"I have been struggling for years to get onto the property ladder and I have finally saved up enough money for a deposit but things are still hard," first time buyer Louise Stopes told Sputnik.
"Being a first time buyer you have so many things to think about, long ago you could buy a house quite cheaply but these days the struggle is real and it's hard to climb the property ladder."
It appears Louise is not the only one to suffer, her words were echoed when new figures saw home ownership in England fall to its lowest level since 1986 as soaring prices force millions to abandon their dreams of buying their own place, new analysis warns.
Put #HomesBeforeProfits | House prices send home ownership to 30-year low https://t.co/sAj4SUtvG8
— Unite the union (@unitetheunion) 2 August 2016
The Resolution Foundation found the proportion of people owning their own home has plummeted across every part of the UK since their peak in the early 2000s, with Greater Manchester seeing the biggest fall.
The think-tank said the figures show the longed talked-about London housing crisis has spread, with regions in the north and the Midlands becoming increasingly unaffordable.
In England house ownership rates have fallen 7% from a peak of 70.8% in April 2003 to 63.8% February 2016, while across the UK it has dropped 6.8% from its October 2004 peak of 70.9%.
Home ownership falling across UK — led by Gr Manchester, Outer London, Sheffield, Leeds and West Mids met area pic.twitter.com/qNPS6yugB3
— ResolutionFoundation (@resfoundation) August 2, 2016
"To be honest I am not surprised this has happened, it was bound to, I thought Brexit would help but in fact it hasn't things are worse than before," Stopes told Sputnik.
For thousands of first time buyers they thought the pressure would ease once Britain left the EU, as it would force the rich oligarchs and Chinese investors to look elsewhere when they realise that Britain was no longer a key player in the Union. However that has not happened.
The largest fall is in Greater Manchester which has seen homeownership sink 14.5% from 72.4 percent in April 2003 to 57 percent in February 2016.
The rise and fall of home ownership since 1980 — bold action needed to address this housing deficit pic.twitter.com/CUjl0GEEU2
— ResolutionFoundation (@resfoundation) August 2, 2016
Outer London has seen the second biggest drop of 13 percent, going from a peak of 71 percent in October 2000 to 57 percent in February 2016, while the West Midlands is third with a decline of 11 percent from its April 2005 high of 70 percent.
Disheartened
"London has a well-known and fully blown housing crisis, but the struggle to buy a home is just as big a problem in cities across the north of England," Stephen Clarke, policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said in a recent interview.
"The chances of owning a home have fallen fastest in Greater Manchester over the last decade, though the Leeds and Sheffield city areas have also experienced sharp drops."
These latest figures have only made first time buyers even more disheartened. Louise Stopes believes the government has a duty to do more to help people like herself to get a shot at owning their own property. But the likelihood of that happening anytime soon appears to be very slim.
