Does anybody else renting feel constant pressure to buy

[Canyoureadmymind]

I'm in my early 30s and I feel anxiety most days about the fact that I don't yet own a house. I'm saving but I've currently got £400 in my savings, that's not going to get me very far. It'll be a good few years before I could even own something very small or a shared ownership property. Then, it's actually being accepted for a property.
I feel like I 'should' be owning by this age which is stupid, but most of my peers seem to be, apart from the ones that live in London.
There are constant cries of what will you do in retirement. So that's another stressor, worrying that I might end up homeless.
There's a chance I could inherit property/gain an inheritance at some point in the distant future.
I'm sick of feeling this constant pressure and anxiety. I wish renting were more socially acceptable and viable long term.

You kinda do.

Applying for a mortgage was hard due to retirement age etc,

On a serious note, when you are older how do you expect to support yourself?

I don't know, how do all elderly people support themselves? They don't all own a house. Your posts trying to scaremonger aren't helping really.

You mean elderly people who were born in a boom era when there wasn't a housing crisis and availability of council housing was higher (and lifelong tenancies).

It's not scare mongering, unless you own your own home how do people expect to live?

How was putting a roof over my head throwing money down the drain.

It's true though, isn't it? I spent over £100,000 in rent before I bought. Money thrown completely down the drain, rather than equity in a property I could use to upgrade.

This. I've rented and I've bought, both more than once, and I'd far rather own than rent because maths. Rent is money you can't get back. Deposits, mortgage payments and doing-up costs are actually kind of still your money, unless the housing market crashes - and even that's only really a problem if you're selling at the time.

In Europe renting is the norm.

Even if that's factually true (disputed above), someone still must be owning all those properties and coining it. Wouldn't you rather be them?

"You're just paying your landlord's mortgage "

And my friend who is paying off a mortgage says "I'm renting from the bank".

It's all relative OP.

Like I said we'll buy somewhere eventually. Our rent is low and we have minimal outgoings so in a few years we'll be able to buy something outright.

Or we could have bought something ten years ago, which wouldn't be anywhere close to as nice as where we live now, had all the outgoings related to home owning and which may or may not have gone up in value. I'm happy with our choice.

Sorry that was meant to quote @didsburymanchester

I'm early 30s and don't own so I'll get my tent out ready for retirement age 🙄

Well technically you don't own the house till the mortgage is paid off. Till then it's a loan.

Exactly. I work with a lot of elderly people. Loads live in council housing they have had for live, often way too big for them now. Some live in private rented and get housing benefit to pay the rent or at least some of it depending on their situation. If you end up going into retirement with very little income/ state pension and renting then you only have to qualify for £1 of guaranteed pension credit to get all your rent and council tax paid in full up to the local housing allowance and even if you don't qualify for pension credit, there is still a good chance of getting a good proportion of your rent covered by housing benefit.

"And my friend who is paying off a mortgage says "I'm renting from the bank"."

She's not renting from the bank though. She's paying for something in instalments and with interest.

On the other hand, I don't think I've ever paid a LL's mortgage. They've always owned outright so I've just given them extra money.

"You kinda do.

Applying for a mortgage was hard due to retirement age etc,"

I was hoping it wasn't too late for me in my mid forties and still 20 years to go before retirement.
Of course, the earlier the better if you can, but not everybody can.