Across the OECD as a whole, that number jumps to four out of every five people.15 To accommodate that level of urbanisation - even without increasing our population or reducing the number of people per dwelling - we would need at least one quarter of a million new homes in our cities.16 Not surprisingly, we are seeing the increase in demand for housing translate into higher demand for mortgages.
Mortgage drawdowns in the third quarter of 2019 totalled over € billion, 2.3 times their value five years ago. Mortgages to first time buyers in particular have grown by over 20 per cent per year over that time.