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Savills: Low graduate wages prevent home ownership
News Article Published:
Thursday, 02 August 2007 Category:
Housing
The low level of graduate income is the most fundamental problem for young first-time buyers, according to Savills.
According to the estate agents student debt 'compounds' the difficulty of getting on the housing ladder but the real obstacle is a lack of earnings.
Figures from Hay Group show that the average graduate salary in 2007 is £20,812; however the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) claims that the average first-time buyer has to borrow a mortgage of more than three times their income.
Lucian Cook at Savills said: "A lot of people simply are not going to meet that sort of income level to enable them to get on the housing ladder as quickly as perhaps they thought they might have done.
"And that's going to be compounded if they're carrying existing debt from their student days."
Recent research by CML claims that 39 per cent of first-time buyers aged under 30 received financial help from their parents towards the purchase.