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Original poster

So what happens when we're all old and we don't own our homes?

514 replies

user8665410 · 20/08/2023 09:31

Genuine question.

I'm a millennial with no hopes of ever buying a property despite earning a decent income.

There are many in my situation.

What happens when we're all in our 70s, 80s and 90s - which we will be because medical technology keeps letting us live longer - and no longer able to work. Where will we live? Who will support us? Will we just get kicked out of our homes we've been renting for (potentially) decades??

My current rent is £2,585.00, the State won't be supporting that I'm sure.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
cherrypieintheskyyyy · 20/08/2023 11:18

And before anyone jumps on me, we have all had it worse than the last generation (or mainly the boomers). It's absolute shit. When I think of how hard I have to work to afford our house etc and how both my parents retired early (not from a rich background either!!!!) and I will have to work until I'm 70 I feel sick.

frippu · 20/08/2023 11:19

I think people not affording to buy is worse for the next generation not millennials. Those in their 20s now are fucked.

Some millennials are in their 20s!!

FlyingSoap · 20/08/2023 11:19

We’re renting in a ‘rent to buy’ HA property designed for first time buyers earning under 80k combined. Nearly 2 years into the tenancy, and the initial agreement on the rightmove listing was renting a new build at a 20% discount with the option to buy st the end of 5 years. I don’t know if this means we could continue to rent cheaply after the five years or what. If we can stay forever I guess if we only had one child we would be fine here. Maybe more housing association and affordable rent properties is the answer

We will own - one day - but it feels out of reach for our 20s. Our parents are older so we want to TTC soon so we can enjoy all those family times & our kids can go on days out with active grandparents/all holiday together etc. It does mean having a child in rented which was never the aim but the interest rates are so stupid, if we bought a 2 bed the same size as the one we are renting we would be paying an eye watering 700 a month more at the moment for the mortgage vs our cheap rent. I know that £700 will be needed when income drops through maternity leave and the early years

It’s tough. We both work, decent jobs, we should be able to buy but I truly don’t know how young people <25 are going to do it these days if they’ve not already bought.
Things are going to have to change. Gone are the days you could get on the ladder with a starter property, cuz the landlords bought them all or the people in them now can’t afford to sell on.

PuckyMup · 20/08/2023 11:20

AcesBaseballbat · 20/08/2023 10:50

Haha, OMG the out of touch home owners going "wow that's an insane fortune, you must be renting a literal palace" really prove that the divide between clueless privileged homeowners and people stuck in the rental market is unbroachable.

I pay £2300 for a two-bedroom flat in a shitty tower block in Woolwich which is in zone 4, 45 mins to London, and a very dodgy and violent area with a lot of gang crime and murders.

£2500 is pretty standard for a decent 2-bed flat anywhere even vaguely in a good area in London. You can find 2-bed flats for around £2k but less than £2k, you're almost certainly going to be looking at one-bed flats or studio.

A family house in central London would be £4k a month bare minimum. Unless you go somewhere really shitty.

For example, I just did a search for 4-bed houses in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, there was ONE house for rent that was £4k, and then the next cheapest was $5200. The average family house in Kensington rents for around $6k a month.

Same for northwest London. Cheapest family house around 3.5-4k a month, with average price being around £6k a month.

Renting a single room in a shared house in Kensington is over a grand a month. There are student flats in Kensington renting at £4k a month.

£2500 is NOT expensive for rent, that's just how much rent costs in cities these days. Renting a small flat anywhere in a major city is expensive, it just is what renting costs.

Not everyone can go move to a cottage in a tiny village somewhere super rural with no public transport, just to be able to rent somewhere cheap! And if we all did that, prices in your lovely villages would soar and we'd all get the blame. Exactly how welcoming are these small cheap villages to outsiders, anyway? Is there a wide range of different jobs and careers available?

I pay £2300 and certainly would not be able to afford a house, why on earth would anyone think that?

Same in Jersey. Find if you’re in finance but if you’re not.. absolutely not a chance of buying (or saving..)

cherrypieintheskyyyy · 20/08/2023 11:21

Some millennials are in their 20s!!

My bad. But either way, anyone in their 20s (millennial or not) is fucked.

OddBoots · 20/08/2023 11:21

Tinysoxx · 20/08/2023 10:28

I think a lot will move into student accommodation (ie a en-suite small bedroom with shared kitchen/living room). There’s loads of that being built at the moment and I can’t see that being sustainable either.

I think this too.

