One in ten people (13%) are planning on buying a new home in the next 12 months, and it's twenty-something's (22%), same sex couples (21%) and singletons (17%) - not the traditional 2.4 child families - that are driving the UK's housing market, according to new research from Birmingham Midshires.
At a time when house prices are rising at their fastest rate for two years, the latest findings show that as many as 28% of homebuyers plan to purchase a new property within the next 12 months as an investment. More than one in ten (12%) homebuyers will be downsizing and buying something more modest.
At a time when the majority of financial services companies focus primarily on the average Briton - the new Birmingham Midshires study "Not so average Joe" focuses on the consumer groups that live outside the parameters of Mr or Mrs Average, looking instead at the issues that affect them and how their views vary from the UK average.
As part of an ongoing study of the specialist mortgage market, Birmingham Midshires asked a GB representative sample of 2,000 people whether they were intending to buy a house in the next 12 months and the reason for the purchase. The key findings were:
* Almost one in three (28%) people buying a home in the next 12 months are doing as an investment. As many as 41 per cent of same sex couples and single people see their next purchase as a good way to make money on house price rises, compared with just 24 per cent of average 2.4 child families buying their next property as an investment.
* More than one in ten homebuyers (12%) will swap large for small, and will be moving in the next 12 months in order to downsize. Almost half of over 50's buying property over the next 12 months will do so in order to downsize.
* Londoners are the most likely to be buying to capitalize on further increases in house prices. Almost a third of the capital's homebuyers plan to purchase a buy-to-let property as an investment - compared with 25% in Bristol.
Tim Hague, managing director of mortgages at Birmingham Midshires said: "There is no such thing as an 'average' borrower in modern Britain, yet many financial services companies continue to target mortgage products that respond to an outdated picture of British life - a picture that may include two parents, two children a golden Labrador and a mid range family car. The 'Not so average Joe' campaign looks in detail at how demographic and social changes in Britain today are creating an environment where being outside the mainstream - the average 2.4 child family - is in fact the driver for today's mortgage needs."
