Generation of tenants face huge rent bills

MILLENNIALS face paying £44,000 more on rent typically by the time they turn 30 than the baby boomer generation, analysis from a think-tank has found.

The Resolution Foundation said a combination of falling home ownership levels among the younger generation and rising costs in the private rented sector have fuelled the increase.

The young generation of under-35s also face paying around £25,000 more on rent by the time they hit 30 than the generation immediately above them – generation X.

Around 60% of the generation X cohort of 35 to 50-yearolds had climbed onto the property ladder by the time they reached 30, whereas around 42% of millennials manage to become home owners by the age of 30.

The report said that close to two-thirds (63%) of baby boomers – those aged over 50 and up to 70 years old – owned their home by the time they were 30.

It said: “Decades of falling housebuilding and rising house prices have reduced home ownership for subsequent generations.”

The Foundation looked at Office for National Statistics (ONS) data as well as figures from Halifax to make the findings. The calculations were made in today’s prices and the figures used cover the UK.

It said the extra money spent on renting has reduced young people’s living standards and made it harder to save to buy a home of their own.