NI millennials don’t have to rent their entire lives

Northern Ireland millennials don’t have to rent their entire lives, Co-Ownership urges today.

The organisation was responding to a report by the Resolution Foundation which has warned that up to one third of millennials could still be renting their home by the time they reach retirement age. The report revealed that four-in-ten millennials – those born between 1981 and 2000 – currently private rent at age 30.

Government figures show that 17.4 per cent of the NI adult population rent privately, most prominently among the 25-34-year-old demographic (38 per cent).

Of that, 36 per cent of 25-34-year-olds surveyed perceived renting as ‘money down the drain’ and almost a quarter (24 per cent) believed that homeownership was a natural progression or a ‘next step in life’.

Co-Ownership, Northern Ireland’s main provider of shared ownership, is reassuring millennials who currently private rent and aspire to homeownership that support in available to get a foot on the property ladder.

Mark Graham, Co-Ownership Chief Executive, said:

The data shows that an increasing proportion of the millennial generation is renting privately. In the short term this may suit many people, but our research shows that as people want to settle down and perhaps start a family they want the security and sense of belonging to a community that home ownership brings. We know that the biggest barrier to homeownership is not having or being able to save for a deposit. Given reports that a significant proportion of the millennial demographic rent privately, the issue of deposits becomes even more prevalent as private rent costs increase and wage growth fails to match inflation. At Co-Ownership, in many cases, a deposit isn’t required as several local mortgage lenders accept our share in the property as the deposit.