Purchasing a house has traditionally been seen as one of the key milestones in adulthood, providing not just a home but financial security for many. But with youth home ownership having declined substantially over the past three decades, this milestone is increasingly one many may not reach. How have trends in youth home ownership changed … Continued

Post-war governments invested heavily in social housing. But it then fell spectacularly out of favour, with the introduction of Right-to-Buy in 1980 sparking a decline in social housing stock. Almost 40 years on, attitudes toward social housing appear to be changing again. In 2017, Theresa May earmarked £2 billion of new money for social rented … Continued

High house prices and weak wage growth have led to a stark fall in home ownership rates among young people since the early 2000s, with a typical first-time buyer needing 18 years to save for a deposit, up from 3 years in the mid-90s. Increasingly stepping into this gap has been the Bank of Mum … Continued

From the establishment of primogeniture to the Bank of Mum & Dad the transfer of wealth across generations is both an ancient and very modern issue in Britain. With wealth increasingly concentrated among older generations, the issue of wealth transfers is rising up the political agenda. The desire for families to pass wealth onto the … Continued

Britain’s housing crisis has been decades in the making, and is finally rising up the political agenda. But is this crisis really just confined to London and the South East, or is it spreading across Britain and other European countries? Which groups are on the receiving end of a lack of affordable housing? And how … Continued

Buying or renting a home in many parts of the country is a financial challenge for families on modest incomes. How then do these families continue to live in some of the most expensive parts of the country? What coping strategies can make the seemingly unaffordable financially possible, at what personal cost to the families … Continued

Very high levels of household debt have been a stubbornly persistent feature of many developed economies – including those of the UK and the US – before, during and since the financial crisis. The Resolution Foundation has led UK analysis of how this debt may carry severe consequences for many families and for the wider … Continued

While many have benefited from years of rock-bottom interest rates the burden of household debt has not greatly declined since the financial crisis and now the era of ultra-cheap borrowing is likely to be drawing to a close. A large swathe of households remains highly exposed to the effects of rising interest rates. Yet while … Continued

The struggle to set aside savings and the increasing difficulty that many working people find in securing a decent income at retirement is one of the less noticed but potentially most far-reaching issues in the living standards debate. In her first major speech on pensions policy since becoming Shadow Secretary of State for Work and … Continued

Low to middle income households are increasingly shut out of traditional home ownership, and more and more families with children are living in the private rental sector. We know, however, that home ownership overwhelmingly remains most people’s preferred tenure and the lack of asset accumulation amongst long term renters is a concern. This event launched … Continued

Low to middle income families are increasingly shut out of home ownership and not qualifying for social housing. This means that there is a need to focus specifically on increasing the supply of market rent property, but any new supply must be fit for purpose. Families with children now account for a third of the 3.8 million households … Continued

Despite difficult economic times and the persistence of tight credit conditions, latest OBR projections suggest that aggregate household debt is set to increase by around one-quarter between 2011 and 2017. With many commentators expecting interest rates to start climbing back upwards from 2015, the ability of households to service their credit commitments will depend critically … Continued

With fewer new homes being built year on year in the UK, the shortage of supply is keeping housing costs high despite the prolonged downturn. As a result, the cost of housing is putting ever greater pressure on household budgets, particularly for those living in the private rented sector. A growing number of low to … Continued