Aibu to think that "suspended adulthood" is going to lead to large problems?

[BlancheBlue]

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/22/young-people-living-in-a-suspended-adulthood-finds-research

Just this really. There was a telling comment about this article with the ever increasing age profile of parents the chance of children knowing grandparents is going to be remote.

I think lots of the boomer generation really fail to understand this. Whenever it is said it is tough for young people que loads of "well I worked my arse off and owned a house by the time I was 21" type comments.

blues

I totally agree with your last post. I'm not saying we were right and it did come at a huge cost. Our dc really grew up without any extended family, although we did make friends for life, a substitute family and business contacts.
It was such a relief to be able to afford the odd luxury when things got better and dc did have a relationship with my parents before they passed away, but the relationship as young dc did suffer. A few years with nothing I think is expectable when you first start out, but maybe our 12 years was too long and people could say, we'd have been better off just renting and having a decent life.
For once it is good now, but there again people moan that my generation had it easy and as the new LL with our BTL are spoiling it for the next generation.
You can't win it seems, whatever generation you were born into.

And why would you think as a young 20 something you're entitled to a 400k home in London one of the most expensive cities on earth as a first time buyer?

Because it's my home. I've lived here my whole life. All the people I love are here, my job is here, I contribute to the local economy and I'm part of the local community. Why should I have to move? When's it going to end?

I can't believe how many people on this thread seem to be okay with the south east being some kind of reverse ghetto for the wealthy. The system is broken. It's not a case of 'oh well, get on with it and stop moaning' - surely we SHOULD be moaning, and loudly, to the people who hold power? It's not acceptable, it's not sustainable, it's not fair.

That will be the way things change - not by people upping sticks and moving to Rotherham.

Exactly, olivia.

"The right to the city is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city. It is, moreover, a common rather than an individual right since this transformation inevitably depends upon the exercise of a collective power to reshape the processes of urbanization. The freedom to make and remake our cities and ourselves is, I want to argue, one of the most precious yet most neglected of our human rights" - Henri Lefebvre.

TheSparrowhawk The difference in cost between the data packages wasn't great, and some of that £50 is insurance (and I presume, Three getting back the cost of the phone).

Ds has been told there is no excuse for not ringing me on a regular basis as we pay the f'ing bill!

I have a pretty basic phone but an all-singing, all dancing data package (as I need it for work) and I pay a bit under £30 a month. The insurance is a total con too - anyone I know who's had to claim on phone insurance said they were messed around. My sister was told no phone in the entirety of Birmingham had a substitute phone!

people will adjust, we'll all just have to live in little pods or something

Also not driving will become an non-issue when driver-less cars become mainstream and ubiquitous

As a young 20 something 30 years ago I could not afford to buy in London. DP had to move away from the southern village he was brought up in because Londoners moving out had pushed house prices and rents so high.

Sorry that should say no store in the entirety of Birmingham

And I still could not afford a £400k house at 51 years of age. But I have bought a house somewhere much cheaper.

Who cares if there are places outside the m25, no one wants to live in them.

The problem is that the laws have not kept up with the real world.

Today we have huge problem of foreign 'investment' in our housing. It has inflated certain areas to the point where there are very few British people who own. I am thinking of areas like Notting Hill and Kings Road area of Chelsea. The law needs to be updated so this isn't allowed without becoming a British resident and paying british taxes on your worldwide income. (Denmark does this)

We also have a problem of supply. I know from when I went to university student housing caused inflation in rental prices in areas close to university. GBP50 a week for a room with the lounge converted gave the landlord GBP200 a week. That gave the LL GBP866 a month in rent when the house would be lucky to get GBP500 a month to a private tenant.

Finally, we have a huge problem with the rent laws. We rent out half of our home here in New Jersey. The rules are very simple. Once rented out, for no more than the maximum per the legal rent, per the rent control office, you are only allowed to increase the rent by the amount set by the town (CPI normally). The only way you can kick someone out is if they don't pay their rent or are causing a disturbance in your community (police will go to court on this). Apart from that you can kick them out if you have an immediate family moving into the unit. The tenant has the right to renew. This is exactly what the UK should have.

theSparrowhawk Ds had a great all singing, all dancing unlimited data package with Three for 4 years, but sadly, this time, they've withdrawn it. I
think he has 30gbs per month and unlimited texts and a fair few calls as well.

