UK house prices: Four in ten young people in England cannot even afford the cheapest homes in their area Half of young adults would need to save more than six months of their income to raise just a 10 per cent deposit, a report by the IFS found

round four in 10 young adults in England cannot buy one of the cheapest homes in their area, even if they managed to save a deposit of 10 per cent. By contrast, in 1996, over 90 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds would have been able to buy a house in their area with a 10 per cent deposit – if they borrowed four and a half times their salary – the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said. Twenty years on, the IFS report found that proportion had fallen significantly. By 2016, only around 60 per cent of young adults would have been able to borrow enough to buy even one of the cheapest homes in their area – leaving home ownership out of reach for 40 per cent. Around half of young adults would need to save more than six months of their post-tax income to raise a 10 per cent deposit to buy one of the cheapest homes in their areas, compared with just one in 10 having to do this in 1996, the research found.

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