Are young people today worse off than their parents?

wibble68_2

Stuart Law, MD of Assetz said the nearly £200,000 average asking price was out of reach of many first time buyers.

He said: "Young people today are the first generation to be considerably worse off financially than their parents, so we will see more people in their fifties and sixties releasing equity from their homes to help their children onto the housing ladder or enjoy their own retirement, perhaps even investing in a holiday home overseas.”



Any thoughts on this?

Wibble

fivemice

Perhaps we seem worse off because we waste so much money?

Scooby_Man

Good question. My dad says that we have it easier - this is because my parents were 1st generation migrants and came here with less than £3.

However, I think that I have to proprotionally earn much more to get a similar house to what my parents were able to get 25 years ago on a very average wage.

Swings and roundabouts really. As the poster above says, we seem to waste more money - although the 'waste' is more of a lifestyle thing (attriable to Affluenza) - e.g. having a nice car and dream holidays - things certainly my parents didn't aspire to have back in their day...

Leighthal

The world is alot smaller place today thanks to the internet.You want to find a property in a particular area?..you can find them in minutes.You want to know about the job prospects in a particular area?...you can find them in minutes.You want to find a lender who will give you a mortgage?...you guessed it!...Knowledge is power.
For example,suppose you have a passion for something rare and collectable,where would you have looked 10/15 years ago?.A local newspaper or a specialist magazine no doubt,very limited IMHO.Today you could surf 'virtually' the whole world!!

ollyshaw

I think we are worse off. My parents got free education, healthcare and pensions. I already have not got one of these, I don't expect I will get a pension off the state and I expect the NHS will stop being free (even though my taxes fund it!) in my lifetime. House prices are a blip. They must swing back into line with earnings in the not to distant future.

Olly

littlesaint

I think I agree with both Stuart Law and poster no. 2 if that is possible. We do waste money, but the reason we do is the things that our parents took for granted seem impossibole to us. If someone told me not to go on holiday and give up occassional treats like restuarants for two years, I would be happy to for a house. But even if I do that, It would still not be possible to buy in London.

Leighthal

ollyshaw wrote:

I think we are worse off. My parents got free education, healthcare and pensions. I already have not got one of these, I don't expect I will get a pension off the state and I expect the NHS will stop being free (even though my taxes fund it!) in my lifetime. House prices are a blip. They must swing back into line with earnings in the not to distant future.

Olly

Olly,Education is still free,and so is Healthcare,Hmmmm indirectly I agree(its still paid by taxes).I agree about the future,WHO knows??

movieman

I think it's undeniable that kids today are far worse off than their parents. Aside from the obvious fact that so many jobs now require degrees that wouldn't have done a couple of decades ago, and that after taking the degree they'll come out with huge debts, the cost of housing relative to young person's incomes is insane.

Worse than that, though, the BoE is promising 2% inflation forever. If true, that means that they won't get big wage inflation to wipe out their debts the way that the post-WWII generations before them have. And, since it's not actually true, it means that real inflation is running faster than wage inflation, so they're starting out poor and only getting poorer.

livinginhope

I'm probably the only one here then that believes we are the same,if not better,off than our parents
I think the problem today is,people want soooo much from the start,when I was a child I didn't know more than 4 people who owned their own homes,everybody lived in council,or in our case married quaters.We didn't have central heating,TV or computer,I don't know anyone that went to university,you were expected to follow on from your parents in their line of work,mainly manual,
Nowadays,it is considered the norm to go to university,but what will happen to industry in this country if everyone wants an office job and not manual?
Everyone now thinks they should buy their own home,but they don't want to start at the bottom of the ladder in a 1 bed flat,they want a 3 bed semi in a 'nice' area,the younger people I speak to have this notion that it is their right to do this,they forget that their parents struggled for years to buy a house or keep a roof of any kind over their heads.
I think it is always the case that the current generation consider themselves hard done by,because by the time we are old enough to do these things,our parents are ususlly much older and downsizing their lives and living fairly comfortably.

nearlyrich

When we bought our first house we spent a huge part of our income on the mortgage payment, we probably couldn't have bought in London even then, I agree that prices are prohibitive for young people on low incomes but that's always been the case, my parents rented for most of their married life as did many people, that's what happened when people couldn't afford to buy a property.

We won't be downsizing to help the children get on the property ladder, we have supported them through education, they will hopefully get decent jobs and be able to afford a decent lifestyle.

bargainquest

I think in a way young people are worse of as the social expectation is much higher now in terms of what material wealth you should accrue - many young people think you have to have (and feel pressured to have) a house, a decent car, the latest technological developments, designer clothes etc when previous generations put up with a lot less and were IMO much happier. This 'must have' culture only causes unhappiness even if some of these things are more affordable than in earlier decades.