Percentage of Millenial Londoners who bought in their 20s/ Percentage of MILLENIAL londoners who own property

[Opalfleur2025]

I was playing around with chatgpt and also searching manually online.

The figures I can get are this from the London gov website:

Less than a third of Londoners aged between 20-39 own their home, compared to 41% of people the same age across England.

The crazy figures I got from chatgpt was that as little as 2 to 5% or up to 10% of millenials in London were able to buy property in their 20s. I don't trust this at all but can't find any other data

I find this crazy cos DH and I bought in 2019 at 26 and 29 respectively (very much millenials ) and our combined income was £70k (£75k with bonus) so hardly investment bankers, and we bought with 15% deposit- 1930s 2 bed flat with no help to buy or lifetime isa scheme. One thing is that my parents paid for my uni and rent in London at university while DH (born and bred Londoner) lived at home other than 2 years for his masters in Germany (cheap city) and then we lived at DH's family home for 3 years after graduation before buying so basically didn't rent at all. Our income has grown but those were our circumstances when we bought.

If these figures are true it means London housing is much more of an inheritocracy than I thought it was.

Interested to hear from any London mumsnetters who are below 40...

I have not idea but just read this about millennials in the US
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-dramatic-turnaround-in-millennials-finances/ar-AA1oKIcC

I think that’s sounds about right to me. I’m a millennial, my friends bought in London in their early 30s, only a few late 20s. None of us lived at home though, we all rented. The majority that bought had no parental help, so it takes a bit longer to save up. I don’t think there is a huge difference between buying in your late 20s to early 30s though?

Even though you were very fortunate with financial help from both of your parents, I think it’s still possible to buy without, you just have to wait a couple more years to save up.

There is a dramatic difference between London (plus major cities with desirable urban centres) and elsewhere as to when people buy but it's not just money, it's lifestyle - wanting to live in certain zones, neighbourhoods, wanting the lifestyle of a young professional. I see it here, living in multi occupancy housing in the fashionable areas yet for the same money you can rent a two bedroom apartment 8-10 miles out on the train/bus, or smaller and save up, but according to dsd there's no decent bars or brunch spots there. (We live 10 miles out ourselves and we love the selection of drinking and eating spots!)

Thank said my dd is buying by saving up, investing her starting bonus in a lisa etc

Don't think there is a huge difference but the stats aren't great for people in outer london aged 25 to 34- around 17%?

I’m older than this group but I was pretty rare buying in my 20s. I bought a cheap flat that was barely habitable in zone 4, so many people wouldn’t have gone for that. At that age, most of my friends had no intention of buying, they either had a house share more centrally for a few years before moving out of London or saved up for a flat, but didn’t want to be tied down until their 30s. Same for starting a family, I don’t think the people I knew in wanted to until their 30s.

London has the lowest levels of home ownership in the UK at ~47% (2023 ONS) vs 62.5% nationally (2023 ONS).

And the average age of a first time buyer in London is higher - 37 vs a national average of about 34. Everywhere first time buyers are typically in their 30s now.

The reasons are varied. Prices are an issue yes. Raising a deposit is a huge problem. Being in a relationship is fairly critical in more expensive areas. Also the population is quite transient - a lot of people don’t plan on being here long and move ‘home’ to buy.

Your ability to buy when you did is due to being in a settled relationship and being able to live rent free for a long time.

I bought in my early thirties. I spent 12 years living in flat shares of varying quality - for the first years of work I spent 50%+ of my income on housing costs. This meant saving a deposit was very difficult as I had no spare money.

What enabled me to buy a reasonable property eventually was being in a relationship, an inheritance and a high income. Without money from our parents our lives would look very different in terms of property ownership.

London housing has long been a nightmare and today it’s very difficult without a ‘leg up’ from somewhere be that a high income, family money etc.

In your case it was being in a relationship at 26 where you were ready to buy (most of my friends weren’t really at that age) and not having to spend money on rent (which over 3 years at todays rates might have saved you £75k+). Raising that money when you’ve only got a couple of hundred quid left after the bills are paid is a rather bigger challenge.

One thing that also struck me is that it's not very high outside London either. Something like 36% to 41% for the below 40s...

You've said yourself you got free board for years at uni and afterwards in one of the most expensive cities in Europe. That's why you can afford to buy and others who live in the capital couldn't as well as those struggling with uni rent as part of their student debt.

Well, first of all, did you get ChatGPT to give you a reference for that and did you independently check it? Because it does just make shit up wholesale, including fake "references", if it doesn't have an answer.

