Background to the Research

• The chapter assess the responses to the questions on home ownership and places them in the context of overall changes in housing policy.
  
  
• The period of Conservative government (1979 - 1997) saw great changes in housing policy, specifically the promotion of home ownership.
  
  
• NIHE introduced a voluntary house sales scheme in 1979, before government introduced right to buy legislation in 1993.

Research Approach

• This chapter uses data from the 1996 Northern Ireland Social Attitudes Survey.
  
  
• 786 respondents aged 18+ were interviewed.

Main Findings

• 75% of respondents were owner occupiers, which is higher than the figure of 66% within the 1997 NIHE House Condition Survey.
  
  
• 18% of owner occupiers had bought their homes as NIHE tenants.
  
  
• 90% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that it is often cheaper to own a home than to rent. This could be due to rent increases, changes in Housing Benefit legislation, and lower and more stable house prices in Northern Ireland than in Britain.
  
  
• 88% of respondents said that given free choice, they would buy their own home.
  
• The main reason for not buying a home was the lack or a secure job, followed by not being able to afford the property they would like.
  
  
• NIHE tenants were much more likely to consider home ownership to be out of their reach.
  
  
• The main advantage of home ownership was seen as being cheaper than renting, followed by having something to leave one's family (a view supported by Conservative government policy).
  
  
• The most cited disadvantage to home ownership was the financial cost of maintaining the house.
  
  
• Levels of satisfaction in respondents' area of residence had increased since 1990. 58% of respondents thought that their area had stayed the same in the past two years, 23% thought it had got better, while 18% thought it had got worse. Figures for 1990 were 71%, 17% and 12% respectively).
  
  
• Looking forward to the next two years, 63% thought their area would stay the same, 20% thought it would get better and 15% thought it would get worse.
  
  
• Owner occupiers had a more positive view of their area than tenants: 23% of NIHE tenants thought that job opportunities in their area were worse than average, compared to only 7% of owner occupiers. 32% of NIHE tenants thought that schools in their area were better than average, compared to 37% of owner occupiers.
  
  
• However, only 4% of respondents identified housing as being their first priority for extra government spending, while 63% identified health.