Greyer Generation's Market Domination?

APTSec came across this hugely interesting and somewhat depressing article in Planning Daily written by the editor of The RTPI's Planning Magazine Huw Morris.

"In any recession, headlines focus on rapidly declining house prices, but this only tells part of the story. A housing market revolution is unfolding and it promises bad news for us all. The divide between the haves and have-nots has turned into a chasm.

With many lenders demanding deposits of 40 per cent, most first-time buyers have got the same chance as a snowball in hell of getting on to the housing ladder. Already, almost nine out of ten 18-34-year-olds who do not own a home cannot afford a first-time-buyer property. Bearing in mind that this is the generation saddled with high student debt, the promise of swingeing public service cuts, increased taxation and measly pensions, this is not a good time to be young."

Mr Morris continues:

"Replacing the first-time buyer, however, is an older and wealthier generation who got on to the housing ladder when homes were much more affordable, benefited from free higher education and will collect final salary pensions if they have not done so already. Today's low interest rates mean that they are not only scooping up homes but carving up the buy-to-let market, which is yet another barrier to first-time buyers. Anybody doubting the greyer generation's market domination need only consider that four out of ten homes are now bought without a mortgage"

Mr Morris concludes:

"This aside, there are members of the older generation who were banking on selling their homes to help fund their retirement. They are in quite a bind if their children have nowhere else to live. Moreover, it is an economic fact of life that no market can properly thrive without an injection of new blood.


As long as this mess continues, even today's winners will end up as losers. Who in this country does not rely on key workers at some point? Even the super rich might need a police officer or ambulance driver one day. Housing development often divides opinion. If only both sides could see the welter of social problems on the horizon."

APTSec subscribed to Planning Magazine for a period of time and always found Mr Morris' articles very readable.

Reading publications such as Planning Magazine has certainly helped our group gain a broader and better understanding of planning issues.