Couples are buying a house instead of marrying to show their love
Buying a house replacing marriage
Thursday, 13 Apr 2006 10:26
Britons are displaying their love for each other with mortgages instead of marriages, new figures reveal.
According to research from Alliance & Leicester Mortgages, buying a house and sharing the home loan is now a symbol of love and commitments - if rather more expensive than a ring.
"It seems that bricks and mortar are on the way to becoming the new marriage vows, with single people even wanting to delay buying their first property until they have found ‘the one’," said Stephen Leonard, director of mortgages at Alliance & Leicester.
Data from the bank shows that some 28 per cent of single first-time buyers are delaying buying a home until they’ve met a life partner and 39 per cent of these think sharing a mortgage is a symbol of love and commitment.
But while this partnership of property and love seems rosy from the outside, couples who rent together do not share the same idealised view.
More than one in seven of cohabiting couples would not buy a house with their current partner, and one in four thinks it "isn’t the right time in their relationship" to invest in a home.
Another one person in six of renting couples would rather buy a house by themselves, to keep any potential profits from selling it and protect themselves if their relationship turns sour.
Additionally, not all singletons want to buy with a loved one, almost one in four (24 per cent) would rather buy a house with a friend and 38 per cent want to buy a house regardless of their love life.
Another 28 per cent of singletons simply do not know or trust anyone enough to buy a property with.
But this need not be a barrier to buying a house.
"Singletons needn’t think that they have to wait for another person to be able to get on the property ladder," said Alliance & Leicester's Mr Leonard.
"More and more lenders are moving towards assessing how much people can afford by looking at their individual financial circumstances as opposed to more old-fashioned income multiples. This will mean a truer reflection of how much people can spend on a mortgage each month".
Click here to find a cheap UK mortgage
XXX