age of 65 is
a first-time buyer? What more will the Government do to
help the teacher, the classroom assistant, the small-
business person, the firefighter or the police officer who
in their 30s are all too often priced out of the market,
particularly in London, with the various government schemes
not helping to date?
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My Lords, as I have indicated to the noble Lord, the
position has stabilised over the past few years and barely
changed—in fact, it has become slightly better during the
past year with the percentage having fallen from 71% in
2003. The noble Lord will be aware, as the House is aware,
that the Government are taking many measures to extend home
ownership but also to diversify the tenure of houses—£2
billion was announced earlier this month, much of which
will go on social rent. We are extending home ownership but
at the same time seeking to diversify supply, because the
noble Lord is right that this is a serious challenge. As he
has indicated, there is a serious intergenerational problem
that we wish to address.
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(LD)
My Lords, in the last financial year, private builders
built 121,000 new homes in England, housing associations
built 25,000 and local authorities built 1,840. The
Government admit we need to build at least 275,000 homes
every year just to prevent prices rising. Private builders
will not build any more than they do; housing associations
can maybe build 50,000 a year—that means local authorities
will have to build 85,000 each year. How will the
Government enable them to raise the money to do that?
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My Lords, as I have indicated, the Government have just
announced £2 billion, and we will be shortly explaining
precisely how that money will be spent. Much of it will be
going on social rent. We have committed to 1 million new
homes by 2020, and 1.5 million new homes—a further half a
million—by 2022, which are needed to meet the challenge. It
is a far better performance than we have had in recent
years. There is a massive challenge here and the Government
are aware of this. Part of it is also answered by something
that we announced fairly recently: building homes in the
right places and ensuring that more of them are built where
there is the greatest need and the greatest pressure.
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(Con)
My Lords, for those of us who began our political careers
campaigning for a property-owning democracy, the figures my
noble friend has given are somewhat disappointing. It is
encouraging that the Government are seized of the issue of
intergenerational unfairness which exists at the moment and
I look forward to the measures that may perhaps be brought
forward in the Budget, but does he not agree that it is not
only in respect of difficulties in buying their own home
that the young are disadvantaged but in a whole host of
other financial aspects, including saving for pensions?
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My noble friend is right. The intergenerational fairness to
which I referred does not apply just to housing; there is a
similar issue in relation to pensions. A lot of work has
been done on this, and the Government are looking at it
very seriously. He is right that we need to do far more. I
should point out that this is against an expanding
population so, although the percentage is static at the
moment, that still means we need an increased number of
homes because the population is still expanding. Yes, there
is a massive challenge and the intergenerational fairness
issue is not limited to questions of housing.
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(Lab)
My Lords, the Minister says that the Government are seeking
to diversify supply, but surely they are not doing nearly
enough to increase supply. If Harold Macmillan, as Housing
Minister, was able to build 300,000 houses a year in the
early 1950s in a country far poorer than ours is today, why
can the Housing Minister in today’s Government not do as
well or better?
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The noble Lord is right about the size of the challenge but
I think, in fairness, he should acknowledge that the £2
billion recently announced begins to address the sort of
issue that we are looking at. It is not about just
extending home ownership, although the Government are
committed to that; it is about diversifying supply, and
that £2 billion, in addition to the money that is already
there, will make a considerable difference.
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(CB)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that we have heard an
awful lot about the supply of housing, but there are also
some important questions to be asked about demand? He
mentioned population; 50% of the projected population
growth is down to immigration and we should not be blind to
that. Furthermore, of the new households created in the
past 10 years, about 90% had a head of household who was
born overseas. It is a big factor. We should face up to it.
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My Lords, I am certainly not going to deny the population
growth. The facts are there for people to see. That is
undoubtedly the case. But it is not a question of simply
saying that there is too much demand and we need to stop
immigration. The noble Lord did not suggest that, I know, but
that would not be the way of proceeding. We have all sorts of
skills shortages in many parts of the economy and we have to
take account of those when we plan for population growth in
the country.
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(LD)
My Lords, the Minister will be aware that Help to Buy has
assisted quite a number of young people to buy their first
home, but is he aware of the research which now shows that
Help to Buy is actually helping to increase house prices,
putting home ownership beyond the reach of many more people?
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My Lords, the noble Lord alludes to the need to ensure that
younger people can buy their own homes. That is indeed very
important. It is part of the intergenerational question that
I referred to. The Government have many schemes that will
assist people. Notably, lifetime ISAs are making a
considerable difference now. Yes, it is a challenge and
something we are looking at. The evidence he spoke of is
actually ambiguous—it is not clear that that is the case—but
we are looking at ways of encouraging younger people into the
market because it is important that we do so.
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