Stamford’s Decreasing Numbers of Younger Homeowners

I recently met a young man called James Chapman.  James isn’t a landlord or a developer, just a 35 year old father of two from Stamford looking to buy a house in the town, renovate it and call it home.  He came to my estate agency seeking our help after failing with his method of knocking on house doors - in the hope one of the residents might consider selling their house to him.  Many of the residents he spoke to were elderly and were simply not interested in selling.

People like James in ‘Generation Y’ or the ‘Millennials’ as some people call them i.e. born between 1977 and 1994, are discovering they are becoming more neglected and ignored when it comes to getting on or moving up the property ladder as each year passes.

Over 75 % of Brits aged 65+ (the ‘baby boomers’) are owner-occupiers, the biggest share since records began and a proportional rise of over 48.3% since the early 1980’s. However, 36 years (when those baby boomers were in their 30’s - 40’s), 65.6% of them owned their own home.  Whilst today, just under half (47.3%) of 25 - 49 year olds own their own home.
However, the biggest drop has been in the 18 – 24 year olds, where homeownership has dropped from a third (32%) in the 1980’s to less than one in ten (8.9%) today. 

 

Stamford’s data is fascinating…

 

Government policy contributes to the generational stalemate.  Stamp Duty rules prevent older residents from moving with high land values and restrictive planning legislation, making it harder to build affordable bungalows.

The average value of an acre of prime building land in the UK is between £750,000 and £800,000 per acre.  Bungalows are the favoured option for the older generation, but they take up too much land to make them profitable for builders.  The housing market is gridlocked with youngsters wanting to get on the property ladder, whilst the older generation who want to move from their larger houses to smaller modern bungalows, can’t. 

Pressure from local residents to our local councillors and planners may help persuade the local authority into setting land aside for bungalows instead of ‘2 up 2 down’ starter homes.  That would free the impasse at the top of the property ladder (i.e. mature people living in big houses but unable to move anywhere), releasing the middle aged gridlocked people in the ladder to move up, thus releasing more existing starter homes for the younger generation.   Just an idea!

If you are considering buying an investment property, and would like to discuss it with me, please contact me and I will be happy to chat it through with you.  As a landlord myself, I know what makes a good investment.


David Crooke
Owner and Managing Director
UPP Property Agents 01780 484 554