Should young people get on property ladder?
THERE has been a lot of talk this week about the number of young people who won’t ever be able to afford to buy their own house, with reports suggesting that up to a third will never buy property.
This raises two big questions. The first one is “how do we make the housing market more affordable for young first time buyers?” and the second is “should we be in such a rush to own property in the first place?”
Neither of these questions is easy to answer but while we spend lots of time and effort in discussing the first of them, we tend to gloss over the second.
There still seems to be an unquestionable assumption that young people should buy a property as soon as they can, and that somehow their life is incomplete if they are still renting.
It’s a very British thing and it started in the 80s when the council housing stock was sold off to a whole new generation of house owners, and the idea of making money from simply owing a property was born for millions of us.
It’s creating a real pressure on the younger generation today. I read somewhere this week that just under half of 18-24 year olds feel under pressure to buy a property, as opposed to one third of the population as a whole.
That’s not good, when they should be thinking about enjoying life after school or university and getting used to earning their own money, perhaps moving away from the family home for the first time.
Perhaps it’s time to concentrate on the second question a bit more.
Sure, there are things wrong with the housing market, too many for me to address in one whole newspaper never mind one page, but perhaps we should be a bit more chilled about the idea of owning our first home.
Take the time to build up enough money to do it comfortably rather than rush to borrow as much as you can, putting yourself under even more pressure.
■Check your credit report before applying for a new loan or mortgage. ■Check the position of your router if you’re not getting a good broadband signal.