Almost two thirds of under-35s can't afford to live in their chosen community 

Just 28% of people said they could afford to live in their preferred community while 41% of people under the age of 35 said they could not afford to live in the area where they grew up. File picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Three in five (60%) people under the age of 35 cannot afford to live in the community they would like to, a new survey has found.

Research conducted by Kantar for Permanent TSB has found that almost half of people (47%) across all age groups cannot afford to live in their preferred community and more than one third (35%) say they cannot afford to live in the area they grew up in.

It follows a recent study from the Economic and Social Research Institute, which suggested people aged 25-34 have a one in two chance of owning a home by the time they reach retirement age.

In this latest survey, just 28% of people said they could afford to live in their preferred community while 41% of people under the age of 35 said they could not afford to live in the area where they grew up.

The Reflecting Ireland survey of 1,000 adults carried out by Kantar last month also shows people in Ireland have huge concerns over the cost of living and the wider economy.

Claire Cogan, a behavioural scientist from Behaviour Wise, said: “Our research shows that the continuing rise in the cost of living is weighing heavily on people’s minds, and that negative sentiment is on the rise as more people are worrying about their personal financial circumstances.” 

The responses suggest the cost of living situation is “now causing significant worry across all types of consumers and at all income levels”.

It said that, for the first time in this survey, even people on higher incomes are beginning to fear the effects of cost-of-living increases.

Overall, consumer sentiment has reached negative levels on par with that felt by households over a decade ago during the financial crisis.

Negative outlook

While 62% of people have a negative outlook, this is higher for people in Munster, at 70%.

A majority (60%) of people feel they’re worse off now than this time last year (up from 30% who felt this way in January) and half of people expect to be worse off next year, which is twice as many as the start of the year.

Only the youngest age group, those aged 18-24, bucked that trend, with 47% of people here saying they expected to be better off next year compared to 20% who said they’d be worse off.

Researchers said: “With already-soaring energy costs bringing distress to more household finances, the potential shock of even higher prices, combined with more intensive gas and electricity use in the winter months, will concern many of us.” 

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The research also looked at how people felt about their own community, with two-thirds (65%) saying they felt a strong community spirit in the area where they lived.

There was a rural/urban divide in these responses, with 74% of those living in a rural village saying there was a strong community spirit compared to 58% of people in towns and cities.