Up to a third of millennials 'face renting their entire life'

A new report by the Resolution Foundation has found that up to a third of millennials will be living in rented accommodation for their whole lives.

The think tank said 40% of "millennials" - those born between 1980 and 1996 - were living in rented housing by the age of 30. That was twice as many as "generation X" - those born between 1965 and 1980.

You can read more on the story here.

What do you make of this? Do you think this will be true? Do you see yourself buying a house anytime soon?

(edited 6 years ago)

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Reply 1

Reiji

I guess more mass immigration could help

Reply 2

Duncan2012

UK home ownership rate 63.5%, Germany 51.9%, Switzerland 43.4%

I don't know why 'home ownership' is such a big deal in the UK. Do we all want to own a house? Yes. Can we all afford to? No. It sucks but it's life.

Reply 3

joey11223

I'm 27, owning with my partner (purchased a year ago roughly). I think a lot of it is where you live, here in the east midlands there are quite a few reasonably priced areas, for houses let alone flats. This house cost £126k (10% deposit which we saved by living with parents for a couple of years) and is 3 bedroom, areas considered not particularly desirable ( ex council estate) however there are much less desirable locations and it's absolutely fine tbh. Obviously alone I wouldn't have been able to be allowed to borrow this much, which I suppose is partly the issue as many do not settle down and look to buy a home at this time, however I can't see why most in their 30's wouldn't be able to bar in areas where even the cheapest of options are excruciatingly expensive.

Reply 4

fallen_acorns

i've said it before - housing should be the key rallying issue for young people all over the country. It should be the protest issue.

Its a perfect symbol for all of the other problems facing young people today - and whilst the problems are no greater then previous generations, those generations overcame theirs, whereas we are fighting the wrong battles.

Housing should be the rallying cry. Its easy to understand, its also reasonably easy to fix. Use it as the key issue, and then let the smaller issues follow.

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But instead the vast majority of young people are screaming and crying about all sorts of 'oppressive' *******s, rather than actually trying to fix the issue at hand.

It shouldn't even be a party issue. Neither party has a great recent record on housing policies that are friendly towards young people.. and neither party has a great solution for home ownership (I would say labour are better on their ideas for rental markets, but both are useless for home ownerships)

It should also be an issue that both sides of the political spectrum can unite on. For young conservatives, a home is the cornerstone of the conservative family ideal, and a key part in a persons ability to self-govern, away from the state. For liberals, home ownership is a great way to the reduce fianncial risks of the working class, its far more stable and cheaper then renting.

So why is it not happening? Why cant our generation actually tackle an issue that is dirrectly affecting us, now. That can be solved? That our politicians could fix, this year, if there was enough pressure?

Reply 5

Captain Haddock

Original post by Duncan2012

Germany and Switzerland actually have decent, well regulated rental sectors with rent controls, caps on rent increases, long term tenancies, and so on. In the UK you can rent a house. In Germany you can rent a home.

Reply 6

Good bloke

I'm not sure what the problem is here. A larger proportion of older people do not own their home, and always have. The headline should be Millennials have better chance of owning a home than their parents and grandparents.

Reply 7

Dez

Original post by Good bloke

This isn't true at all. In fact the higest rate of owner-occupancy is amongst the 65-74 age bracket (78%). Millenials aged 24-34 have an owner-occupancy rate of just 39%. And home ownership for under 34s has been in sharp decline since 2001.

Source: http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7706

Reply 8

shawn_o1

"Up to a third of up to a third of..." so, up to a ninth?

Reply 9

Chucke1992

Original post by fallen_acorns

Because the current generation prefers traveling all over the world and considers having an apartment as a shackle. That's why they want more "open borders" and "globalization"

Reply 10

Good bloke

Original post by Dez

This isn't true at all. In fact the higest rate of owner-occupancy is amongst the 65-74 age bracket (78%).

Hmm. I said parents and grandparents, not survivors of a subset of grandparents born on a Thursday within a ten year period and who inherited money long ago.

Reply 11

AngryJellyfish

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Original post by shawn_o1

"Up to a third of up to a third of..." so, up to a ninth?

Beat me to it. :grumble:

Reply 12

RoxxDavv

Original post by Captain Haddock

The UK is a mess when it comes to things like this.

Reply 13

Dez

Original post by Good bloke

Hmm. I said parents and grandparents, not survivors of a subset of grandparents born on a Thursday within a ten year period and who inherited money long ago.

The statistics do not justify your statement, no matter how you prefer to word it. Under-34s have the worst owner-occupancy rate we've seen in decades.

Reply 14

fallen_acorns

Original post by Dez

The statistics do not justify your statement, no matter how you prefer to word it. Under-34s have the worst owner-occupancy rate we've seen in decades.

Since home-ownership was fought for and liberated at the start of the 20th century.

I think that's what a lot of people don't fully understand.. just how much of a battle and an achievement it was to liberate the population, and allow them to own their own small part of the country.

at the start of the 19th century, and before - home ownership overall was less then 20%, sometimes less then 10% - We were a nation of renters, of peasants, serfs, etc. who lived on the land owned by our betters..

We did away with that, we ended it and brought about really positive, liberating change, that allowed huge social mobility.

and now we are going back???

This is what pisses me off, of all the equality, social-mobility issues that young people should be fighting for.. the decline in home ownership and the reversal of one of our countries biggest social changes of the past century, should be right at the top of the list.

Reply 15

Good bloke

Original post by Dez

The statistics do not justify your statement, no matter how you prefer to word it. Under-34s have the worst owner-occupancy rate we've seen in decades.

Have you looked at what proportion of older people owned houses when they were under 34? Your favoured cohort of 65-74 year-olds, for instance?

Reply 16

username3079870

I also think some people, if they really wanted a house, are being really fussy about where they live and work in the UK. Get out of London and SE England there are some very affordable places. Of course I am assuming owning a house is the main priority of the person. I get there are other reasons people might not want to move.

FWIW, as someone who recently sold a house and is renting until they find a nice place to buy, I've noticed I have a lot more money in my pocket each month renting and a lot less headaches. I know some people who've sold houses and are renting and wild horses couldn't get them to buy a house again.

Reply 17

Dez

Original post by Good bloke

Have you looked at what proportion of older people owned houses when they were under 34? Your favoured cohort of 65-74 year-olds, for instance?

I'm not your research monkey. You're the one making an unsubstantiated claim here, not me. I've already linked you to a report showing what the current situation is, and while the stats in there only go back as far as '96 you can clearly see owner-occupancy for under-34s has dropped (was around 52%, has dropped to 30% in the past two decades). If you want more definitive evidence then you can go and look it up yourself.

Reply 18

Good bloke

Original post by Dez

So you are happy to compare apples with pears and arrive at a conclusion that melons are disadvantaged.

Reply 19

NonIndigenous

Original post by Danny Dorito

Yep, and on the BBC this morning they invited another feminist rambling about how she wants to be a "strong induhpendent womyn" and have a house all to herself. This is also part of the problem, and doesn't apply just to women either. People living individually is expensive AF, compared to more collective arrangements, such as just a regular family house.

If more people owned their own properties, perhaps the number of communist sympathizers would go down, and we'd have some more normality in politics. This is what happens when wealth disparity grows, and the people complaining aren't necessarily wrong about the problems (though the solutions, are another matter).

The principle's simple: if you own your own property, you'd vote against a party threatening to take it away. If you don't own one, you're more likely to vote in favor of the government taking property away from others.