Growing share of under-30s in UK pay unaffordable rent – BBC News

People under 30 in the UK are facing a growing cost-of-renting crisis, new figures seen by the BBC suggest.

Four in 10 of this age group are now spending more than 30% of their pay on rent, a five-year high according to the data.

Experts say spending this level of income on rental costs is unaffordable.

While London has the highest rents, affordability has worsened in towns such as Rotherham and Bolton, in Northern England, for young people since the pandemic.

#Rent #CostOfLiving #BBCNews

[hunnerdayEDT]

Worldwide it’s seems to be consistent these days: landlords are being crazy greedy and governments are being complacent

[daza]

People are expected to pay this outrageous rent yet can't get a mortgage it's pathetic

[nicolasbenson]

For newbies, be aware that this is a grossly oversimplified scenario. For one thing, you can't get a mortgage on an investment property without at least 25% down payment. Two, it's easy to see comps for house purchase prices, but it takes a lot of research to understand the comps on rent prices. The trick is to find a place where renting is more expensive than buying, but those places are less common because of this very type of scenario. Three, you have to remember that rent number he's using is supposed to be net income, not gross. So you have to think about costs for taxes, insurance, maintenance and vacancy when you're researching investments. All that said, real estate investing is a good tool for wealth accumulation. But it isn't foolproof.

[pollytiks]

It’s not just young people. Here in the States, the rate of homelessness among seniors is rising at an alarming rate.
I believe the “landlords” are making up for losing capital during the pandemic, and because they can raise rent to whatever level they want. People gotta live somewhere. It’s galling to think that property moguls buy up buildings, get renters to pay for it, so they can buy more buildings. Meanwhile, opportunities for individual home ownership are diminishing.

[riccardocerolini]

This is truly an increasing problem which we (people of my generation) start to feel tired to bear... I'm on my early thirties and I live in London.
I spent the most of my years as an adolescent and an adult sharing apartments or flats and on top of that I never even enjoyed the luxury of a living room! I know we can still consider ourselves a privileged generation but to put a person in condition to pay almost 2000 pound + utilities for a flat is just crazy and highlights the greed of some owners who have no legitimacy in raising the rents.

[franh]

Can I just say that it's not just under 30s? It's pushed up to people well into their thirties and beyond.

[stevec]

Rent prices are insane. My neighbour rents a house identical to mine and his rent is three times my mortgage payments. It's hardly surprising they can't afford to save a deposit

[gkelly]

Absolute disgrace, when young people can’t get access to capital in a capitalist society we’ve got a major problem brewing.

[ES-enxd]

Maggie Thatcher said that people should have a right to own their own house. They then sold the council houses off and didn’t build new council houses, which then increased the price of house’s for those who have two or more properties. A complete con because what happened to the money the councils received for the council houses and where did they build more council properties?

[Palinghufter]

Same problem in the Netherlands. It's impossible, especially if you are single to get an affordable place.

[KhanNakash]

Nobody for the past 20 or 30 years has done anything to address why property has become so expensive. It's because too many people have insanely profited from house price inflation.

Every person I know who bought a house in the 80s, that same house is worth a minimum of 15x more than what they paid for it. Unfortunately salaries have not risen 15x.

Property has become a BUSINESS! Not a vital human right. The average person would rather invest in bricks and mortar than a hard working business that employs others.

We have a corrupt system and hard working British people who were born here and would love to spend their lives here are being forced to leave.

[thedoruk]

This is the 'new' future designated for most young population unfortunately. They will either force people off to live in entirely rural areas if possible or homeless shelters

[majorskies]

Even those who have graduated with respectable degrees in high payng jobs are struggling because starting pay is so low and they will have to spend ages, may many years to get into senior position.

[cryptomaniac]

flats in our building increased by £350 per month (£1400 -> £1750). More than 10 flats have been sitting vacant for months now. They could have just lowered the rent a bit and still get tenants. Crazy.

[victoremmanuel]

The housing crisis in England and the UK is broken down and needs complete government intervention before it gets critical worsen. Rent and bills are 100% higher than people wages.

[AliceP.]

We are always struggling to adjust what's been and done in the past with the consequences of it for young people, completely dismissing the next generations and thus condemned to repeat the cicle over and over. If our parents had a decent job in their 20s, in their 30s they could buy a house with their partner and have the middle class dream. We grew up hearing that, only to find out that now you need a phD and years of experience to be able to... Pay rent. While we figure this out, some big issue is slowly cooking for the next generation to deal with. But we can only tell them what we learned, and they won't know what to do.

[sarahgale]

It's ridiculous. I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to get more hours or a higher wage but I'm still only earning a bit over £1200/month. I pay 2/3rds of that on a one-bed apartment, non-inclusive of bills. That remaining 400/month is split between water, gas, electric, food and council tax. We would not be able to survive without UC payments and even then money is really tight. We do not have savings.

[turingsam]

Encouraging full-remote work could really help revitalising decaying areas, where cost of living and rent is much lower. Highly qualified individuals could act as an economic multiplier and generate service jobs on those areas.

[myigity]

Same in Istanbul, Turkey. Young people have got to live with their parents and can't get married...

[deadby]

When I was living in NYC, about 70% of my income went to the Rent.