Advertisement
Housing

Millennials spend three times as much on housing as their grandparents

New think tank report reveals the scale of intergenerational unfairness

The housing crisis has gotten so bad for young people in Britain today that one group of experts have renamed it a “housing catastrophe.”

Millennials are now spending more than three times as much as their grandparents on housing costs, according to a new report by the Resolution Foundation.

While people born before 1945 spent just 7% of their annual income on housing, millennials (born after 1981) are forced to devote 23% of their earnings to housing costs, on average.

And the money is going on more cramped accommodation.

The Resolution Foundation found that millennial-headed households are more likely than previous generations to live in overcrowded conditions, and the average floor space used by someone under the age 45 has shrunk 4% since 1996.

Many of today’s young people are getting less for their money

Depressingly, the report’s authors say that if trends seen in the past decade continue, less than half of millennials will buy a home before the age of 45 compared to over 70 per cent of baby boomers who had done so by that age.

Advertisement
Advertisement

The think tank’s report “Home Affront” paints a grim and striking picture of a nation moving backwards.

Among its other main findings:

  • Millennials are more likely to be living with their parents in their mid-20s than previous generations.
  • Young families headed by 30-year-olds are only half as likely to own their home as the baby boomer generation was at the same age.
  • Four out of every ten 30 year olds now rent privately, compared to one in ten 50 years ago.

“For many older people affordability increases earlier in their lives went hand in hand with improved security…as well as vast improvements in the housing stock,” said the report’s authors.

“In contrast, many of today’s young people are getting less for their money when we look at their housing experience in terms of space, security and quality of life.”

Torsten Bell, director of the Resolution Foundation, said young people “have realised they’ve inherited the certainty of those sky high housing costs in exchange for the possibility of inheriting some of that wealth, probably long after its much use to them. Understandably they don’t think that’s a great deal.”

Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

Read All
'We must remove the shackles of stigma': Five ways Labour wants to shake-up Right to Buy
Labour deputy prime minister abd housing secretary Angela Rayner
Right to Buy

'We must remove the shackles of stigma': Five ways Labour wants to shake-up Right to Buy

Rents in UK are rising at highest rate in decades. Will they keep going up?
rents uk
Renting

Rents in UK are rising at highest rate in decades. Will they keep going up?

Mum-of-three hit with 'revenge eviction' after asking for repairs: 'It felt like the end of the world'
Hazell and her three kids faced homelessness until Shelter stepped in
Renting

Mum-of-three hit with 'revenge eviction' after asking for repairs: 'It felt like the end of the world'

Housing minister admits Labour's 1.5 million homes promise will be 'more difficult than expected'
Labour housing minister Matthew Pennycook
Housebuilding

Housing minister admits Labour's 1.5 million homes promise will be 'more difficult than expected'

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue