Young people in the UK cannot afford to buy a home for themselves and are being forced to radical alternatives to combat the high rents and unattainable mortgages
Recent research has shown that about 40 per cent of young people cannot afford to buy een the cheapest homes in the area they live and according to the BBC, the average deposit is about £26,000.
Just some of the extreme measures young couples are turning to include living in a van, a shipping container and even building a tiny home for a fraction of the cost.
Harriet Baggley, her partner Tom and two-year-old son, Ruben, moved into a transporter van in April 2018, spending four nights a week sleeping there and two to three nights with a relative, to help with childcare.
The couple, in their mid-20s, said renting and having a mortgage did not appeal to them, instead they plan to save to buy a plot of land and build a cob home in the future
Harriet said: “The hardest part is probably being on top of each other and staying organised. There’s not much room to be your own person, but we have work, we have time away from each other and we come back to a space that’s our own.”
Tom is 30 and is a free-wheeling surfer from Porthleven, in Cornwall.
He believes getting a mortgage is an unrealistic possibility after leaving university with a debt he has only recently cleared
Instead, he is being taught how to build what is known as a tiny home and will take it with him on his travels at the Centre For Alternative Technology, in Powys.
He said in an interview: “A big part of it is the financial freedom that comes with having a tiny home.
“Not being bridled to a mortgage for the rest of my life, being able to pursue the things I’m passionate about in life.”
He hopes to spend a maximum of £15,000 to build the self-contained mini unit in the next year, proving you don’t have to plough thousands of pounds into conventional bricks and mortar.
What are your thoughts? How did you manage to buy your first home? Or are you still renting? Get in touch, we’d love to hear your thoughts.
