Are things harder for millennials?

[squidwid]

Many of my friends don't own houses and they're in their 30s. They did everything that society asked of them and still they're not making headway.

I know so many elderly people that live in 4 bedroom homes worth £400k plus. Obviously there is nothing wrong with that but families should be able to afford those houses so things can move on. No one can afford to buy them...

DC 24 earns about 25k, his GF earns similar. They've managed to save for a deposit whilst renting for 5yrs and complete on their new house on Friday in the SE.

No help from parents.

I don't think it's any more difficult for them as it was for us. It's doable with determination.

If they're only earning minimum wage, then they need to get out of London and move to somewhere cheaper, where minimum wage goes a lot further.

I'm a Londoner, you think anyone earning low salaries should leave. How do our schools, public transport, hospitals etc function without that workforce?

That's fine but how does someone who has just left school afford to house hunt and move to a different location? I've moved around the country several times and its not a cheap undertaking. They have to find a job arranging travel for interviews, then find a house share or what not, then fund the basics. Its fine if there is the bank of mum and dad but not everyone has that.

What happens is they start renting and then get trapped into the cycle of not being able to afford a deposit.

A two bed terrace where I grew up is £400k, admittedly this is London. Minimum wage which you would expect if you left school after GCSE's is £9.50 a hour, you are going to be in your parents front room for a long long time to afford the £40k deposit.

Alternatively, if you live in the Midlands …

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132242327#/?channel=RES_BUY

That is an auction property being sold to investors only!

People on minimum wage levels have never bought houses unless they had an inheritance/family help

That's as true of boomers and gen x as any other

Also historically people didn't buy a house until they married

The same way today's graduates can't return from Uni to their home towns because there are no jobs so have to move to the cities to get graduate jobs, where housing costs etc are high!

I actually live in the North now, watching in real time as the same thing happens up here with house prices soring and people being priced out of inner M60. It seems no one has learned a lesson from the situation in London!

@BrainOnFire

You know, I started reading your post and smiled, because I assumed it was going to be a humorous, tongue-in-cheek post, and I settled down for a bit of fun.
And then it dawned on me.......FFS, you're serious, aren't you?
So, "elderly people" who own their own, possibly family-sized homes, should no longer have the right to live in them - right?
And, when they refuse to "downsize" from a home they may love, and may have worked their balls off for, (but according to you they're "privileged" for daring to own it ), they are causing "inconvenience" to younger people by "hanging on to these houses" - right?
I'm no economist or politician, but your pathetic, childish old cliche about "boomers" being the cause of young people being unable to afford homes is falling into the good old "divide and conquer" trap. Your words are also offensive and ageist.
It just isn't that simple - with housing, there are so many economic and political issues involved, but hey, don't let the facts get in the way of your prejudice.

Train and underground drivers aren't on minimum wage, neither are lots of other "essential" workers in the capital!

There are plenty more.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132518873

Nah. I'm 27 and can see why they stay. I'm not going to spend 20 years making my house just perfect for me and then move out because families 'need' my home...

It's my house.

@Blossomtoes my parents are immigrants as I said as were most of my neighbours. They weren't paying NI because they weren't yet in the UK. My mum left school at 14 but she had to help her mum with her siblings, she wasn't working as an accountant!

(so either a wealthy boomer or the oldest of the cohort).

Not wealthy, some were older ones, many just did fantastically well out of property or their own business. Is your circle really that small? How can it be with such a narrow experience of life you can make sweeping assumptions about others. Such boomer behaviour! 😆

I said "And I don't know any women who didn't have time out with dc." I don't know any women who didn't have time out with their dc, I'm not sure why you have interpreted that as all woman I know had dc?

I'm not interested with going back & forth with you - I have a life! I'm sorry you were triggered by me asking for statistics to back up your statements 🤷🏻‍♀️

Train and underground drivers aren't on minimum wage, neither are lots of other "essential" workers in the capital!

I didn't claim they were. There are plenty of low paid workers in those industries though which is the point I made.

I don't really understand your argument? None of these are good things. It's equally shit for all millennials and gen z's unless, as already noted, there is generational wealth to pass down. My post was in response to the person who thinks listing a load of stuff about costa and netflix negates the fact her two bed terrace house was a lot more accessible then than it is now.