My dd is in this kind of accommodation as a "young professional" and there are lots of people of various ages living there, I have not noticed any pensioners but certainly people in their 40s. I can see it increasing. DD's is as you describe with a shared kitchen but a lot are in studios so they have their own (very small) kitchen.

It isn't a terrible option, the block has a cinema room, a gym and a number of social areas/meeting rooms/libraries to meet friends so you aren't stuck in your room.

cherrypieintheskyyyy · 20/08/2023 11:23

God I feel old now. I hadn't realised I was one of the older millennials!

frippu · 20/08/2023 11:23

Acesbaseball - But you still chose that career so you can't complain that you can only work in London. There are plenty of cheaper areas to move to and commute in to London, who said anything about moving to a tiny village.

I hate this narrative. Why should people have to move? I'm a born & raised Londoner who is a 2nd gen immigrant, with no ties to any other part of the country. There's always uproar about the locals priced out of other areas but not London.

I'm lucky, I had significant help to get on the ladder so can afford to stay. What's the end game if everyone on normal incomes moves out? London needs nurses, teachers etc.

Jackienory · 20/08/2023 11:24

Isn't Starmers' policy to concrete over the greenbelt ?

frippu · 20/08/2023 11:24

@cherrypieintheskyyyy tbh I think there should be a subset for the older millennials as they will have had a very different experience to those a bit younger.

MelonsOnSaleAgain · 20/08/2023 11:25

It always staggers me that people are having to pay rent like the rates in the OP and a bank won’t consider them for a mortgage, when I pay a mortgage almost £1000 a month less for my house.

if you’re consistently able to pay that sum then you can afford a mortgage. It’s totally messed up that one of the biggest things stopping purchases is that many people just can’t save a large chunk of money.

there must be a way to banks could choose to arrange a mortgage in those circumstances such that your mortgage is X assuming a deposit of Y but you overpay for x months to pay that deposit. So someone like Op would pay a mortgage assuming 90% LTV and that would be say £1500. But for 18 months would continue to pay at current rent level (£2500) and then that is the deposit sorted.

i just used those figures as an example, but it feels like there is not the will to support people to buy. We need to change how we do things to help people.

FlyingSoap · 20/08/2023 11:26

The problem is the domino effect this has on everything else is colossal, and most people haven’t stopped to appreciate it

Take for instance my parents. Both earning averagely/good at the time. Circa 25 years ago they bought their forever home, and it was a stretch. Salaries for those professions haven’t changed greatly today - talking maybe £10k more combined income per year
That house which they now own outright is worth 4.5 times what they bought it for.

If they were to try and buy a house today with the size mortgage they had then, all they would afford would be a one bed flat. How do you begin to raise a family of children to adulthood… you’ve got to stop at one child, right? Or if you want a bigger house it’s more of your disposable income and less holidays, less experiences, less help to adult children…

Tbh I can’t even imagine what is going to happen for Gen Z and the generations below

Overthebow · 20/08/2023 11:28

How old are you OP? I’m assuming you are a younger millennial in your twenties as I’m a mid-millennial and everyone I know has been able to buy in the South East. We all worked our way up and bought a small house first, but it was doable. We also benefitted from years of low interest. The rent you pay is very high though, you need to downsize and/or move to a cheaper area to save up for a deposit.

1983Louise · 20/08/2023 11:28

The Government will keep putting up retirement age and I'm guessing they'll hope everyone dies before retirement 🙄..........

DuesToTheDirt · 20/08/2023 11:29

clarebear111 · 20/08/2023 09:42

In my dark moments, I can see a return of something akin to a poor house or some other institution.

Housing really is the thread that runs through everything in this country. It simply should not cost what it does but what we do in light of that is a mystery to me.

I think some kind of government control on housing is needed - it won't happen though, too many vested interests.

Read about what is happening in Lisbon - high rents that people can't afford, empty properties, but still the rents don't come down.

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/portugal-could-force-property-owners-to-rent-out-vacant-homes

Wintersgirl · 20/08/2023 11:32

My current rent is £2,585.00

Where do you live?

peasblue · 20/08/2023 11:32

@frippu they are shocking stats, I'm not denying it is shitter for most and shittest for many, maybe I am taking the OP too literally, but from those stats 2/3 of millennials will, which is my point really, so I'm not sure we can call that the cliff edge that means there will be a majority of people renting in retirement which is what the OP is trying to discuss? I'm not really seeking to comfort them but try to discuss the situation.

That said housing is just one prong to this, something else millennials have to worry about are pensions and state pension age.

