Most young Londoners are in favour of allowing developers to build houses on green belt land to help them to get on the property ladder, a survey has found.
Two thirds of people aged 25 to 45 living in the capital would support ambitious housing policies, including reforming rules around green belt development, according to a poll of 1,000 people by Pocket Living, a builder of small homes.
“London is at breaking point and this year’s research should act as a wake-up call for policymakers and politicians,” Marc Vlessing, the chief executive of Pocket, said.
Just over a fifth of the land in Greater London is designated as green belt, which cannot be developed. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has promised to “look again at what is designated green [belt] and brown[field]”.
Virtually all of those surveyed by Pocket agreed that housing would be a crucial or important issue for politicians to focus on before next year’s general election, ranking above topics including education, immigration and Brexit. Nearly 80 per cent of young people in London said the government was not doing enough to deliver more affordable homes.
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Two in three respondents said they would be voting for the candidate who promoted the building of more homes in their constituency, regardless of their political bent.
Those aged between 25 and 45 account for almost a third of the population, making them a key target for politicians. The housing crisis has gripped the country, but the imbalance between supply and demand is particularly acute in London. Of those surveyed, 65 per cent believed they would never be able to own their own home in London.
Zoopla, the property search website, estimates that the average first-time buyer home in the capital costs £450,000, requiring a deposit in excess of £140,000.
Six in ten of the respondents who had managed to get on the property ladder said they would not have been able to without financial help from their families. Savills, the property agent, found that the Bank of Mum and Dad had gifted or loaned £8.8 billion to help their children to buy a home last year.
Given the cost of living in London, where rents are also at record highs, nearly a quarter of non-homeowners under 45 are actively looking at leaving the city in the next 12 months.
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Vlessing, 61, said such concerns were not restricted to London. “Up and down the country, whether it is Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham or Bristol, young people are suffering when it comes to housing. It is time for the political classes to sit up, take note and show they are ready to take on this challenge.”
