YP Letters: Housing crisis or unrealistic expectations?

From: Arthur Quarmby, Underhill, Holme.
Young people have unrealistic expectations, says Arthur Quarmby, when it comes to housing.Young people have unrealistic expectations, says Arthur Quarmby, when it comes to housing.
Young people have unrealistic expectations, says Arthur Quarmby, when it comes to housing.

THE media pounds our ears with bad news about housing and young people. The young will be condemned to rent for life, as they will never be able to buy a house, we are told. I wonder what planet these journalists are living on? I study house prices locally in newspapers, and on the internet, and there is an absolute profusion of cheap old houses for sale which nobody wants. Cheap means above and below £100,000. Yes that is still an obscene amount of money; a house is of simple construction which should cost far less than a motor car, but then housing is stuck in the Stone Age.

These cheap houses are small, old-fashioned and probably in terrace form – but do all these young people want a house, or don’t they? Can they really expect to start at the top? Is there anything wrong in starting small and cheap, with the determination to do better in due course? Even buy something inadequate, a wreck even, and restore it with youthful enthusiasm and help from your friends. There is plenty of housing waiting for young people to buy – what is stopping them?

Or do they prefer to moan about their inability easily to buy new five bedrooms, three bathrooms and double garage? That is unrealistic, and should not be propounded.

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