It doesn’t feel like an unrealistic expectation in the current housing market, does it? That you’ll be waiting until your 40’s until you’re able to afford your own home? Despite the economy going through quite a bit of trouble right now, there’s not much indication that house prices or demand are dropping in line with people’s financial struggles.
As per commentary in the Evening Standard, whilst it’s widely expected there will be a slowdown in price growth, that’s looking likely to sit around the 3-5% mark, rather than actually dropping.
According to Nick Whitten, JLL’s Head of UK Residential and Living Research, the chance of a crash is still low.
Whitten said: “Since the Second World War there have been just four occasions when UK house prices have seen a sustained fall — and on each of those occasions there was a spike in unemployment leading to many sellers being forced to sell the home they could no longer afford.
“However, currently UK unemployment is at 3.8 per cent and the number of job vacancies has reached a record high of 1.3 million. We do not expect a crash.”
That may come as disappointing news to those who rent and, seeing the difficult economic climate, may have hoped that house prices would drop, however, you’re not alone.
Will you be able to afford your own home?
New research, as published in The Mirror, suggests a majority of young renters feel exactly the same.
The article reported “The study of 2,000 adults, who are currently or have previously rented, also found nearly half (48%) of renters can’t currently afford to put a deposit down.
And over a third (34%) blame the rising cost-of-living as the reason it’s become even more difficult to afford your own home.
Another one in ten (11%) find it easier to rent in the area they want to live in – but can’t afford to buy there.”
It also revealed that as many as a quarter don’t believe they’ll buy before their 50’s, and 13% think they’ll be pensioners before that time.
With that in mind, there’s lots of reasons to be cheerful about renting.
Reasons to be cheerful
Many renters who’ve been surveyed say that they prefer to rent than buy due to the added freedom of being able to move when they want to, as well as not being responsible for maintenance and other ongoing costs of property ownership.
Many surveyed also said that finding a rental property was made easier by using professional letting agents and services that made the process much less stressful.
If you’re looking for rental properties, why not get in touch with an expert today?
