A new study by former Conservative minister David Willetts has found that young people in Britain are spending three times more than their grandparents on housing, yet living in worse accommodation.
Those aged between 18-36 are typically spending 12 percent of their incomes on mortgages, compared to the average 5-10 percent in the 60s and 70s. Despite the extra costs, millennials are finding themselves in smaller and more crowded accommodation.
Resolution Foundation Senior Policy Analyst, Lindsay Judge, said: “Britain’s housing catastrophe has been 50 years in the making but while its effects are widespread it is millennials who are truly at the sharp end,”
“For older generations, at least rising housing costs have been accompanied by improvements in the quality and security of housing, as more families have been able to own their home.
“The big danger today is that young people are having to settle for lower quality, longer commutes and less security in order to afford a place to live, despite spending a record share of their income of housing.”
Housing is a prominent issue among politicians today. The Conservative manifesto promised to deliver one million homes by the end of 2020. It has been estimated that to keep up with demand, at least 250,000 houses would have to be built every year to keep with demand.
“This is the biggest problem facing the younger generation. It depresses their living standards and quality of life. It is very important for the Tory party to open up the route to home ownership again. A lot of twentysomethings also have horror stories of bad landlords and we need to help them as well.” said Willets intergenerational commission at the Resolution Foundation.
Dan Wilson Craw, director of campaign group Generation Rent, said about the new study: “Young adults have been hit with a double whammy of rising house prices which make ownership unaffordable, and rising rents which they cannot escape. The chorus of demands on the government to act decisively is getting louder, but it’s important not to neglect the growing numbers of older renters. Because getting a mortgage becomes harder beyond the age of 40, many face a lifetime of renting.
“Millions of people, young and old, are stuck renting for the foreseeable future and they need much greater security than the market currently provides, with protection from eviction and rising rents.”