Having just paid upwards of €350 to get his laptop fixed when he managed to yank it off the table and onto the slate kitchen floor, I insisted on insurance if he drops the phone!

Love to know what the average wage is in the areas with 3 bed family houses for £120K.

We are an hour outside London with a common wage of £16-18k according to the classifieds and job agencies (£20k for a managerial post I saw the other day). 3 bed rentals average £1200 a month. 3 bed houses to buy are £250k+ and that would be an ex council property.

How anyone can save for a deposit when they privately rent is beyond me.

It is not just London where housing costs are not relative to wages.

Smallfox Don't be goady, there's a dear. NY, Singapore, Paris, California and Brussels are all outside the M25, and good to live in.

I wouldn't live within the M25 unless you paid me squillions. I always feel filthy whenever I've been to London. Give me Cornwall any day; far better for my sanity.

Saggy - obviously there are the full range of jobs. I have friends who earn £15k and others who earn £120k, all outside of London.

Problem is Jassy that sometimes you have to move away. I did at 18 to work in London, and from thence to the west country when we got married, so after 18, I never lived near my parents again; until my Mum moved down to be near us when I was 35 and she retired

You're not telling me anything I don't know. I'm an immigrant who will probably never live in the same hemisphere as my family again. I also own my own home in a very nice area inside the M25 so following the pattern of this thread I should be saying that everyone should be willing/able to do what I've done.

However I'm bright enough to know that there has been a massive shift in the housing market even in the 8 years since j got on the ladder and empathetic enough to recognise that people have different needs and priorities, but don't think that should shut them off from home ownership or secure housing.

Thesparrowhawk

You seem to be on a crusade to prove that it's possible. It's not totally impossible, that's not what this thread is about.

I'm not interested in trying to one-up anyone on who's had it worse, what most of us are most interested in is having the opportunities available to work towards making our lives better. Not going back to a system where the government practically has workhouses for the poorest among us, and the only way to make a better life is to hit the yellow brick road up t'North.

What the rest of us are trying to say is that there are a lot of barriers - this is the reality for most of my peers.

Maybe I've missed someone mention it but isn't student debt included in mortgage affordability tests now ? So young people are stuck renting (much more expensive than a mortgage) while paying off student debt?

Exactly, 'Olivia and holly.
All of those saying it's never been easy to buy a house: DH and I bought our first house in London 20 years ago on 2 nurse's salaries and if was easy. We got a 99% mortgage and ended up paying far less per month than we had been paying in rent on a 1 bed flat.
That house coat £72k in1996. It's just been sold for £565k. I make that around a 700% increase. My wages haven't even doubled in that time. It can't go on. Oh, and where are all these subsidised nurseries people are referring to? DS2's nursery fees when he left 4 years ago were over £1,000 PM.

My point Jassy, which I keep making, is that it's not impossible for people to buy a house - they're making an active choice not to, in favour of other factors in their life. Which is absolutely fine, but whining about not being able to buy is then pointless

Why? Why is it unreasonable to say 'the situation in these areas with regards to housing affordability has deteriorated enormously in a remarkably short period of time; are there public policy solutions to that situation?'

How would it come across if, in a discussion about a deprived area and lack of jobs there due to recent economic changes, a poster said 'if people not willing to leave their families behind and live in a hostel in a shitty part of East London to get a low-paying job, they should just stop whining. The reality is that there are more jobs in London and the South East, so people should quit whining that a combination of economic factors and government policies have left them without local employment options.' ?

All this anger directed towards baby boomers. It is so tedious and misdirected.

Miss Hoolie 70% of fees paid tax credits, my generation would have loved this, so both parents could work and pay mortgage.

My eldest who is 23 is desperately trying to save a deposit for a house with his girlfriend around Manchester. It's not cheap in the slightest unless he wants to live in an area with incredibly high crime rates and away from where most of his friends live. He's looking at 200k for something decent.

Houses are expensive and saving for a deposit whilst also paying rent is difficult. I'm shocked posters are trying to suggest it's just in London or south east where housing prices are high.

lolz at sparrowhawk.

My mother, born in the early 1950s, has a similar attitude. She's a nice enough woman but not what you'd call a big thinker.