21 Oct 2018
Posted by Barry Aldworth 
A recent survey undertaken by AA Home Insurance has found that almost 70% of Irish people are seriously concerned that home ownership is less attainable nowadays than it had been in previous generations.
In response to an AA Home Insurance of over 5,000 people, 68.35% of respondents stated that they agreed completely with the prompt “I am concerned that home ownership is less attainable for younger generations than it would have been in previous years.” Meanwhile, a further 20.65% of those surveyed stated that they partially agreed with the same prompt. In total, just 1.23% of respondents stated that they were in complete disagreement with the prompt.
“Housing and indeed getting on the property ladder is one of the major issues facing Irish society currently and ranks up there with Brexit in terms of challenges for our government to get their heads around. We know from previous research that the AA has undertaken that home ownership is something that vast majority of people want to achieve in their lifetime, but one which some people are starting to fear is more of a pipe-dream than a realistic goal,” Conor Faughnan, AA Director of Consumer Affairs stated. “We’ve probably all heard or expressed a belief that home ownership is becoming less attainable for those trying to get on the ladder today, but these latest findings show just how deeply-rooted into the Irish mind-set this fear has become.”
While this belief that home ownership is becoming increasingly difficult for those attempting to purchase property currently was reflected across all age brackets, the strongest level of agreement was seen in an age bracket less likely to be currently trying to get on the property ladder.
74.79% of those surveyed who are aged between 56 and 65 stated that they completely agreed that home ownership is becoming less attainable for younger generations, the strongest level of agreement seen in any age bracket. Meanwhile, 73.24% of those aged between 25 and 35 – the age bracket most likely to be traditionally seen as being in the first time buyer stage – were in complete agreement with this statement.
“Ultimately, the belief that achieving the goal of home ownership is becoming increasingly difficult was very much present across all age brackets, but appears to me most strongly agreed with my the generation who are currently trying to get on the property ladder and the age bracket to which their parents likely belong,” Faughnan added. “While it’s perhaps unsurprising that these cohorts would be most pessimistic about the current situation, the simple takeaway is that across all ages there is a belief that more needs to be done to help those attempting to get on the property ladder.”