DH and I bought in London in 2018 and when we were 34 and 31 respectively with a household income at the time of around £80k. We bought a 3bed terrace (well 2 bed + a room that is so small it cant even fit a single bed in) in a rubbish part of SW London. We both had student loans and had been renting a place together for a couple of years before buying. In fact my parents were pushing us to buy a place whilst we were renting, which would have put me in my 20s, but we wanted to be sure it was going to work out first! 😬

Deposit was made up of 1/3rd my savings, 1/3rd DH savings and 1/3rd parental gift. So we did have parental help and it would have taken us quite a bit longer to save up if we had needed to fund it all ourselves. We also benefitted from the stamp duty changes in 2017 though, which meant we were only just over the FTB threshold so just a small amount to pay.

Bought in 30s with parental help, don’t know anyone who did it without help. The only people I know who bought in their 20s had significant family help. Also know a fair few people who had help to move up the ladder.

Anyone who bought before Brexit & particularly the crash will be in very different circumstances to someone buying later.

I’m talking with respect to buying in London.

Loads of people can’t live at home for free though for yrs @Opalfleur2025 & 26 is pretty young to settle down.

Yes and dh's masters in Germany was free as all university education is free. So his student loan debt for his years living in germany was much lower cos he only took out loan to rent his student flats and not for tuition fees. During his bachelor he lived at home.

I married at 22 tbh. We were an international couple.

The obsession with home ownership is something I do not miss about no longer living in the UK.

Yes but am shocked at the stats. I think if it's so low it can't just be living at home that is the 'solution'. Know plenty of people living at home and nowhere closer.

I think it's probably a combination of everything- earnings, family money, inheritance, partner. If you have one not the other or not at least 2 out of 3 you will struggle. Which is very unfair. Most of this isn't within our control.

If this continues and spreads outside London there are a lot of problems in store esp if renting gets more difficult. No wonder there is so much far right populism

The obsession with home ownership is something I do not miss about no longer living in the UK.

The obsession is because renting is so expensive & insecure. It’s the easiest way to build wealth, wages are pretty crap in general.

I'm a bit older, but a born-and-bred Londoner and none of my friends who grew up in London have been able to buy a home in London. Most either still live in their parents houses in their 40s (their parents are boomer generation and were able to buy terraced houses in the 80s then convert a bit into a separate flat) or have had to leave London. Some of us have social housing, as is common for Londoners who were born here.

My brother is a millenial, mid 30s, and has just bought a one bedroom flat, but he was given part of a deposit by his dad (my stepdad) and he has lived with parents since graduation in order to save.

The thing is it would be lovely if a lot of the people who rented were choosing to and were allocating their money to better investments.

The stats say that even in london with its higher percentage of transient expats/foreigners with plans to retire or move back home, and the huge stamp duties that come with buying too early and having to upsize relatively quickly, only 1 in 8 have the savings for a 10% deposit on a median priced home. Which means most renters are living with minimal savings in an unregulated rental market and they probably don't get social housing given the shortage. The people I know who rent move once or twice a year..

I married at 22 tbh

very young as I said. I met DH at uni but didn’t marry till yrs later, you grow & change a lot on your 20s so I wanted to be sure.

I'm a Londoner and bought at 25, BUT I also lived at home from 22-25 saving and working plus had a second bar job, which is invaluable. No way I could've done the same while renting. I paid for my own uni costs. I also had to move out of London to be able to afford to buy. I was fortunate and got a shared ownership flat on a single income of under 25k, near to where I was working in Essex via a keyworker scheme. I made a good profit on that flat, and when DH moved in a few years later we were able to save a lot, seem it and buy a house, but still not back in London. Most of my school peers also moved out of East London to buy or lots still rent where we grew up.

Also people are doing things later in general now. I don’t know anyone who got married in their early 20s. Personally I wouldn’t have wanted to settle down and buy a house before 30, and my friends were the same. All my London friends got married and bought a house mid-30s, had children late 30s/early 40s. It’s not necessarily a bad thing if people are buying homes a bit later.

Are you talking about born and bred Londoners who are still living in London, or people like me that moved out in order to afford to buy somewhere?

Im still a Londoner though

Some of us have social housing, as is common for Londoners who were born here.

I only know 2 people my age with social housing because their parents had it. There is a lot less now in London.

I also know quite a few people 45 plus & the difference in what they have property wise is pretty staggering. If I didn’t go to uni, worked f/t in a supermarket & bought a property at 18 I would be much better off now!