What age did you buy your first house

Rent is just a waste of money

rent can be an excellant use of money.

It really isn't in a falling housing market, rent can be an excellant use of money.

But there is no prospect of a falling housing market in UK due to demand outstripping supply by so much.OP is talking about now not in the abstract.

Can you explain why you think this? I've never heard renting described like this before.

Demand has outstripped supply over the last couple of years. In a rising interest rate environment that's not a given.

Working through my personal example....
One bed semi detached with lounge. Sole occupancy. In WA3.

From Sept 2008 to Aug 2013 I paid
Year 1: £425 x 12 = £5,100
Year 2: £400 x 12 = £4,800 (I negotiated the rent down)
Year 3: £400 x 12 = £4,800
Year 4: £410 x 12 = £4,920
Year 5: £425 x 12 = £5,100
Total for period: £24,720
Moved job/city. Stayed at a freinds for three weeks and couple weeks holiday, gave freind £150 'rent'
Oct '13 to March '14: £430 x 6 = £2,580
Total: £27,450

I did consider buying a place when I moved to Warrington after graduating. One bed flats were about £100k, I had £30k in the bank - earning 6% in my ISA. In Sept '08, base rate was 5.0%. A two year fix was 6.5%.

I'd have paid+lost interest of roughly:
Year 1: £6,250
Year 2: £6,000 (cut in ISA interest)
Year 3: £2,000 (remortgage to two year 3% deal)
Year 4: £2,000
Year 5: £1,500 (remortgage again at lower rate)
Total for period: £17,750

So I'd have paid £7k less in interest over those first five years than I paid in rent, right? Winning! No.

Those three mortgage arrangements would've likely cost £1,000 between them (if not more). I'd have had to have paid either buildings insurance or service charge, again being generous that'd be just another grand. So over the five years the saving of paying interest rather than rent would've been about five grand.

However, between Sept '08 and Aug '13 prices fell 15-20%. What I could've bought for £100k in Sept '08 could be bought for £85k. So I'd have been £10k worse off.

Then factor in I had five years use of the boiler, cooker, fridge/freezer, bathroom, carpet ect.

Over 25 years our mortgage has gone up and down. My friend stayed renting but by 48 I owned my house which has increased by a magnitude of 12 and live rent and mortgage free. Friend still has to find rent every month and not getting any younger.