Home Owners and Home Ownership

Baroness Eaton Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2026 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Eaton]

That this House takes note of home owners and levels of home ownership.

[Baroness Eaton (Con)]

My Lords, I open this debate with both a sense of history and a sense of urgency. For generations, across parties and across social classes, the desire to own one’s own home has been one of the most powerful and consistent aspirations in our national life. It has shaped communities, underpinned family stability and helped to create the social and economic resilience on which a civilised society depends. It is not a narrow economic goal, but a means for profound social good. Yet today, for too many people, especially the young and those on modest incomes, home ownership feels less like a realistic ambition and more like a distant dream. I want this afternoon to remind the House why this aspiration matters so deeply and to highlight how recent government policies, sometimes by design and sometimes by neglect, are undermining it. I hope to suggest how we might adopt a more hopeful and practical approach.

Home ownership is not simply about bricks and mortar; it is about roots, belonging, agency and responsibility. Families who own their own homes are more likely to invest in their neighbourhoods, voluntary groups and civic life. Children enjoy greater stability with deeper ties to schools, friendship networks and community support. People are better protected against economic shocks and the insecurity of short-term tenancies and sudden rent increases. We know from decades of experience that home ownership can be a ladder of opportunity, enabling families of modest means to build an asset over time, support retirement, help the next generation and weather life’s storms.

However, the wider context is deeply troubling. Home ownership in England now stands at 65%, broadly unchanged for over a decade but well below the peak of 71% in 2003. Affordability has deteriorated dramatically. The average home now costs 7.6 times average earnings, compared with around four times average earnings at the turn of the millennium. In London the ratio is over 10:1. For young people, the picture is even starker. The average deposit for a first-time buyer is now £78,000, with the median still an eye-watering £36,500. Deposits have grown to the point where they are worth more than a year’s salary for many. The average age of a first-time buyer has risen from 31 to 34, and the proportion of under-25s entering the market has collapsed from 25% in the 1990s to just 6% today. More than half of first-time buyers now need two incomes to purchase a home. Surveys show that while 75% of renters aspire to own, around 60% believe they will never be able to afford to do so. That is not aspiration; it is despair.

These pressures are compounded by the Government’s economic decisions. Youth unemployment has reached 16%—higher than during the pandemic—and rental reforms have reduced supply, driving rents upwards. High rents make saving for a deposit harder, trapping families who could afford a mortgage but cannot reach the starting line. Under the previous Conservative Government, 800,000 people bought their first home through Help to Buy and stamp duty relief, yet since Help to Buy ended major developers have reported a nearly 50% fall in first-time buyers. This is simply not sustainable or a fair model for a country that believes in social mobility.

The supply side tells a similar story. The Government pledged 1.5 million homes in this Parliament, yet in their first year they delivered just 208,600 net additional dwellings, a fall from the previous year and far short of what is required. On current trends, they will miss their target by 400,000 homes. Worse still, the new mandatory housing targets shift responsibility away from cities and on to our rural communities, cutting housing numbers in London, Birmingham and Coventry while imposing huge increases on rural authorities. This is not a serious plan for meeting demand. It is a political redistribution of targets.

Taxation policy is also central to this debate. Stamp duty has become a significant barrier to home ownership. Conservative Governments recognised its distorting effect and acted to limit the damage, including during the pandemic, but the current Government have cut first-time buyer stamp duty relief and now preside over a system that slows the market, penalises mobility and reduces affordability. The housing Select Committee concluded earlier this year:

“Stamp Duty Land Tax … puts barriers in front of people seeking to buy a new home … and … damages the economy”.


It is simply an unfair tax and yet another hurdle for individuals trying to get on the housing ladder.

Meanwhile, Labour’s Social Housing Bill downgrades right to buy, one of the most successful Conservative policies of the past half century that brought more than two million people into ownership and delivered measurable social benefits. Labour’s reforms raise the minimum tenancy period to 10 years, exclude new homes for 35 years and slash discounts. These changes do not expand opportunity, but restrict it.

For those who have managed to buy, the leasehold system remains fraught with unfair charges. Progress on reform has been slow and partial, leaving families trapped in unsaleable homes and undermining confidence in new-build flats.

Taken together, these trends paint a deeply discouraging picture. Home ownership is becoming simply a distant prospect for too many. If we are to honour the aspiration of home ownership, we need a coherent, long-term strategy, stable planning, fair taxation, well-designed support schemes and robust leasehold reform. Above all, we need a clear statement of principle that home ownership is a public good that we actively wish to promote.

When we debate home ownership, we debate the kind of country we wish to be: a country where a young couple with steady jobs can reasonably expect to buy a home or a country where they find themselves permanently locked out, paying ever-higher rents with little prospect of ownership. Government policies either support that aspiration or undermine it. Too often in recent years they have done the latter. We must renew a balanced housing system in which the aspiration to own is respected, supported and attainable. If we fail, we erode not just economic opportunity, but a key element of our national story: the belief that through work, saving and contribution, a secure home can be achieved.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Eaton (Con)]

My Lords, I thank all Members who have taken part in this debate today. The many contributions have shown and highlighted that, across the parties of the House, we see clearly the value of home ownership to society. As the Minister said, this was a broad title for the debate, and that was deliberate. I have seen, as we all have, the contributions from many different angles about this complex agenda. They have shown that we have a consistent interest in delivering more homes for people.

I thank the Minister, because she addressed with great detail and thoroughness the questions and issues we raised for her today and she has again shown her commitment. Although we do not always agree with her solutions to the problems, she certainly is committed to the housing situation in the country.

One of the things that the many contributions have shown is that there are no easy fixes, and we need to look at changing many of the restrictions that have been raised, such as planning complexities and infrastructure and financial policies. If they are addressed appropriately, it might alleviate the problems arising with home ownership. I thank all noble Lords for their contributions and I hope that our deliberations will bear fruit.

Motion agreed.