OPINION: Many young people in Kilkenny giving up on dreams of owning their own homes

In order for a young person to be able to save for a mortgage deposit in the current climate, a veritable flock of ducks need to be in a row.

If you’re already paying rent for a property, whilst trying to save up for a deposit, your ability to save for your own deposit is being unmercifully bludgeoned.

For those who are blessed enough to be able to stay with family members or friends while they accrue enough capital for a deposit, other challenges present themselves.

If a first-time buyer is seriously considering taking out a mortgage and purchasing a property, they realistically need a partner.

If you don’t yet have a partner, or if you or your partner are going through a rough patch in your individual careers, you could end up being refused by prospective lenders.

The ever-rising cost of living and utilities is also relentlessly eating away at the amount of money prospective buyers can put aside.

On top of all this, property prices show no sign of reversing any time soon, meaning that the average amount needed for a mortgage deposit is also always on the rise.

Not only are property prices still climbing, but rent prices are too, further snookering those who are trying to save while renting.

It has come to the stage where repaying a mortgage, in most parts of the country, is now less expensive than paying rent.

Many people who are around my age, late twenties, have just essentially succumbed to the notion that they’ll ‘never be able’ to afford their own home.

Many feel defeated and hopeless, and home ownership seems like an insurmountable objective.

When I look around at the new private housing developments being built locally, I see predominantly lavish properties.

These seem to be built for buyers who are already firmly on the property ladder.

Although our local authority, like others across the country, have launched affordable purchase schemes for properties, a lot of prospective buyers still can’t make the leap.

Many of the properties on the affordable purchase scheme are three-bed properties, but there’s a huge need out there for private one and two-bed apartments and housing.

The process of even applying for a mortgage from a bank or lender is daunting, with endless background checks, forms for employers to sign off on and personal paperwork.

Better make sure your credit history is in check. That car repayment you missed a few months back? That might just cost you a mortgage.

If you finally do get your mortgage approval, then you better get ready to face up to the likely reality of being outbid on a property that seemed like ‘the one’.

In the meantime, your mortgage approval offer has a time limit, and if you don’t secure a property within the limit, you’ll have to re-apply for an extension.

Make sure to keep the wallet handy for all those legal fees too, you’ll definitely need a few grand (chump change, no?) to make sure they’re covered.

Then there’s the mortgage protection insurance that needs to be taken out (a prerequisite for most lenders) and home insurance to sort out.

As it stands, there are an awful lot of people in their 30s renting without an opportunity to even build up pensions, let alone mortgage deposits.

What’s going to happen in a few decades when we have an outpouring of people with no pensions and no houses who are now retired and not able to afford rent anymore?

I guess I’m starting to think too far ahead. We can’t even seem to sort out the here and now.