{"id":68928,"date":"2026-06-23T18:41:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/68928\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T18:41:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:41:43","slug":"affordability-trumps-location-for-gen-z-housebuyers-says-barclays-mortgage-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/68928\/","title":{"rendered":"Affordability trumps location for Gen Z housebuyers, says Barclays \u2013 Mortgage Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Young people are increasingly putting affordability ahead of location when buying a home due to rising house prices, according to Barclays.<\/p>\n

The lender\u2019s latest\u00a0Property Insights data shows that almost a quarter (24%) of Gen Z buyers say price is the most important factor when choosing a home. This ranks above location (19%) and neighbourhood quality or safety (17%).<\/p>\n

However, many young buyers are struggling to afford homes where they would ideally like to live. A quarter (25%) of Gen Z renters say they cannot afford to buy in their preferred area.<\/p>\n

As a result, many are making compromises. More than one in five (21%) Gen Z buyers say they are willing to compromise on location, while nearly one in five would consider moving more than 25 miles away from their preferred area in order to buy a home they can afford<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The research highlights a growing shift in buyer behaviour, with younger people becoming more flexible about where they live in order to achieve homeownership.<\/p>\n

Compared with older generations, Gen Z buyers are making different trade-offs. While baby boomers are more likely to compromise on the condition of a property, younger buyers are more willing to give up their ideal location or outdoor space if it means securing a more affordable home.<\/p>\n

Affordability pressures are also causing some young people to rethink their expectations. Around one in seven (14%) Gen Z adults say they have already reduced their housing budget or lowered their expectations about the type of property they can buy.<\/p>\n

Despite these challenges, demand remains strong. The proportion of Gen Z renters actively looking to buy a home rose from 9% in April to 16% in May, suggesting that while affordability remains a challenge, it is not reducing interest in homeownership.<\/p>\n

There are signs that some barriers to buying are beginning to ease.<\/p>\n

The average deposit fell by 16.4% year-on-year to \u00a357,209, helped by slower house price growth and increased use of higher loan-to-value mortgages.<\/p>\n

London saw one of the biggest declines, with average deposits falling by 27.2% to \u00a3136,057. Deposits also fell sharply in the South East (-22.8%) and East Anglia (-23.5%).<\/p>\n

In other regions, changes were smaller. Deposits were broadly unchanged in the North (+0.8%) and North West (-0.5%), while Northern Ireland recorded a 14.9% increase.<\/p>\n

Nearly nine in ten buyers and sellers (88%) reported experiencing delays during their transaction, while almost a third (29%) saw a sale fall through before completion.<\/p>\n

At the same time, remortgaging activity has increased significantly. Remortgages accounted for 40.6% of completions, up from 30.7% a year earlier, as homeowners continue to review their borrowing arrangements in a higher interest rate environment.<\/p>\n

Consumer confidence in the housing market has improved, reaching 26%, but affordability remains the biggest obstacle for many would-be buyers.<\/p>\n

More than a third (37%) say saving for a deposit is their biggest concern, while 36% cite high house prices as the main barrier.<\/p>\n

Barclays chief market strategist\u00a0Julien Lafargue said: \u201cThe interest rate environment remains challenging, with domestic political uncertainty<\/a> compounded by ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Even so, the UK economy continues to demonstrate resilience, suggesting that once these headwinds ease, conditions should improve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Young people are increasingly putting affordability ahead of location when buying a home due to rising house prices,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[21264],"tags":[3343,7507,563],"class_list":["post-68928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barclays","tag-barclays","tag-first-time-buyers","tag-house-prices"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116800892625915590","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}