As I was getting ready for work the other morning and listening to BBC Breakfast in the background, it suddenly dawned on me what a worrying state the housing market is currently in. Like many young people my age, I am desperate to move out and regain the independence I had for three years at university, however I just can’t see this happening any time soon. At 21 years of age, although this is still quite young, there is nothing I would like more than to finally break away from Mum and Dad and start living life as a ‘grown-up’. Of course I love my parents dearly (just in case they’re reading) and while I appreciate them welcoming me back into the family home after my time away ‘studying’, there obviously comes a point where you tread on each others toes, hog the bathroom in the morning and wake them up after a late night out! It seems to me however, that we are all going to have to put up with this for quite a while longer….
I was horrified to hear the NHF (National Housing Federation) say that “a whole generation could be locked out of the housing market” and I thought - that’s me! It seems that that the majority of young people are all stuck in the same rut; where the light at the end of the tunnel is so far away we can’t even see it! My parents keep saying about how different things were ‘back in the day’, how they were able to take out a mortgage with next to nothing - they still had to work hard for it but it was possible, in reach even. Now you need so much to even get started that it’s a wonder if any of us will ever get there. Now there is a situation where a choice needs to be made that you have to go either one way or the other, save and save for goodness knows how many years to try and get a deposit together to take out a mortgage, or save for a little less time and start renting, which all know now is a dangerous trap! Start paying a landlord and the dream of saving for a mortgage in the mean time is out the window. I would even go as far as to say that it saddens me that my sister and her soon to be husband are spending more on rent payments than mortgage instalments, all because they didn’t have that ever increasing initial lump sum!
When I got into work I started chatting to the PE team about it and as the discussion developed we thought not only about how it affected our personal lives, but our work lives also. Being heavily involved in the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom industry, we thought about the wider picture and what a knock on effect this could have across the board. If people are struggling to even afford a home of their own, then where is the money for improvements and modernisation? Thankfully, our clients are weathering the storm but it is worrying how much of a knock on effect the housing crisis will have. Over the past couple of months we have seen furniture and bathroom giant’s fold and it makes me wonder how much of an impact the current housing market contributed to such results. Perhaps this is where PR really comes into play, with the industry being more competitive than ever before, brands need to stand out from the crowd and be at the forefront of new build design or the renovation of current properties.
I’ll sign off now, but if there are any rich millionaires out there reading this, then donations are welcome. I’m sure my parents would be very grateful!
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