Why are the British people obsessed with home ownership?

Why are the British people obsessed with home ownership and will Generation Z continue this trend?

It is a very British characteristic to obsess about being a homeowner. European countries do not understand the fascination we have with our homes being our castles.

Generation Z faces the biggest gap of any generation between housing aspiration and reality, but the majority still want to buy. Putting affordability to one side, 81% of Generation Z would choose to buy a home if they could, compared to 93% of Millennials, according to Beresford research.

Reasons underlying our apparent fixations stem from three principal factors, which are historic, financial and social. Owning your own home has implied wealth for years, however large or small your home. Not living in someone else’s house can provide a feeling of achievement and success, doing what you would like to in your own home with financial security.

For many years we have always looked at the profit we make from property, knowing this will happen and earn us money when we come to selling. Since the millennium, some prices have trebled, so house owners have looked at this as another way to grow wealth that can sometimes be more than their year’s salary.

How will this change as we enter a Labour controlled government, with the possibility of more taxes on the property sector and the continued reduction in the number of private landlords? As the rental sector changes, the effect on Generation Z will be significant.

With no short term financial benefit or gain and no asset giving help for the longer term in the rental sector, buying a home, however hard it may seem, still could be the way forward.