Under 60% of people expect to own their home outright when they retire

Survey shows one in 10 people don’t ever want to own their own home

Only six in 10 people expect to have their mortgage paid and own their own home when they retire - and one in 10 Irish people don't have any interest in owning property. Picture: Larry Cummins

Only six in 10 people expect to have their mortgage paid and own their own home when they retire - and one in 10 Irish people don't have any interest in owning property, according to a survey of home ownership.

The study for insurance broker Gallaher found overall, only six in 10 (58%) of those surveyed expect to own their home outright by the time they retire. People in Munster are the most likely to believe they’ll own their home outright when they retire, with around seven in 10 (67%) holding this view. People living in Dublin are least likely to believe they’ll own their home outright in retirement - with just over half (52%) holding this view.

More than 54% of people aged between 25 and 34 expect to still have a mortgage by the time they retire. More than six in 10 (63%) of Irish women expect to own a property outright by the time they retire - compared to just over half (53%) of Irish men.

 Almost one in three (31%) Irish people expect to be still repaying a mortgage come retirement, with over a third of this cohort anticipating their mortgage payments will still be “significant” at that stage.

Interestingly, one in seven men (14%) and about one in twelve women (8%) said they don’t ever want to own a property.

The survey was carried out by iReach for Gallagher. Jonathan Roche-Kelly, Gallagher in Ireland director of financial services said the survey shows a shift in the traditional pattern of home ownership, amid high prices and lack of housing stock.  "Our survey findings suggest that for most Irish people, home ownership is still a goal, but it is interesting that a significant proportion of the population don’t ever want to own their own home. Today’s record house prices mean many people are simply priced out of the house market and maybe can’t visualise home ownership as a result.

“It is worrying that almost one in three Irish people expect to be still repaying a mortgage in retirement – this again could be due to today’s record house prices as well as the trend of people buying home’s later in life.”