Fact check: What age do most people buy their first home?

In the ITV Debate on Tuesday June 4, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “For young people the dream of home ownership is all but gone. The average age for owning a home now is (in one’s) late 30s.”

Earlier in the debate he said young people are having to wait until they are “30-something… 35, 36, under the current government” before they own a home.

Evaluation

The most recent available figures put 36 as the average age for owning a home.

This means Sir Keir’s first mention of this was accurate, but his subsequent claim hinges on what we view as our ‘late 30s’. Some people might not like to say this starts at 36, even if it is in the latter half of the decade.

The facts

When can people expect to own their own home?

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show half of UK residents owned their own home by the age of 36 in 2022, according to their annual population survey.

This age has risen in recent decades. Ten years prior this same milestone was reached around the age of 35, while in 2004 half of people owned a home at 32 years old.

Why are first-time buyers slightly younger than this?

Another statistic often used to assess whether young people are able to get onto the housing ladder is the average age of a first-time buyer.

The most recent results from the English Housing Survey show the average age of a first-time buyer was 34 in 2022-23 – rising to 35 in London, and 33 in the rest of the country.

The average first-time buyer’s age has increased in recent decades. In 2003-04 – the earliest available data from the survey – first-time buyers were 31 years old on average.

These figures are also limited to England alone.

Separate data from Halifax, a mortgage lender, puts this at 32 years old, based on housing sales between January and August 2023.

The average age of a first-time buyer is generally lower than the age at which half of people become homeowners. This is because not everyone ends up owning a home.

Links

Sunak v Starmer: The ITV Debate

ONS figures on lifetime milestones (archived)

English Housing Survey Headline Report (archived)

Halifax press release (archived)