Almost Half Of Brits Believe Young People Could Buy A Home If They Gave Up Netflix

Everywhere you look at the moment, it seems that no one can escape the problem of rising house prices. And where there is a problem, there always seems to be someone with the solution. And according to almost half of Brits, the solution for saving enough money for a deposit against the rising house prices is simple.

Give up Netflix and takeaways.

According to research by the Policy Institute and Institute of Gerontology at King’s College London, just under half of Brits blame ‘takeaways and Netflix’ as the reason why many young people do not own homes.

They said that young people “spend too much of their income on things like takeaway coffees, food, mobile phones, subscription services like Netflix, and holidays abroad.”

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The Facts

2021 brought many things, most notably it brought an end to COVID restrictions but worryingly it brought the rise of house prices. Towards the end of 2021, the average house deposit in the UK for first-time buyers rose to £60,000.

If the people interviewed for the survey are correct, then this is the equivalent of:

454 years’ worth of Netflix subscriptions
31 weeks of all-inclusive weeklong summer holidays abroad
10,889 servings of avocado toast
17,910 medium oat milk lattes
184 years on an average phone contract

Whilst young people are often accused of spending house deposits on these luxuries, it is quite clear that even if would-be homeowners made these changes, they still wouldn’t be able to afford a house deposit on that alone.

‘Just Move Somewhere Cheaper ‘

This is not the first time that this kind of sentiment has been expressed toward young would-be homeowners. The ‘location, location, location’ star Kirsty Allsopp drew heat earlier this year for comments she made about home ownership, saying she was “enraged” by young people not being on the property ladder.

In a now-deleted article published in The Times, Kirsty said “When I bought my first property, going abroad, EasyJet, coffee, gym, Netflix lifestyle didn’t exist.”

“I used to walk to work with a sandwich. And on payday, I’d go for a pizza, and to a movie and buy a lipstick.”

She suggested that if young people were serious about home ownership they should move back in with their parents or “move up north” to cheaper areas. Kirsty bought her first property at the age of 21 with help from her family at a time when the average house cost around £51,000. If you adjust this in accordance with inflation this comes to £112,000.

The Study

The study was conducted by polling 2,291 adults and whilst it pointed out how people thought would-be homeowners could save money and finally get their feet on the property ladder, it also recognised that certain economic factors can hinder efforts to save for a house.

Out of the people polled, three in four adults agreed that an increase in house prices, low wage growth, and an increase in house prices and stricter lending rules all played a part in the number of young people buying homes.

The authors of the study at King’s College London stated that “It’s easy to see why so much of the public think young adults don’t put in the effort needed to save for a home – they tend to view young people as less hardworking than older people, as well as less hardworking as they were in their youth.”

According to the research that they gathered, they went on to say that those polled believed that younger workers “are less motivated and hardworking as older ones.”

What Will The Future Bring?

Whilst the future of house prices remains uncertain, it looks as though they are going to keep rising for the foreseeable future, if only marginally. This means that getting your foot onto the property ladder is only going to get harder for would-be homeowners.

With the economy tightening and there being a cost-of-living crisis in the UK, the lack of supply in the housing market will mean that demand is still high. This means that we will see a price increase in the coming months however there will be smaller increases than we have seen between 2019 to 2022 when we had a much more buoyant market.

This covers everything you need to know about how young people can attempt to get on the property ladder. If you have any questions, queries, or insight into the subject please feel free to get in touch!