Home ownership in UK highest among Indians

By Nadeem Badshah 

INDIAN families in the UK are the prop­erty kings, government figures show.

Some 74 per cent of Indians households are homeowners, a higher rate than white Britons at 68 per cent.

The figure among the Pakistani commu­nity is 58 per cent and 46 per cent among British Bangladeshis, the Ministry of Hous­ing, Communities and Local Government data for 2016–2018 showed.

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The average across all groups for home ownership was 63 per cent, around 14.6 million households.

Jaffer Kapasi OBE, from the East Mid­lands Chamber in Leicester, said the prior­ity of most Indians is to buy their own home as soon as possible for financial se­curity as it will increase in value.

He told Eastern Eye: “It has become an obsession similar to an Englishman where ‘my home is my castle’.

“It is cheaper than renting in the long run, depending on the rate of inflation, in­terest rate and cost of living. And avoids the hassle of dealing with a landlord who does want to invest in rented property and maintain it in good condition.

“Indians do generally have extended, family so everyone chips in to purchase to buy a home with a huge deposit meaning less repayment in interest.

“Parents also believe having a good home will help in finding a good [matrimo­nial] match, while from an inheritance point view it makes sense to leave a tangi­ble asset for the next generation to enjoy.”

Kapasi noted incentives offered by the government to buy homes. These in­clude the Right To Buy scheme which enables council tenants and some housing associations to buy the council house they are living in at a discounted price.

The maximum right to buy discount is £108,000 in London and £80,900 for the rest of England.

Jo Sidhu QC, a leading criminal and human rights barrister of Indian origin, said the figures showed the culmination of decades of hard work and am­bition of a migrant community “who saved their wages and aimed high”.

He told Eastern Eye: “When my parents ar­rived here from India in the mid 1960s hardly any immigrants owned their home. They lived in a tiny rented bedroom with their two children.

“Home own­ership was always their dream. It gave them a sense of security and helped them to integrate and to feel part of Brit­ish society. But home ownership is just part of the wider integration of the Indian com­munity which has also proved its success in education, business and in the professions.

“All these achievements together rein­force our belief that the UK is the place we regard as our home.”

The success of Indian households bucks the overall trend as in every region in Eng­land except the North East, white Britons were more likely to be homeowners than all ethnic minority households combined.

And in every socio-economic group and age group, white British households were more likely to own their own homes than all ethnic minority households combined, the data showed.

Harmander Singh, a magistrate and homeowner in east London, said: “We have learned that in India, the older generation look after their kids who inherit their properties and look af­ter them.

“People have an extended family who have properties, similar to the Royal Family in fact, pooling our resources.

“It is in the DNA. Even among the young­er generation, when they get married they want their own home. Some would say it is materialistic, I would say it is sensible and that it is what I told my four kids, who have their own homes.”