中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 Dashed dreams: Young adults have given up on their ambitions of owning a home. |
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Two in three people have given up their dream of owning a home, research shows. High prices, a shortage of homes and a mortgage drought are being blamed for driving a change in expectations. The credit crunch means that – as in Europe – future generations are more likely to rent their homes than buy them, researchers say. The overwhelming proportion – 77 percent – of those aged 20-45 want to own a home, according to the Generation Rent report published today. However, 64 percent of them believe they have no hope of ever doing so. The claims are based on a survey of 8,000 young adults by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), which was commissioned by the Halifax. It found that 84 percent of potential first-time buyers are put off by a belief banks do not want to lend to them. Some 92 percent see it as hard for first-time buyers to get a mortgage, with 60 percent saying it is very hard or impossible. And 67 percent believe there is little point in even applying. These concerns are backed up by the fact that the number of mortgages offered in April slumped to a record low. Just 29,355 house purchase loans were granted – 18 percent fewer than the same month last year. The evidence is that banks and building societies are refusing to lend at reasonable interest rates unless first-time buyers come up with huge deposits, which are often more than ￡30,000. The research found that 95 percent of young adults do not have any spare cash to save for this. A report published by housing charity Shelter yesterday showed 20 percent of young adults are moving back in with their parents. A similar proportion are giving up on having children to try to save the money needed for a deposit. NatCen researcher Alison Blackwell said: ‘The phenomenon of Generation Rent could open up a widening of the wealth gap that already exists between home-owners and non-homeowners. And people risk insufficient finances at retirement.’ (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
調查顯示，三分之二的英國人已經放棄買房夢想。 高房價、住房短缺和按揭貸款緊縮是造成這一期望轉變的原因。 研究人員稱，在歐洲，信貸緊縮意味著未來幾代人將更可能租房而不是買房。 根據今日發布的“租房一代”研究報告，年齡在20歲到45歲之間的英國人有77%希望有自己的房子，占了絕大多數。 然而，64%的人認為他們永遠也沒希望實現買房夢想。 這些結論是基于一項對8000名年輕人進行的調查做出的。該調查由金融機構哈里法克斯委托英國國家社會研究中心開展。 調查發現，84%的潛在首次購房者推遲購房是因為他們認為銀行不會貸款給自己。 約有92%的人認為首次購房者要申請到按揭貸款比較困難，其中有60%的人稱，要申請到按揭貸款十分困難或根本不可能。 67%的人認為就連申請本身都沒什么意義。 這些擔憂的事實依據是四月份提供的按揭貸款金額降到了歷史最低點。 銀行只批準了29355份買房貸款申請，比去年同期減少了18%。 事實是，銀行和建筑協會拒絕以合理的利率發放貸款，除非首次購房者能夠拿出巨額首付，通常在3萬英鎊以上。 調查發現，95%的年輕人沒有任何余錢可以存起來買房。 住房慈善機構Shelter昨日發布的一份報告顯示，20%的年輕人搬回去和父母一起住。同樣比例的年輕人為了攢首付而放棄生小孩。 英國國家社會研究中心的研究人員艾麗森?布萊克韋爾說：“租房一代的現象會擴大有房者和無房者之間原本就存在的貧富差距。另一方面人們也面臨退休后資金不足的風險。” 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯：馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: drought: a prolonged absence of something specified（長期短缺） credit crunch: a sudden sharp reduction in the availability of money or credit from banks and other lenders（信貸緊縮） |
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