Member Article

Psychology of a mortgage

The inability of the young to get on the housing ladder is psychologically damaging a generation that are consequently having to live at home longer, have greater debt and are not emotionally progressing in the way previous generations have done, according to cognitive and business psychologist Dr Lynda Shaw.

Shaw says: “This is a generation that finds tertiary education expensive, work hard to come by and buying a home a pipe dream. Whilst the housing market has regained its momentum, our 20 and 30 something’s are increasingly anxious about their inability to get or sustain payment of a mortgage.”

Of course, historically other generations have found getting on the property ladder difficult, but these days more young people are living with parents for much longer than they used to. Research by Shelter* supports this with a fifth of 18-34 year olds find themselves living at home for longer because they cannot afford a place of their own. This is hard for the younger generation, as they want to fly the nest and get on with life. Psychologically and emotionally they may feel they are not going anywhere, with goals getting further away and motivation difficult to maintain.

“Buying a house is probably the biggest purchase most people are ever going to make in their lifetime - we all have the desire to live in a home that we can call our own and being a home owner brings a sense of security, stability and long-term investment for the future. Instead we have a generation who are delaying having children, who are working excessively long hours to make ends meet and who are out of touch with their community.”

Another loss felt by young families is that by not owning their own homes, they no longer have this asset to pass to their children in years to come. “This generation has very little hope of being able to significantly help their own children financially which makes them feel inadequate.”

“The truth is the majority of young individuals, couples and families struggle to make ends meet. In the meanwhile the sandwich generation are stretching themselves to the full and working harder than ever to ensure rent and bills are paid on time and their 20 or 30 year old children are still well looked after in addition to the elderly parents. This emotional and financial strain is unsustainable.”

It is not just the younger and sandwich generations that have been affected, but those in their senior years are also feeling the sting too. Shaw says: “People are not just having to work longer and harder to pay off their mortgage and to help support their own families, but they are finding it hard to pay for changes in their own homes. When getting up a flight of stairs or climbing into a bath becomes a struggle, will they have the financial capital to pay for these adjustments?”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Dr Lynda Shaw .