Grimbelina · 20/08/2023 11:33

Kendodd
Basically, you're fucked.
I'm older, had an easy ride through life simply because the rules/times favoured me, it didn't work any harder blar, blar, blar despite what plenty of my generation will tell you. In fact I bet I worked less hard than most these days.
I'd be marching in the streets if I were you demanding a better deal.

Agreed. I have had an easy ride too... partly because my parents, economic migrants and barely literate but hard working (at least my father was) and lucky enough to just miss WWII and be in good health, lived in the south east, made some canny property investments and ended up quite wealthy.

They insisted it wasn't luck, it was just their working hard etc. but that's rubbish. They may have had tough childhoods in some respects but don't seem particularly scarred by this. I wish they could realise their good fortune as I do.

anyolddinosaur · 20/08/2023 11:33

By the time you get to 70 climate change will have so fucked up everything that you'll be worrying about where to migrate to get food and water. There will be no free health care and those over 70 will be encouraged to report for voluntary euthanasia or killed off by the latest virus. Covid was probably not the practise run but something similar will be released.

Or maybe the government will develop pod houses for you with a bed, a tv screen, a microwave, a shower and a lift to get you up to your pod..

Original poster
user8665410 · 20/08/2023 11:33

AcesBaseballbat · 20/08/2023 10:50

Haha, OMG the out of touch home owners going "wow that's an insane fortune, you must be renting a literal palace" really prove that the divide between clueless privileged homeowners and people stuck in the rental market is unbroachable.

I pay £2300 for a two-bedroom flat in a shitty tower block in Woolwich which is in zone 4, 45 mins to London, and a very dodgy and violent area with a lot of gang crime and murders.

£2500 is pretty standard for a decent 2-bed flat anywhere even vaguely in a good area in London. You can find 2-bed flats for around £2k but less than £2k, you're almost certainly going to be looking at one-bed flats or studio.

A family house in central London would be £4k a month bare minimum. Unless you go somewhere really shitty.

For example, I just did a search for 4-bed houses in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, there was ONE house for rent that was £4k, and then the next cheapest was $5200. The average family house in Kensington rents for around $6k a month.

Same for northwest London. Cheapest family house around 3.5-4k a month, with average price being around £6k a month.

Renting a single room in a shared house in Kensington is over a grand a month. There are student flats in Kensington renting at £4k a month.

£2500 is NOT expensive for rent, that's just how much rent costs in cities these days. Renting a small flat anywhere in a major city is expensive, it just is what renting costs.

Not everyone can go move to a cottage in a tiny village somewhere super rural with no public transport, just to be able to rent somewhere cheap! And if we all did that, prices in your lovely villages would soar and we'd all get the blame. Exactly how welcoming are these small cheap villages to outsiders, anyway? Is there a wide range of different jobs and careers available?

I pay £2300 and certainly would not be able to afford a house, why on earth would anyone think that?

Yes exactly. We live in a 2 bed flat with DC. It's nice but far from luxurious or a palace!!

We don't have a car/s, so it's not like we can move to the suburbs or countryside any time soon.

OP posts:
Springingintosummer · 20/08/2023 11:35

As a young professional, I lived in a house of multiple occupancy - had a small room with 4 or 5 others. Cheaper rent that way.
perhaps the days of having our own home will be over and expected to share!?

peasblue · 20/08/2023 11:35

I think there should be a subset for the older millennials as they will have had a very different experience to those a bit younger.

Yes I agree, uni tuition fees are a prime example of that, the very top end will have had the "cheap" uni fees, middle the £3000pa fees, and I assume the youngest will be affected by the colossal plan 2 fees?

frippu · 20/08/2023 11:35

I think a 3rd is a lot particularly as we have far less social housing for them. And retired renters won't just be comprised of that 1/3 of millennials. It's going to be a huge financial burden particularly with a smaller working population.

That said housing is just one prong to this, something else millennials have to worry about are pensions and state pension age.

Yep

HarrietJet · 20/08/2023 11:38

FutureThroughLensOfThePast · 20/08/2023 09:37

The current generation of homeowners will eventually die off and if no one can afford to buy their empty houses, the prices will drop until they do become affordable.

How does that work? Most people will leave their property to their children, not leave it stand empty until someone can afford to buy it.

peasblue · 20/08/2023 11:39

@frippu it is a lot, but it's not the majority which is all I was trying to say. But believe me I still think it's shit and I still want it to change!!!! Another consideration is that whilst 2/3 millennials may buy, will that be forever? Many of us have had to buy later in life to save and this will mean we have less equity if life changes, if DH and I were to divorce now I'm not sure we could afford to both buy separately, add to that the interest rate situation, I don't think we can guarantee that those that get on the ladder will stay there like they used to.