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...

The problem now is that they want to go straight into that four bedroom house, or a new build

Because they spent ages 21-31 pissing 1200pcm into their landlords pockets in rent for a two bed flat.

If you mean boomers by they, most of their parents are well past the needing care stage.

Yes and no.

I remember my childhood in the nineties/early 00s and things were definitely simpler. Birthday parties in the garden with a Colin the Caterpillar cake and pass the parcel. Halloween was a black bin bag and cheap plastic nails. Like my mum says, people do spend more on certain things nowadays. Then again, there was no Vinted, eBay, FB Marketplace, etc.

I don’t know why people whinge about Netflix. Most people pay £10.99 for a monthly subscription. £132 a year isn’t going to pay for a deposit/mortgage or even tackle rent increases. It’s the little things that count when you’re on a low income.

You could try walking a mile in our shoes. 😀

In a few years my ds will leave home at which time I will downsize. I'll try to find a 2 bed bungalow. But they are rarer than hens teeth because developers don't build them anymore
To downsize we have to have somewhere to go. I've bought a tiny plot of land and applied to build one bungalow (my long term plan) If it is rejected I'll have to think again.

Yes, I think it's harder. I am a geriatric millennial (or xennial) and things have been 1,000 times easier for me than those 5 years younger

"It’s hardest for those without generational wealth"

But @Palegreenstars is absolutely right about this

But this narrative shifts the blame where, z frankly, successive governments want it and away from the central issue which is that not nearly enough houses have been built for decades now, which drives up prices and means that older people who continue to live in their much loved family homes are blamed for lack of supply of those kinds of homes - rather than blaming the fact that we're not building nearly enough suitable homes (including large, high quality flats in urban areas that are suitable for families, similar to what you find in most other European cities - our housing density is part of the housing problem...)

Flats. Lots and lots and lots of "executive" and "over 55 living" flats around.

The cheap houses in the cheap area that you don't have to pay £££ to commute from no longer exist though. You can't buy a cheap flat with a cheap commute because the area is "up and coming" in most cities with good employment prospects in the way that the generation above did.

The property ladder is now missing the bottom 3 or 4 rungs that existed when the previous generations were young.

To get cheap you're looking at an hour plus commute which if you're aware of childcare provision means it really limits work prospects once you do have kids! And you're paying £300 a month more which balances the mortgage/rent savings!

The areas that were close and cheap are now hip and £££!

It would have been great to have bought a small flat in my 20s then upgraded on marriage etc but the small flats were more than I could get a mortgage on with my salary, unless I went too far out for a reasonable commute to my (stupid city hours) job... My friend who graduated 2 years earlier (3 year degree while mine was 4 plus a professional training year) did catch the tail end of affordable flats in zone 2 (New Cross), by the time I was looking it was zone 4 or well away from the tube/rail network making the commute times by bus difficult!

Yeah, where you are in the millennial spectrum matters. I'm at the top (I'm 42) and I bought my house 13 years ago, it was about 3.5x my salary at the time. The same house would now be 8x that salary. In terms if work/salary, I no longer do that particular role, but the actual salary has barely increased (public sector). Definitely harder for younger millenials.

"So all you hear is whining about how it's not affordable.
We all had to work and save hard just to afford a basic two bedroom terrace"

Yes but you didn't move into it at 40 with a 10 year old and an 8 year old did you?

@Cantkeepkeepingon When I am on a pension with no ability to increase my income through work, the last thing I or any sane pensioner wants is to be at the mercy of management agents, and fees and ground rent that double every 3 years.

When earnings potential is zero, you need minimal costs or risk running out of money.

No, I had my only ds at 45 because only then did I feel financially secure.

But it's your generation that's created the situation we are now in. Over 55 flats are going up everywhere here - so yet more housing millennials can't access. We too are on fixed incomes but with significantly greater expenses than you. You genuinely haven't got a clue have you?

@Cantkeepkeepingon How have I created that? Like you, I bought a home in which to raise my child. When he leaves, I'll downsize. Much as you will, I expect.

I’m just a millenial, turned 18 in 1999.
paired up at age 21, to someone who had worked through uni and had generous parents who paid his fees and accommodation, so his student loan was sat in his bank account. With £10k deposit we could buy a 3 bed house in the south age 25. We were on average graduate incomes and I had standard student debt for the time - £11k in student loans, £2k overdraft at 21.

even when we bought our house we realised if we’d bought, say, three years earlier we’d have been a lot better off.

