New research from specialist lender Pepper Money has found that 47% of Scottish adults who don’t own a home believe they will never become home owners.
This is an increase of 5% on the 2023 Zoopla report which found that more that 42% of under 40’s had given up on owning their own home in the next ten years.
The Scotland Specialist Lending Study, a survey of 1500 adults, found that people who are self-employed or contractors are even more likely to believe home ownership isn’t a possibility for them. With a total of 55% believing they will never be able to own a home.
Affordability pressures feature strongly in the report.
- More than half (57%) of Scottish adults think house-price growth is too fast
- 39% say living costs have hurt their chance of buying; and 30% point to higher household bills.
Other figures in the release point to readiness and timing rather than permanent exclusion:
- 25% non-homeowners do not feel ready financially,
- 19% believe it will take more than five years before they are in a position to buy.
- Among people with adverse credit, 42% worry about getting a mortgage approved and the same share find the application process concerning.
Paul Adams, director of sales at Pepper Money, said the findings show “a clear gap between the aspiration to own a home and what many people in Scotland feel is achievable,” particularly for self-employed, variable-income or adverse-credit borrowers.
The Scotland Specialist Lending Study was published as part of Pepper Money’s entry into the Scottish first-charge mortgage market.