The Millennials were born between the mid 1980’s and late 1990’s
thus making them between the age of around 22 to mid/late 30's. They are the imaginative,
artistic youngsters who grew up with the newest technology and computers, and are mostly aficionados of music festivals, gourmet pizzas, emoji’s, selfies and old school
nostalgia.
They are also known as Generation Rent. Many Millennials have discovered that
renting is a good choice for their shelter and accommodation needs without the hassle
that comes from buying a home. Nonetheless, that is not the only reason why they don’t buy property. When they should be concentrating on their profession, putting
down roots and starting a family, Millennials are still going through the pressure
and strain of student loan liabilities whilst, at the same time, finding it
tough to pay rent.
The hot topic at the moment is the cost of renting,
as both political parties have seen mileage in wooing these Millennial
Generation Renters. The average rent in Loughborough is currently £870 per
month making this a big-ticket item on the monthly budget. I was inquisitive to
find out exactly how much Loughborough Millennials will spend on rent by
the time they reach their mid 30’s. The average age people leave home in the UK
is 22; so if we look at a Loughborough 22-year-old (or Millennial) who left home
in 2005 they would have spent on average a whopping £123,093 in rent.
It’s no wonder that local Millennials can’t afford to buy
a Loughborough home given their tremendous debt. This means that younger Loughborough
Millennials will probably carry on renting for the foreseeable future, simply
because the prospect of buying a home is not yet achievable - that
is until you look more deeply at the numbers…
Looking at the chart above, the average rent of a Loughborough
property in 2005 was £733 per month (pm). If it had risen by inflation, today, that
would be £1,033 pm. As I have already mentioned in the article, today it only
stands at £870 per month. Looking over the last 12 years,
adding up all the differences between what the average actual rent was compared
to what it should have been if rent had gone up by inflation, the average Loughborough
Millennial tenant would have paid £138,642.
This means that an average 35-year-old Loughborough
Millennial tenant, who has been renting since 2005, is better off by £15,550
when comparing the actual rent paid compared to what it would have been if it
had risen by inflation. In a nutshell, tenants have done well due to the sub-inflation
growth in rents.
In fact, the older Loughborough Millennials are starting to use those savings and are gradually
shifting towards home ownership. They are finally catching up with the British
home ownership dream as Bank of Mum and Dad help with the deposit. Also, the scrapping
of Stamp Duty from the Government starts to kick in together with the
realisation that if the 5% mortgage deposit can be scrapped together (yes, 95%
first time buyer mortgages have been available since 2009), it is still a lot
cheaper to buy than rent, meaning this will unquestionably drive demand for Loughborough
home sales – good news for Loughborough homeowners.
So what does this mean for Loughborough
landlords? Well the vast majority of younger Millennials
are still renters and I foresee this to be the case for at least the next ten
to fifteen years. Landlords will need to keep improving their properties to ensure
they get the best tenants and they will see a much higher rent achieved. Millennials
will pay top dollar for a high quality property. It is important to do things correctly as making money won’t be as easy
as it has been over the last twenty years. With a greater number of properties on the
market, there is a greater choice for Millenials.
For this reason, my advice would be to not buy the first thing you see - buy with
your head as well as your heart because as I've said before; the
first rule of Buy To Let Investment is to remember that “You are not going to live in the property yourself”.
If you are interested in talking about potential investments or your current property, please feel free to call me on 01509 260777 or email me.
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