Ten years later the job I was in was only paying about £5k a year more for that grade yet the same house was worth £70k more.

Meanwhile yesterday I met a teacher in her mid 30s - so just a few years younger than me - who works three shifts a week and all the school holidays to save money for a deposit for a house.

My FIL is a classic boomer who goes on about high interest rates in the 80s, ignoring the fact that he brought up two children in a big four bedroomed house with one public sector mid-professional income, with a camping holiday in france most years.

"the main difference between us is that we just got on with it because we expected nothing more"

What does this even mean? And how are we doing anything other than "just getting on with it"? How can we possibly do anything else?

You’re not on fixed incomes. You can get promoted or get a better job. Once you retire that’s it, no rise in income or prospect of it for ever. They can’t sell those over 55 flats because they lose value and are impossible to resell if you need care, the ground rent and service charge could and do increase regularly and most people don’t want to live in a geriatric ghetto. Better by far if they removed the over 55 restriction.

A lot of it is the housing market. We treat houses as if they were tradable goods on a normal marketplace, rather than places to live in with a connection to local community, landscape etc.

The problem is that it makes sense for older people to hold onto larger properties than they need because it's wise financially due to property value appreciation, plus the council tax etc system doesn't penalise underoccupation.

The other issue is that there aren't that many small but nice and will hold value properties for older people to downsize to, eg retirement flats are often a poor investment.

We haven't built nearly enough new homes, mostly due to boomers wanting to protect their property values.

At the same time because of boomers and the ageing population we need lots more immigrants to maintain the population as UK citizens aren't reproducing fast enough, which puts more pressure on housing.

You hear a lot of 'when I was your age I didn't have XYZ' but not much of 'when my parents/grandparents were my age they didn't have XYZ that pensioners have now.'

"once you retire" you do realise the retirement age is currently set at 68 and only likely to increase don't you?

I’m a boomer - the population has risen by 20 million since I was small.
I trained and worked for the nhs (being clueless about money and getting no career advice) - I couldn’t afford to run a clapped out car. Lived in shared flats - but then moved abroad to earn more tax free, Met DH also abroad to earn more - and we are now wealthy retirees - but our money is filtering down to DCs and DGCs - not secreted under the bed and just for us - also pay tax on pensions.

We didn’t make much from houses but from DH working in the US , getting bonuses erc
I don’t imagine it’s as easy to go abroad to work now but that option must still be open - Saudi? Middle East?

Millennials are starting to be able to buy family homes now. Because the oldest Millennials are approaching 40 so their parents are 70-80, which means they’re starting to die and pass down their houses.

The main difference between the generations is that Boomers were able to work hard and buy a house. Whereas Millennials rely on inherited wealth, because no amount of hard work can buy a house nowadays. So home ownership is no longer based on your own merit and hard work - it’s based on your parents’ merit and hard work.

Understandably this is very demotivating, because Millennials know that how hard they work is irrelevant - what matters is how hard their parents worked.

But £400 plus houses are not their starter houses. It’s something you work up to surely? We were a family of four in a tiny terrace house, gradually moved and improved.…or maybe I have misunderstood the point!

Yes, I do. What’s that got to do with what I posted? The youngest boomers are 59 and won’t get their state pension until they’re 67.

So I am currently in these situations. Have a grotty place with no flooring, managed to get some second hand carpet and have just fitted it myself in the living room. Bedroom and landing etc still have no flooring as can't afford it. No charities in my local area to help. Have second hand fridge and oven. Can't afford heating really. Put it on for my children for a few hours a day. Haven't had a holiday in years and don't see one any time soon. I do have a car (a run down car) but in my area it's impossible to get anywhere without a car. I need a car to take my son to nursery and my work is 20 miles away as no job opportunities in my local area. Have been in one evening out in the last three years.

I don't have enough to live on yet alone save money. Unless I win the lottery there will be no way I can afford to own my own house ever.
The things that worked for you to be able to now own your own home are just not enough anymore. I agree your nephew "doesn't get it" as I would love to have all he has. You had it tough, theres no doubt. But I don't believe that it's as simple anymore to just go without the things you did to be in the situation you're in now.