Why don’t people understand that not everyone wants to buy a house?

I am wondering however all those that are paying sky high rents are going to be able to afford it once they retire

The OP has invested her deposit

Not fully true, sure 3million pound flats have lost value but lots of London still remains a good buy.
I just recently sold adamant made 250k on a flat I owned for 6 years. It enabled me to buy a nicer home than I could have afforded purely through savings.
“smart people rent” is so one dimensional.

It depends on lifestyle and family too, if I was 25 and wanted to move all the time renting would be fine, but being 35 and having kids means I want security that renting just never offers.

Easy to say that if you are a council tenant on low rent and everything covered for you, those people are indeed laughing. I am wondering however all those that are paying sky high rents are going to be able to afford it once they retire. So no asset and still having to pay rent. They’ve been going on about pensions today, this must be forming part of their thinking in making people work longer. Many don’t have pension savings or an asset in the form of a house.

@WhereIsMyLight the future looks so depressing

I think its a given that these discussions and conversations dont apply to those with assured tenancies, its people in the private rental market that this is about.

No one in their right mind would give up a HA or social housing rental, its for life, its cheap and UC housing element covers it all if you find yourself out of work. Its a no brainer.

It is fair to advice if it comes naturally in conversation when someone is wondering about it. If you are commenting on someone's "looking to rent" post, you're not trying to help. The example about expensive flat is something I witnessed a few years ago. My brother bought a flat in a building that everyone knows is expensive. He said in a group and the first response from someone was "but you'd get a house with more bedrooms in [few towns over]". Similar thing happens when people buy a house from the smaller cheaper towns around our big city, they have an urge to justify why that place is so much better than the major city where they used to rent. Interesting phenomenon.

Anyone choosing and planning to privately rent in the UK for the rest of their lives, when they could easily buy, is very foolish. Especially if they have children. Rents are only going to fry higher than higher, and even with the forthcoming RRB, you still have to live with the insecurity that the homeowner can kick you out for one of many reasons. Obviously it’s a different ball game in social housing.

London property has definitely slowed down particularly flats. Historically so much of the market was driven by equity which has been harder for newer entrants to build. Add in wage stagnation, frozen tax bands it's not a great picture. The main issue is our ageing population, the government will want more of us to save more into pensions.

Well yes, because they are rich. Also likely to be fairly short term renters.

I have rented places for work because I knew I’d only be there for a finite time.

If I planned to stay put for a substantial period I’d buy. I wouldn’t pay someone else’s mortgage.

There’s a group of people who seem to think that if they just hang on they will beat the market, there’s a big crash coming and all the idiots who bought high will be forced to sell cheap and they’ll get a bargain.

unfortunately they have existed for some time and are still waiting for their moment. Broadly when they post on here or other sites they are very much “we know better than you, just you wait”

buy a house, buy it to live in, live in it. Prices go up and down but the security of ownership doesn’t go away. It’s a home not necessarily an investment

That's it though, never going to happen. Same with the social housing near where I live. Beautiful houses but wouldn't ever be in with a chance of owning one. They are lovely big properties.

It makes more sense to buy because when you reach retirement the house will be paid off and no mortgage to pay where as when renting you’ll still be paying that till you die. I know that’s the obvious reason and people will already know that. If you’re investing money now to buy later in life outright I do see the point in that but I don’t see the benefit of renting forever

There are times when renting is absolutely preferable. Early in your career and open to moving to where the jobs are, definitely. Short term job opportunities, definitely. Moving to a new area and not sure of the area, again great. If you have a secure tenancy such as housing association, or are a student.

There are also other countries where home ownership isn’t that big of a deal. Mostly because these countries have legislation protecting renters, decent healthcare and generally a good social state. Which is completely different to the UK.

Many people in the UK are very risk adverse to renting in the long term. We have a healthcare system that is buckling, education system on its knees. We have a huge welfare bill that we cannot afford, a large proportion of which is the state pension. We have a lack of private and social housing. We have had successive governments that haven’t prioritised house building, promoted the UK housing market as an investment source for foreign investors and turned a blind eye to developers. As such, we have leaky housing stock, not enough houses and we’re paying a fortune for these houses. Landlords have got Buy to Let mortgages and still feel they need a profit after the mortgage and interest on that property are paid. We have generations of people who have not invested enough into private pensions. So for most of the UK, home ownership takes out long term uncertainty around their future and how they will be housed into their retirement. Most people work towards paying a mortgage off before retirement so their pension does not have to go to their housing costs.

If homeownership isn’t for you, that’s your decision but there are a number of reasons why people in the UK do want to own their own home and it is a goal they actively work towards.

It's a UK thing for whatever reason but plenty of very rich people rent

Where do you live where you can simply decide you want a council house and pick up the keys?

If you've done your sums then YANBU. People naturally invest in property because it's fairly low risk and anyone can do it. And you need somewhere to live so it makes sense, but I absolutely agree that if you know what you're doing your money can work better for you elsewhere.

My daughter was lucky enough to get a little housing association house with a garden. She loves it, she is not in a very well paid job but can afford the rent. For her it is her safe place. She suffers from anxiety and she has peace of mind in knowing that if there are ever any problems with her house, the HA will sort them for her. For her owning her own home would give her anxiety. Home ownership is not for everyone.

Because it will go back up

There's no incentive to buying a house anymore. If you are a council tenant, you get all repairs covered for you, no need to buy a new roof etc.

I have never seen a superiority like this. And people advising on buying being better arent saying that because they think they're better, its just basic economic preference and sense, generally speaking (of course there are caveats).

OP sorry for the hijack but did you used to be ‘tarantula’ on here many years ago?

Eventhough I earlier said that I'll buy one day and buying might be sensible etc. I do have to say that the comments are annoying as is the superiority of owners. Just today a friend had posted on Facebook about looking for a flat to rent and there were people commenting "why arent you buying?" And "no need to waste money on rent if you just buy" and "with that money you could pay your own mortgage". Just so unnecessary.

Once you become an owner then becomes a pecking order depending what type of house you own. Flat owners are at the bottom and they're questioned about when they will buy a house. If you buy an expensive flat then the comments start again "with that money you could have bought a 5 bed house in the middle of nowhere". It is never good enough.

The market is falling so it's a really bad time to buy anyway. I'm currently looking, more for practical reasons but nothing is taking my fancy, for how expensive houses are I want to be wowed and I'm often left just sort of shrugging it off. I have a house.mortgage paid off which I would also keep as well, so I suppose I'm not having my hand forced but I just wish there was something worth getting excited about. For the money, I want to absolutely love it. Struggling to find anything at all like that. I keep seeing houses overseas that are beautiful for a fraction of the price.

Not they are not the same, at the end of say 25 years renting you will not own the house and still have to pay even more expensive rent compared to a mortgage where at the end of 25 years (assuming that the term) you own the house and don't have to make any rent or mortgage payments.

This means at retirement age when you slow down or stop working resulting in lower income your expenses are also lower because you don't have a mortgage or rent to pay.

What OP is suggesting works if the funds are invested for the 25 years but in reality life happens and part of not all of the money will be spent on one thing or the other and there is no guarantee that the investments will grow as fast and consistently as planned

Property always makes money in the long term regardless of short term fluctuations. Renting is always dead money.

I wouldn’t want to be subject to landlords (and I am one). I bought my first property at just turned 23. No regrets.

First and foremost your home should be a place of security, not purely an investment. It doesn’t really matter what happens to the value short term. A few % here or there means nothing. But over 20 or 30 years they always increase.