Housing Shortage - Numbers of Middle Aged Lodgers Soaring

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Increasing numbers of people in their 40s are choosing to abandon the property market altogether to become lodgers because of soaring property prices and rents.

New research by the insurer Liverpool Victoria (LV=) shows that the lodger has made an unexpected comeback in Britain’s cities with the number of home owners taking in a paying guest to fill a spare bedroom almost doubling in five years.

But, unlike in the past when students and young adults who had just moved away from home embraced the lodger lifestyle, the average age of the new breed of lodger is over 30 and increasing numbers of them are as old as 50.

It comes on top of evidence of growing numbers of families opting to get around the property shortage by moving in together with three generations under one roof.

The new research also found that demand for accommodation is so high that the average spare room is being filled within little more than a week of being advertised.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11001521/Middle-aged-priced-out-of-housing-ladder-turn-to-lodger-lifestyle.html

The inevitable result of a housing shortage.

Prices and rents must rise to ration the scarce supply of housing, forcing enough people to share, live at home with parents, become lodgers, etc, until supply and demand fall back into equilibrium.

I still find it quite amazing that so many posters on here and elsewhere spent most of the last 7 years completely denying the housing shortage existed, and wrongly thought prices were high primarily because of lending....

Bantex_2

Control the population growth. The country does not have the infrastructure.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Bantex wrote: »

Control the population growth. The country does not have the infrastructure.

The country also can't afford to support the ageing population without maintaining the ratio between young and old at something close to current levels.

And as long as the ageing population is increasing rapidly, the numbers of working age people also needs to increase by a corresponding amount.

This is of course not the same thing at all as exponential growth, or some form of pyramid scheme, it merely requires current ratios to remain constant until the increase in life expectancy slows or stops, as it eventually must.

After that point, a stable population is entirely possible. But we're probably looking at adding another 15 or 20 million people over the next few decades before we get there.

dave4545454

Bantex wrote: »

Control the population growth. The country does not have the infrastructure.

Exactly, we already have a very overpopulated and crowded country.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

dave4545454 wrote: »

Exactly, we already have a very overpopulated and crowded country.

False.

Around 98% of the UK is not built on. We use more land for golf courses and riding ponies than we do for human habitation.

dave4545454

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

False.

Around 98% of the UK is not built on. We use more land for golf courses and riding ponies than we do for human habitation.

Where's the part about Tarquin and Henrietta?

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

dave4545454 wrote: »

where's the part about tarquin and henrietta?

:beer:

..........

CLAPTON

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

The country also can't afford to support the ageing population without maintaining the ratio between young and old at something close to current levels.

And as long as the ageing population is increasing rapidly, the numbers of working age people also needs to increase by a corresponding amount.

This is of course not the same thing at all as exponential growth, or some form of pyramid scheme, it merely requires current ratios to remain constant until the increase in life expectancy slows or stops, as it eventually must.

After that point, a stable population is entirely possible. But we're probably looking at adding another 15 or 20 million people over the next few decades before we get there.

there is no maths that shows that there is a stable (non increasing ) population with current age ratios in the uK

padington

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

False.

Around 98% of the UK is not built on. We use more land for golf courses and riding ponies than we do for human habitation.

That's the kind fact that labour could use to come charging in with a massive house building scheme saying things like ' putting normal people first '.

Whether Ed has the balls remains to be seen.

No pun intended.

PasturesNew

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

... maintaining the ratio ....

You can't maintain the ratio without a pyramid.

What's needed is less people and more jobs, so everybody is productive. Need to reduce the number of people sitting without a job, that's the real problem. An ageing population is fine if there are enough jobs for those of working age and enough jobs for older people who wish to work to be able to do so.

mystic_trev

It won't mater, they'll be a vast oversupply once the Ebola virus reaches us :eek: Over on HPC they say you'll be able to buy a four bedder, in Prime London for under a quid!:D