Getting a mortgage with your partner is a bigger commitment than having children or getting married for almost half of the regions of the UK, according to a study carried out by Online Mortgage Advisor.
2,310 Britons aged 18 and over were quizzed about what they felt were the biggest relationship commitments. The respondents were then asked what they considered to be the biggest commitment and provided with a list of milestones including having children, getting married and getting a joint mortgage. They were asked to select the commitment that they felt showed the most commitment. The results are as follows:
· East of England – having a mortgage together (42%) (considered to be the biggest commitment)
· London – having a mortgage together (41%)
· Scotland – getting married (41%)
· North West – having a child (38%)
· East Midlands – having a mortgage together (37%)
· South East – getting married (33%)
· Wales – having a mortgage together (30%)
· Yorkshire and the Humberside – having a child (29%)
· South West – having a child (29%)
· North East – having a mortgage together (26%)
· Northern Ireland – having a child (24%)
· West Midlands – getting married (24%)
According to the poll, of those who stated that they considered having a mortgage together to be the biggest commitment that they could make within their relationship, as opposed to having children, the top reason cited was that “sharing finances requires a lot of trust” (36%), while a further 21% stated that “you can always get divorced if a marriage doesn’t work out”. One in 10 (11%) also stated that they would “be happy to be a single parent” if a relationship fell apart.
