This is very worrying for first time buyers.

New research has found that it could take you over six and half years to save for a deposit on a mortgage, and the majority of first time buyers (69%) have had to stall their dreams of getting on the property ladder. The survey was carried out on behalf of several different organisations who were concerned over the impact of the heavily criticised mortgage restrictions introduced by the Central Bank. The study also found that people are increasingly going to family members to help them in the process of buying a home. In fact, a whopping 42% of first time home buyers are borrowing from a family member to fund the deposit while a quarter of them are using a ‘gift’ to help them buy. The findings also show that the majority of people (52%) are increasingly being forced to move to places that they don’t want to because they simply cannot afford to buy property where they want to live. On this finding, the researchers have said,

“The social coast is high, with many moving away from family networks and to areas of lower amenity or infrastructural inappropriateness (poorer transport, childcare facilities, schools, roads, and further from work).”

It is common for potential first time buyers to be paying high rental prices at the same time as saving for a deposit the research showed. It has been reported the average first-time buyer is required to come up with a deposit of €61,000 before buying a home, an amount that is said to exclude most ordinary workers. As a result, critics are slamming these prices and saying that only the children of rich parents can afford to buy a new home. Speaking on Newstalk’s Sean Moncrieff show earlier today, Lorcan Sirr, a lecturer in housing studies in DIT said that a number of issues need to be addressed in order for Ireland to overcome the housing crisis. He pointed to problems with business people hoarding land by sitting on unoccupied properties for years waiting for the price to increase.

 “I’m struggling with the idea of people holding onto to land. I don’t see why the government aren’t leveraging the owners of this land.” He said.

He also pointed to the existing housing stock in Ireland, saying that while 52,000 homes were built in the last 5 years, only 19,000 of them are currently being used because these properties are not sufficiently looked after.

“… 123 houses are falling obsolete every week in Ireland, in a country with a housing crisis, I find that bizarre” he said.