UK has dour and hostile housing market according to its population

Getting onto the housing ladder is difficult, and an international survey and study has found that the UK has one of the most hostile housing markets for first time buyers.

Overall, it was found by the ING International Survey on homes and Mortgages that almost four in five people (79 per cent) in Europe think it is becoming more and more difficult to buy a first home.

Almost nine in ten people (89 per cent) in the UK shared this opinion, one of the highest levels of disgruntlement found in all the countries surveyed. Luxemberg had a slightly higher number (94 per cent) of the population worried about their housing market.

Between early 2014 and 2015, the study says that UK house prices rose by about 8 per cent. This difficulty is reflected in the 09survey, and has made people worried about the prospects of buying a first home.

On the other end of the spectrum, Germany had the lowest number of people, 59 per cent, concerned about the difficulty of getting onto the housing ladder, but 59 per cent is still a worryingly high number, especially as it represents the lowest in Europe.

Senior economist at ING, Ian Bright, said: “Across the continent and in the US and Australia, consumers hold the view that first time buyers are at risk of having the door to home ownership slammed in their face.

“The burgeoning economic recovery across the continent comes into play here. This will improve people’s lives in many ways but the ING International Survey shows something needs to be done if the next generation is to benefit from bricks and mortar.”

Housing minister Brandon Lewis, said: “As a One Nation Government we’re determined to ensure anyone who works hard and wants to buy their own home has the help they need to do so.

“That’s why we’ve introduced Help to Buy, which has enabled over 100,000 people to buy a home with a fraction of the deposit they would normally require, and why we’re planning to deliver 200,000 new starter homes which will be available at a 20% discount to young first-time buyers.”

The Help to Buy schemes are great for helping individual people out, but so far, the house prices have not been brought any lower for the hundreds of thousands of other potential first time buyers who just cannot get onto the housing ladder.