Young people less keen to buy a house

Young people’s willingness to buy a house has declined in recent months, but remained fairly stable among middle-aged persons, although lower than before the 2009 economic crisis.

One in eight young people think about buying a house

In December 2010, approximately one fifth of under-35s said they wanted to buy a house within two years, versus nearly one in eight in October 2011.

Willingness to buy among 35 to 55-year-olds has varied around 9 percent for more than a year now, i.e. below the level of the pre-recession era in October 2008 and more than 1 percentage point below the long-term average. Willingness to buy among over-55s has been fairly stable over a long period of time.

Willingness to buy by age, six-monthly moving average

Moving up the housing ladder: new stage in life requires different type of housing

Many young people still attend some form of education. Once they have accepted a permanent job and start living with a partner, the desire to buy a house of their own comes up. Willingness to buy is indeed highest among people in their late twenties. The house-ownership rate tends to rise substantially among people in their late twenties and exceeds 65 percent among people in their thirties.

Willingness to buy among people in their thirties will gradually decline, but remains above average. People in the 30-40 age category usually want to buy a bigger house. Willingness to buy among people in their forties and early fifties remains stable at about 10 percent. From the age of 55 onwards, willingness to buy and house ownership decline further.

House ownership and willingness to buy by age

Jeroen Nieuweboer