One in seven flat sharers don’t believe they’ll ever get on the property ladder and three in 10 are unsure.
Those are the major findings of a new survey of 6,524 renters by flatshare site SpareRoom.
It says 56% believe they will be able to buy property at some point, but 14% don’t think they’ll ever get on the property ladder, and 30% are unsure.
Of those who don’t think they’ll ever be able to afford to buy, almost two thirds say they are unable to save a deposit, while a similar proportion (67%) say they don’t earn enough to qualify for a mortgage.
Almost half (48%) saiy their family couldn’t help them with a deposit. However, more than one in 10 (11%) claim they simply prefer renting.
Around a third of renters (34%) would be happy to rent long term if there wasn’t the pressure to buy – a figure that has dropped from 55% in 2021.
The biggest influencing factor for wanting to buy is ‘having somewhere to call home’ (69.7%), slightly ahead of ‘having long-term financial security’ (68.6%) and ‘paying into something I own rather than to a landlord’ (68%).
In the survey, which was carried out before the second interest rate cut this year, the 2,920 respondents who were under 30 – and therefore mostly Gen Z – appeared optimistic about homeownership.
More than six in 10 (62%) under 30s expect to buy property at some point, and 38% expect to do so within the next five years. However, 40% believe it will take them five to nine years, and 16% say it will take 10-15 years.
A quarter (25%) of renters under 30 are considering moving back in with their parents to save money while another 27% said they aren’t considering this now, but might in the future.
More than half (51%) of under 30s are resigned to having to relocate to be able to afford to buy. And 86% are cutting down on their expenditure to save towards home ownership.
The top three sacrifices are eating out (63%), holidays/weekends away (56%), and buying clothes (55%).
Meanwhile, the rent burden is intensifying, claims SpareRoom.
Renters spending more than half their take-home pay on rent has increased from 24% in 2021 to 26% in 2025. In that time, UK average room rents have increased by 29% from £576 per month in Q1 2021 to £744 per month in Q1 2025.
Under 25s, who have not yet reached their earning potential, are feeling the pinch most, with 40% spending more than half their take-home pay on rent.
The rent burden on women is also significantly heavier than on men, likely due to factors that include the gender pay gap, and the want to live in safer areas where rents may be higher.
A SpareRoom spokesperson comments:“The post-pandemic rush for rentals forced rents to record highs across the UK. However, as is all too often the case, despite the market cooling, rents never came back down again.
“Affordability was already a huge issue before the pandemic, but people have become increasingly rent burdened and are faced with tough choices: do they compromise where they live, and the quality of the home they live in, to save towards a deposit?
“Under 30s seem optimistic about their chances of eventually owning homes. But the plummeting home-owning expectations of renters now in their 40s and 50s, coupled with the high cost of living, makes you wonder if the expectations and the reality are aligned.
“The number of over 65s searching for rooms in flatshares or seeking housemates has risen elevenfold in 10 years, while the number of over 55s has tripled according to our data, and the decline of homeownership is well documented.
“The real question we have to start asking is what happens to a generation who retire without having built an asset through homeownership and who clearly haven’t been able to save either?
“This is a ticking time bomb that’ll one day blast a huge hole in the public purse if it’s not addressed now. It’s time for some proper long-term policies.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today