The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 4th that the economic independence of young people in their 20s in the U.K. is getting slower and the main reason is soaring housing costs. As housing costs are so high, the average age of first-time homebuyers also reached 34, the oldest ever.
According to the FT, one out of three people aged 25 to 27 who were born between 1997 and 2012 live with their parents as of last year. This ratio was 20 percent 20 years ago, but this is an increase of about 13 percentage points.
In a recent survey of MZ generations aged 18 to 35 by Virgin Media, a telecommunications company, about a third said they “depend on their parents for utility bills such as housing costs and electricity and water bills.”
The average age of the first British homebuyer was also 34. Only 10% of those “under the age of 25 to own a home.” Twenty years ago, this figure was 24% but dropped by less than half.
This seems to be because housing sales and rents are soaring at the same time. As of the beginning of this year, the average increase in housing rent was 9.2% per year, the highest since statistics were compiled in 2015, according to the FT. In addition, housing rent accounted for 47% of income under the age of 25. Molly Broome, an analyst at the “Resolution Foundation,” a think tank, analyzed that the growing economic instability has a significant adverse effect on the fertility rate and family formation of young people.
It is also detected that young people, who are under high economic pressure, avoid socializing. According to a survey by Phoenix Group, an insurance company, 68 percent of adults in Generation Z said they avoid socializing or activities for economic reasons. In another survey, more than 25 percent said they do not spend money on favorite foods such as alcohol and cigarettes.
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
