Here's why 2025 could be start of the 'Great Downsizing,' says ANDREW OXLADE
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Britain faces many pressing financial challenges. One of the worst is the parlous position of those aged under 30, known as Gen Z. For the first time, a generation will be significantly poorer than the one before. This is well known, but the fact that the most watched TED talk of 2024 was called how the US is destroying young people's future perhaps underlines how this debate is shifting gear.
New York University marketing professor Scott Galloway delivers a stinging rebuke that will resonate with young people, and his appraisal is as relevant to the UK as the US. The problem faced by a typical twenty-something is daunting: how to buy a house and pay down debt while also building an emergency fund and future savings.
The figures are sobering. First-time buyers in England put down an average £55,372 to secure a home, a daunting amount to save - and especially when the average UK salary for those aged 22 to 29 is £32,292. A red-hot rental market makes the challenge harder. Rents have surged by about 28 per cent in four years, taking the average monthly cost to £1,330, says the Office for National Statistics.
Great downsizing? Andrew Oxlade says the 'Great Wealth Transfer' could begin in 2025. Buying your first home has always been hard. But never this hard. When I stepped on to the property ladder in 2001, buying a one-bed flat aged 28, the average house price was 3.6 times the average salary.
