Member Article

Help our “Priced Out Generation” Escape the Nest

• House prices could soar by 42%, with knock-on effect on rents.
• “Policy makers and pressure groups need to remember the UK does not stop at Watford“ property expert warns.

A Priced-out Generation facing soaring house prices and rising rents needs immediate help to escape the nest – that’s the view of one property expert.

Research released this week from the National Housing Federation predicts a 42% rise in property prices will leave 3.7million young adults born in the 1990s trapped living with their parents by 2020 – unless the UK accelerates current levels of house-building.

A separate report by homelessness charity Shelter calls on the government to meet the UK’s growing need for new homes by building entire new towns and cities in the South East on a scale not seen since the end of the War - leading to Ajay Jagota of North East lettings property firm KIS Lettings demanding the North East’s housing needs are not left behind.

Ajay, who manages properties for 700 landlords from branches in South Shields, Sunderland, North Shields and Welwyn Garden City said: “If new housing levels fail to meet emerging demands the risk is that soaring property prices and interest rates will leave an entire generation of North East young people unable to escape the nest.

“If interest rates and property prices rise, landlords will have no choice but to raise rents to make ends meet. And it’s the Priced Out Generation who loses out again - a generation of North Easterners born in the 1990s who will never leave home unless we see immediate action.

“I’m not one of the doomsayers who believe the government’s efforts to revitalise the residential property market with cheap mortgages though the Help to Buy scheme are bound to fail, and I am confident that it will have positive impact on encouraging house building – but the jury is still out on whether or not it will be enough.

“As ever though most of the solutions and suggestions I’ve heard for tackling Britain’s housing need seem to be afflicted by the curious phenomenon of policymakers and pressure groups alike believing that the UK stops at Watford.

“I’m sure I’m not alone in finding Shelter’s suggestion that we solve the problem by concreting over the south of England and pretending the North isn’t there little on the eccentric side, but the NHF campaign does come with a website allowing local people to lobby decision makers to make sure their local housing needs are met.

“This presents a new opportunity of North Easterners to get their voices heard and to show what demand there is for good quality new homes for people who need them today and will really need them tomorrow”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ajay Jagota .