Thebestwaytoscareatory

”sick of boomers/gen xers not taking responsibility for their actions”

What bloody actions?? I haven’t done anything to impact the younger generations, except live my life the best way I can. Your situation is the fault of GOVERNMENT not us. This was EXACTLY the point I was making in my post. Divisive thread.

I agree that stagnant wages and house prices are shafting the younger generations. But guess what? Stagnating wages, climate crisis, stalling social mobility, failing NHS affects me too. That’s why I mentioned housing as that is the one thing I feel we were lucky with. For eg my pension age has gone up SEVEN years since I started work, and Gordon Brown screwed our pensions. So it’s not all rosy from where I am either.

I'm sorry you were triggered by me asking for statistics to back up your statements

I’m too old to be “triggered”, that’s a young person’s game. Your anecdata doesn’t prove anything either, particularly since I was talking about people who were in the UK at 16 and you weren’t. Comparing apples and pears isn’t very helpful.

God. You are just so.... mean. You don't know what you don't know, it's not always easy to find it. Particularly if you've grown up in an environment where it is not supported.

To summarise this thread younger generations don't have it hard because boomers had strikes, high interest rates, single glazing. Let's just gloss over the growth in wages, MIRAs, the fact that 5% interest on todays prices are equivalent to the double figs of the past & that plenty of FTBs have single glazing.

Young people are entitled & wasteful because they have mobile phones & Netflix. I would argue mobiles are pretty standard these days not a luxury & many have just replaced landlines. My Netflix is far cheaper than the BBC

Why are some posters so reluctant to acknowledge that it's got harder? That doesn't mean it was easy before.

How was it in the 70s/80s/90s? Did you get pigeonholed into a small set of jobs or encouraged to think about it and how did you find your way into your field?

I don't know about the 70s/80s but in the 90s when I left school, there was zero careers advice. You went to university, or you left, but if you left, there was no direction given. On the other hand, there were jobs you could just sort of fall into, partly because the internet was in it's infancy, so opportunities weren't widely known about, but you could find out about stuff through word of mouth (if you were lucky).
You could get paid jobs in creative fields (low paid but just enough to pay for your room in a flat in London) and work your way up. Now I think fields like film, advertising, theatre, fashion etc are mainly staffed by posh kids with parental help. There is definitely less social mobility now. As a working class kid with a bit of get up and go, you could elbow your way into interesting opportunities.
Things are infinitely harder now. As a Gen Xer, many of my friends didn't manage to buy property until late 30s/40 ish but its virtually impossible now, without rich parents.
I think also, because the generation above me WERE very fortunate (my folks bought a largish house on basically no money, no grotty flat for them) they really don't want to properly downsize at all and free up money for their kids/grandkids. You can see it on Location x3 where late 60 somethings are "downsizing" and end up spending 800k on a 4 bedder with 2 acres. For me, if I could buy a nice 400k house and give the rest to my kids, then I would, because I know how hard it's going to be for them (in reality, I will never have a house that expensive but I will do what I can to get them cash.)

’m too old to be “triggered”, that’s a young person’s game. Your anecdata doesn’t prove anything either, particularly since I was talking about people who were in the UK at 16 and you weren’t. Comparing apples and pears isn’t very helpful.

I never claimed my anecdotal experience did hence why I said it was anecdotal...

I was in the UK at 16, I was born here! Or are you of those who see 2nd gen immigrants as not really from here...

Thé cost of education is a huge thing to consider. My parents were educated and trained for free; I'm gen X and I left uni with a small debt but then had to pay for further training, so not debt exactly but money only going on that, no extras.

Millennials have the cost of higher education - fees plus living expenses, plus an increased CoL. They leave with huge debt now.

That one is tenanted and can only be sold to landlords. Try again?

You were talking an about your boomer relatives my parents are immigrants as I said as were most of my neighbours. They weren't paying NI because they weren't yet in the UK. YOU said they weren’t born here, not me. 🙄

Yes they're harder for millennials (I am one) but not impossible. Maybe some need to adjust their aims to be more realistic. Is owning a house that essential now? It's not in many countries.

The boomer generation were the exception. Anything from the industrial revolution to now was not sustainable - it is only really recent our living standards have massively improved.

I firmly believe our standards will drop again as the climate changes, economies can't grow so much, population, disease and so on.