More than two-thirds of Wirral families own their own home

Office for National Statistics data estimates that 69.5% of households in Wirral were owners-occupiers in 2019.

Across England, an average of 65.7% of families owned their own homes in 2019, up from 65.4% seven years before.

Anya Martin, director of PricedOut, a campaign group for affordable house prices, said: "Housing costs are the major driver of inequality between the generations, and it is damaging young peoples' futures.

"The main barrier to homeownership is that we have been failing to build enough homes in this country for decades, resulting in rising prices.

"We have one of the most restrictive planning systems in the world. If we want homes to get cheaper, we must build more of them."

The Ministry of Housing said more than 243,000 homes were delivered last year – the highest number in over 30 years.

More homeowners are living mortgage free at 37.4% compared to 34.7% seven years before.

However, the proportion of households living in privately rented accommodation in Wirral has risen from 16% in 2012 to 16.5%.

Housing charity, Shelter, said that for decades the number of social homes has been plummeting, forcing people to rent privately.

Polly Neate, the organisation's chief executive, said: "Homeownership is totally out of reach as most private renters have no savings and no hope of scraping together a deposit. And the pandemic is making this bad situation worse as many families have seen their incomes drop and debt rise.

"Struggling families need a way out of private renting, and the only way to give them one is to start building more social homes.

"A new generation of good-quality social housing would give many more people the chance of a secure home they can actually afford to live in."