Yorkshire Building Society has issued a stark warning about a potential 'lost generation of homeowners' in the UK, as its latest report reveals that while 88% of adults still view homeownership as important, belief in achieving it is waning, especially among older age groups.
Declining Aspirations Across Age Groups
The mutual's report, titled 'No way home? Restoring Britain's Housing Ladder', found that 76% of people aged 25 to 34 aspire to own a home, but this figure drops to 59% among 35 to 44-year-olds, 38% for those aged 45 to 54, 20% for 55 to 64-year-olds, and just 8% for over-65s. This suggests that as people age without buying, their hope of homeownership diminishes.
Concerns Over a Lost Generation
Tom Simpson, managing director of homes at Yorkshire Building Society, commented: 'Britain hasn’t fallen out of love with homeownership — far from it. People still see owning a home as central to their stability, their security and their future. But what’s changing is belief. For too many people, particularly those who haven’t bought by their late 30s, the dream starts to feel out of reach.'
Simpson added: 'With older Millennials now reaching their mid-40s, at Yorkshire Building Society we are concerned that the UK may already be seeing the early effects of a lost generation — and without action, this risk could extend to younger cohorts. If we want that opportunity to exist for the next generation, the time to act is now.'
Call for Systemic Change
The report calls for a collaborative effort between government, industry, and lenders to fix the housing ladder. Simpson emphasized: 'Fixing the housing ladder isn’t just about helping people take their first step — it’s about making sure they can move through it as their lives change. We need government, industry and lenders to come together as they never have done before, to create a system that works from start to finish: helping people become ready to buy, helping more people access ownership, and making it easier for them to move on when the time comes.'
He concluded: 'That’s what a functioning housing market should do — and right now, it isn’t doing it well enough. At Yorkshire Building Society, our Purpose is clear — we exist to provide Real Help with Real Life, bringing members together to make good homes possible for more people, and calling for change in the housing system. That means looking beyond individual products and thinking about how the whole system works — because helping people find a home isn’t just about today, it’s about their future too.'
