Northern Ireland sees biggest fall in home ownership in the UK

Northern Ireland has seen home ownership fall from 73% at its peak in 2006, to 63% now. A think tank from the Resolution Foundation used data from the Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey (LFS) to look at home ownership in the UK. 

They found that Northern Ireland has seen the biggest fall in home ownership in the UK.

• England dropped from 71% at its 2003 peak to just under 64% now.
• Scotland dropped from 69% at its 2004 peak to 63% now.
• Wales dropped from 75% at its 2006 peak to 70% now.

Rise in renting privately

The think tank also confirmed that the fall in ownership corresponded with a rise in renting from private landlords. The Northern Ireland Family Resources Survey, covering April 2013 – March 2014,  showed that more that 20% of NI households now live in private rented accommodation. Ten years ago, this figure stood at 10%.

In April 2013 – March 2014, 47% of private rented households in Northern Ireland were headed by someone aged 25-34. This figure was 16% 10 years ago.  Over the same period, the numbers buying a house with a mortgage in this age category decreased from 66% to 35%.

Help for first time buyers

There are a few different schemes that may be of assistance for those planning to buy a home in the near future.  These include shared ownership schemes, where a person can part buy and part rent their home, a rent to buy scheme that will pay a rebate on some of the rent paid and government backed savings schemes which will give a bonus to add to a deposit. 

The Resolution Foundation

The Resolution Foundation is a not-for-profit research and policy organisation campaigning for people on low and modest incomes.