The debate on this thread needs to move beyond the scapegoat/ blame game. Or rather it needs some wider perspective. Salaries have not kept pace with house inflation but this is not the fault of the older generation. Globalisation means that goods can be bought cheaply made by workers paid a fraction of UK workers and so salaries have not kept pace. This has not been done by older people and they should not be blamed for it. Market freedom and competition mean that you can buy a washing machine for half the price of twenty years ago because the Chinese workers earn£ 5000 a year.
House prices rocketed when interest rates fell drastically and continued to fall over a number of years from 15 per cent in the 1970’s to, now, two per cent. At the same time up to 125 per cent mortgages were offered and, as most could afford them on modest salaries, property prices rose. When this folly caused a crash the banks were reigned in from lending to those whose spending was high and who would not survive a rate rise. It is these affordability criteria which prevent many having mortgages who could easily afford them. My daughter’s mortgage on a house fell £hundreds a month from what she was paying for a tiny rented flat.
The housing crisis has been exacerbated by the rising population. In 2016 recorded immigration was around 300,000 and the number of houses built was 143,000. Additionally, land banking by developers to keep profits up ensures house building is very slow. Local government premiums changed on new builds are about £80,000 per house keeping prices out of reach for many.
In fact, a lot of the ‘housing crisis’ is just a London problem. Many areas of the country have houses which are reasonably priced or even cheap and some areas have static or falling prices.
I have noticed that some older people who are retired lead very spendthrift lives. I know one couple who went on ten holidays last year and many more who spend cash on cruises and lifestyle breaks. Others like many I read on Gransnet and Martin Lewis website choose to help their children save for deposits. One good way is to let them live at home, bank the rent and hand it over for a deposit. So, yes, in this case, it is the luck of the draw as to whether you have caring or selfish parents but you can’t blame the good one s for what the splurgers do.
On that subject I read that older people are putting about £8 billion a year into the economy in unpaid work, volunteering and things like childminding for offspring.
There are some political parties and also resentful people who are very good at scapegoating and directing ire at the innocent but before millennials complain they should remember that the older generations are the parents and grandparents who love them.
Those grandparents and parents never had a thought of blaming their own ancestors for their troubles. I never, ever heard one person in my generation express anger that their parents had a house.