House prices dictate marriage date
The Stoke-on-Trent area could be one of the few remaining regions in the UK where young couples can realistically afford to get married and settle into a house of their own, according to a North Staffordshire estate agency.
Heywoods Property of Newcastle-under-Lyme said that the cost of even the most affordable homes on the market, combined with the current high deposits demanded by lenders, meant that home ownership was as good as a pipe dream for many of the country's current generation of 18- to 30-year-olds.
But the good news for prospective buyers in Newcastle and Stoke-on-Trent, it added, was that property in the area was amongst the cheapest in the UK, meaning that young people still had a realistic chance of getting a foothold on the property ladder.
The company's comments come after a study commissioned for the National Housing Federation revealed that young couples were putting off getting married and starting a family because they were unable to buy a home.
According to the survey, 40% of people aged between 18 and 30 said that they would not get married unless they were able to buy a property of their own. Another 7% of young couples said they had delayed getting married simply because they could not afford to buy a home.