The number of under-40s, in particular, renting without apparent hope of buying has risen by over 20% in the last 15 years or so, more than has been the case in other countries whom we would consider comparable with us: in the US, around 6%, Germany 8%, for example. The problem is that, as rents increase, buying, especially for those without Bank of Mum and Dad assistance, becomes a still-more-distant dream. Incomes have not and are not rising at anything like the same rate, and a house which, in the good old days (pick your own) would have cost 3 x an average income for mortgage purposes is now more than 10x. Scary, and unlikely to be solved by any fancy help-to-first-time-buy incentive schemes which tend to push prices up still further. Perhaps all need to accept the new reality, that more renting is the future; and try to make it work better for all concerned.
“Tariffs through time: have they ever worked?”
History may not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes. Is what Trump is doing as ‘unprecedented’ as every headline proclaims? I’m sure other wiser writers have spotted some of these historical echoes, but let’s remember some headlines from US history.
