My parents bought their
first house in the 1960’s, they were in their
early 20’s. Interestingly, looking at some research by the Post Office from a
few years ago, in the 1960’s the average age people bought their first house
was 23. By the early 1970s, it had reached 27, rising to 28 in the early 1980’s.
This year alone, 696 people
in Royal Tunbridge Wells will turn 28 and 632 in 2017 .. and dare I say 502 in
2018 .. year in year out the conveyor belt carries on .. where are the Royal
Tunbridge Wells youngsters going to live?
Ask a Royal Tunbridge
Wells ‘twenty something’ and they will say they do not expect to buy until they
are in their mid thirties - seven years later than the 1980’s. Some people even
say they will never be able to buy a property and the newspapers have labelled
them ‘Generation Rent’ as they are people born in
the 1980s who have no hope of getting on the property ladder. One of the
major problems facing young Royal Tunbridge Wells people is the large deposit
needed to get a mortgage .. or is it?
The average price paid for
an apartment in Royal Tunbridge Wells over the last 12 months has been £235,300 meaning our first time
buyer would need to save £11,765 as a deposit (as 95% mortgages have been
available to first time buyers since 2010) plus a couple of thousand for
solicitors and survey costs. A lot of money, but people don’t think anything
today of spending a couple of thousand pounds to go on holiday; the latest
iPhone upgrade or the latest 4K HD television. That amount could soon be saved
if these ‘luxuries’ were withheld over a couple of years but attitudes have
changed.
Official figures, from the
Office for National Statistics, show the average male in Royal Tunbridge Wells
with a full-time job earns £656.40 per week whilst the average female salary is
£507.60 a week they would still comfortably be able to get a mortgage for an
apartment.
I was reading a report/survey commissioned by Paragon
Mortgages from the autumn of last year. The thing that struck me was that when
tenants were asked about their long term housing plans, some 35% of
participating tenants intend to remain within the rental sector and 24%
intended to buy a house in the future, with the proportion of respondents
citing the “unaffordability” of housing as the reason for renting privately
increasing from 69% to 74%.
However, time and time again, in the starter home
category of property (ie apartments), nine times out of ten the mortgage
payments to buy a Royal Tunbridge Wells property are cheaper than having to rent
in Royal Tunbridge Wells. It is the tenant’s perception that they believe they
can’t buy, so choose not to. Renting is now a choice. Tenants can upgrade to
bigger and better properties and move up the property ladder quicker than their
parents or grand parents (albeit they don’t own the property).
Over the last
decade, culturally in the UK, there has been a change in the attitude to
renting so, unless that attitude changes, I expect that the private rental
sector in Royal Tunbridge Wells (and the UK as a whole) is likely to remain a
popular choice for the next twenty plus years. With demand for Royal Tunbridge
Wells rental property unlikely to slow and newly formed households continuing
to choose the rental market instead of purchasing a property. I also forecast
that renting will continue to offer good value for money for tenants and recommend
landlords pursue professional advice and adopt a realistic approach to rental
increases to ensure that they are in line with inflation and any void periods
are curtailed. One such place for advice, comment and opinion is the Royal
Tunbridge Wells Property Blog
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