Housing minister says homeownership dream may be over
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Housing minister John Healey says the era of Britons aspiring to own their own home may be coming to an end as people find it increasingly difficult to get onto the housing ladder.
In a speech to the Fabian Society earlier this week, Healey said homeownership had declined for the first time ever from 70.9 per cent of all households in 2003 to 68.3 per cent today but that this was not “such a bad thing.”
He also said that Labour should tackle the culture of parents helping their children onto the housing ladder because it compounds inequality over the generations and is unfair.
Healey said the UK needs a new ownership model of shared ownership arrangements and the ability to sell equity in homes back to the council, housing association or co-operative.
He said the UK will move to a more European model of housing where renting will be a more common option.
He said: “Some point to the recession having shaken people’s desire to invest in bricks and mortar. But in reality, homeownership had been dropping since 2005. And I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing.
“At the moment, up to 70 per cent of the population has their money tied up in property. The proportion was boosted by Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy. But you don’t need to be a grocer’s daughter to know that it’s not a good idea to have all your eggs in one basket.
“Yet not even a drop in the housing market can convince people not to use their home as a store of wealth. A recent article in The Telegraph showed that nearly a third of people approaching retirement are still relying on their home to top-up their state pension.
“Not only is this property piggy bank unsustainable, it is also unfair. Because increasingly, those without the property-funded ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ are finding it hard to buy homes of their own.
“First-time buyers getting parental assistance has doubled in just three years to four out of every five buyers. And the gap has widened during the global recession - the average age of first time buyers with parental assistance has stayed the same during recession, but the average age of a First Time Buyer without the extra money has shot up from 33 to 37 years old.
“And as housing wealth is passed from parents to children, inequality is compounded over the generations. That’s something that a party that believes in fairness should tackle and I’m pleased that finally the Tories are getting the scrutiny they deserve on their inheritance tax plans. A plan that makes Britain more unequal as time goes on, increasing the unearned windfalls that the children of wealthy parents get.”
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Readers' comments (88)
Mumbo Jumbo | 11 Dec 2009 1:40 pm
What an idiot. What else should parents be banned from providing for their children? Better diet, decent clothes, nicer toys, god forbid an education. Inheritance?
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Anonymous | 11 Dec 2009 2:00 pm
I think this man needs to take a peek at the quality of property which is available to rent!
I also think he misses the point about home ownership, it is a place to live, not an investment, and everyone dreams of doing what they like with it and hopefully when they retire they don't need to find the rent.
The reasons people find it hard to get onto the property ladder are:
1. The planning system is bust.
2. The population is exploding.
3. The supply fails to meet the demand.
His fellow politicians on the other hand do see their houses as a cash cow.
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Tim Kelsey | 11 Dec 2009 2:25 pm
These socialists make me sick. So parents shouldn't be rewarded for trying to provide for their own children? At what point is that a bad thing? They keep trying to make life "fair" by screwing over the people who work hard to provide for the people who can't be bothered to try to succeed. I would like to live in a country where i have the freedom to live my life as i see appropriate within certain boundaries.
Politicians who went to public school? did they get scholarships for this or had their families historically amassed enough wealth to afford this? The people at the very top, like say the Rockerfellers, have they benefited from handing down wealth, or has each sibling worked from scratch? It doesn't even deserve an answer.
As usual in politics they rearrange the facts to draw some bizzare conclusions. I would say its the fact that so many people (myself included) are on such low wages that i could never afford to buy a house without assistance, is the reason that 4 out of 5 have resorted to parental assistance. Why should my parents be to blame for providing for their own children? Shouldn't parents have the right to chose what to do with the money they have saved and worked so hard for, after all its already been taxed at least once, and in the case of most investments more than once. They could have easily spent all their money on themselves. If i was on the amount of money an MP was paid i could afford a house, and the public purse would also help me out with purchasing a second one!
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Anonymous | 11 Dec 2009 2:37 pm
I expect Mr Healey uses taxpayers money available to MPs to buy second homes to do so instead
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Anonymous | 11 Dec 2009 2:41 pm
John Healey - Idiot. Enough said.
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Anonymous | 11 Dec 2009 2:42 pm
Unbelievable! So people who work hard shouldn't help their kids now. This type of comment is exactly why labour have no chance of getting in again
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Anonymous | 11 Dec 2009 2:44 pm
This Labour government sickens and disgusts me.
Roll on when they all get booted out of office
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Anonymous | 11 Dec 2009 2:44 pm
Simply lost the plot. Don't preach what you don't practice. Here is your profile Mr Healy (source: The Telegraph):
Mr Healey’s mortgage interest payments stood at £691 per month in 2008, when he was also making regular claims for food, utilities, phone bills and cleaning.
In 2007 Mr Healey claimed £1,431 to replace his front door. The taxpayer even picked up the £16 bill for two days’ worth of Congestion Charge payments made by his locksmith.
His claims in the same year included £7,612 for timber windows, £1,317 for a bed, sofa and shelving units, £95 for a swivel chair from Ikea and £25.98 for four pillows.
He also claimed £129 for a television, having claimed £299 for a television two years previously.
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Simon Dunkerley | 11 Dec 2009 2:45 pm
What parents do with their money has nothing to do with anyone in the Labour Party.
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Anonymous | 11 Dec 2009 2:53 pm
Apparenty it was recently accepted that kids are better going to school after age 5/6 rather than at UK age. The reason this is not done is because it 'widens social boundaries' as parents who don't look after their kids properly continue to damage them for longer-result all of our kids suffer under the lowest common denomenator.
This is the same old s**t and it makes my blood boil! These guys have got to go.
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