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Revealed – how important is homeownership to today’s buyers?

With all the incentives buyers are currently receiving to get on the property ladder, national estate agent Keller Williams UK has looked at how much owning a home actually means in the UK and how it compares to other life aspirations.

In a survey of over 1,000 people, it asked homeowners just how important it was to them that they own their own piece of bricks and mortar.

Some 47% claimed that owning a house was very important to them, while 23% said that it was somewhat crucial and 30% stated that it held no significance at all.

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Buyers were then asked to rank the importance of homeownership against other aspirations such as buying a car, having a baby, going on holiday each year, getting married and maintaining a thriving social life.

With almost half confessing that owning property was especially important to them, it’s perhaps no surprise that homeownership ranked high, with 23% stating it was the most important thing.

However, for 26%, having a child was the most important thing, with homeownership coming second.

Interestingly, maintaining a social life came in third as the most essential life aspect for 21% while having a yearly vacation also ranked high in importance (17%). 

The least important on the list was getting married, with just 6% of people ranking it top, followed very closely by buying a car (7%).

Ben Taylor, chief executive officer of Keller Williams, comments: “We’ve always been a nation of aspirational homeowners and it’s clear this remains a great area of importance for the majority, second only to having children of our own which is pretty understandable.” 

“However, it’s interesting to see that a third of people don’t consider homeownership as important and this could certainly be a signal that times are changing as many look to rent for longer due to a lack of affordability across the market.”

He concludes: “This change in what we consider important in society is also clear given the fact that more of us consider holidays and our social life more important than tying the knot.”

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