Lost Generation

London has certainly changed a lot. We moved out just over two years ago although our youngest still lives and works there. The street we lived in changed from teachers and social workers to City bankers over the 30 odd years we were there. My daughter removed to an area about a mile away which has now started to 'gentrify' out of the reach of ordinary people. Many families are sent out of London by their Councils to cut the bill. A lot of social cleansing going on with people having to move out to live and then commute in to work. Some areas are empty at night because the houses have been bought by the super rich who are just never there - not in the area I lived - we were never that rich. Rather sad to see one's capital city go that way.

I can see a real brain drain looming
That has been happening for many years.

London seems like a different country to those in the UK who don't live there

Of course Rosequartz, in 1980 interest rates reached 17% under Thatcher. We remember well the monthly letters from the Bank telling us that yet again the rates had gone up. But...we didn't have student loans to pay back as today's young do. We were both in full time employment. I think our generation needs to remember we were the first to leave the family home young and either rent or buy in our own right. Previous generations tended to live at home until married and even then often lodged with the parents. Our children found it relatively easy to get work and housing as did we. The world was opening up. Changed days for today's young. My youngest daughter, born 13 years after the first two, found a very different world when she left University. She is buying her own flat with some help from the Bank of Mum and Dad but the majority of her peer group are renting. The only ones buying are in the same position as herself - the Bank of Mum and Dad. They are the lucky ones. They have less mobility in terms of jobs and most have the two degrees or more. I despair for them. I can see a real brain drain looming unless we do something about it in political terms. Something has to give on the ever widening divide of the haves and have nots. At a recent Shelter meeting the audience several times made the point that unless housing was sorted and made affordable they could see riots in the streets within two years. They were an affluent, middle class audience, mostly home owners who also despaired at the situation in London on housing. I wish I had the answer but I do feel very deeply that unless something is done to give hope to the young and underpriviledged we are looking at real civil unrest.

For example one degree is no longer enough, most go on to do a Masters and many to do a Phd, something that used to be a rarity.

Because of Tony Blair's ridiculous determination that 50% of young people should go to University the value of a degree has deteriorated accordingly. At least the old A and O level qualifications meant something.

Of course no one wants to employ someone who may have a degree, or even two, but who can't spell and/or has no communication skills.

Another quite ridiculous thread, about how bad the younger generation have it! As some of them may say " yeah, right!" of course it is relevant to think back to what we did/didn't have, we spent most of our money paying the mortgage, bought from thrift shops and food from the market on Saturday.
Another very left wing moan about how awful the country is ( of course it was all milk and honey under Labour!)
It wouldn't hurt some of the 20 and 30 somethings to go without ,a bit more than they do.

(their citizens, I mean!)

Times change, and so do the priorities of the young. Home ownership is not going to be an option for many, if not most, in the future, and I know at least two young(ish) couples with a families who have sold up and are now happy to rent.

Perhaps that's the way things are going to go in the future - after all it's only the UK where home ownership is seen as so important, most EU countries live in rented properties.

some only seem to use it to say how hard they had it, or how well they coped on very little.

Is that not relevant? Or does it put it into perspective somehow?:

I see some under 35s and they do seem to have a much better time of it socially than we ever had as we struggled to pay a mortgage. In fact, I have an under 35 - and whenever they have a spare bit of cash they and their friends seem to go away, fly off somewhere, have a party, buy clothes, have a new hairdo, etc etc.
Yes, we did struggle and never seemed to have any of the above, but we saved for a house deposit and paid a mortgage.
Somehow their priorities seem different; some of them want it all.

Isn't it interesting that whenever a post about another generation or how other people are suffering appears, some only seem to use it to say how hard they had it, or how well they coped on very little. I feel sorry for the under 35s. They have to work so much harder to have what we had. For example one degree is no longer enough, most go on to do a Masters and many to do a Phd, something that used to be a rarity. The creative industries, that used to be open to everyone, are underfunded and only the wealthy can afford to pursue them. As for housing, they pay extortionate rents and can't save for a deposit, so they stand little chance of buying.

Shelter reckon that people in London still paying mortgages or rent spend 43% of their income on it.
I reckon we spent just over half of our income on the mortgage when we moved to London in 1980.
At least we had a deposit to put down as we had sold a much cheaper house elsewhere and were able to get a mortgage with the same building society (at 15%!).

Correction: Should read 'sought after'.

Part of the problem with housing is not just the lack of it either to buy or rent but the perception that home ownership is to be ought after. If everyone wants to own their own home there have to be homes to own, at a price they want to afford and in an area they want to live in. It's a 'never catch up with demand' situation. Shelter reckon that people in London still paying mortgages or rent spend 43% of their income on it. If renting, that doesn't leave much room to save for a new home. My middle daughter (mid 40s) reckons her children haven't a hope in hell of owning their own home if they stay in this country or even renting a decent one for an acceptable rent no matter how well they do in school. I seem to remember reading somewhere that for a one bedroom flat in London for about £250000 you need about £75000.

The rise in house prices makes interesting reading, and so would what you need to earn in order to buy one. You would hardly be able to buy a flat in my area for £242k.

House building is falling yet again year on year under this government.

HOW HOUSE PRICES HAVE GROWN
1980 - £24,000. 1981 - £24,000
1982 - £24,000. 1983 - £26,000
1984 - £29,000. 1985 - £31,000
1986 - £36,000. 1987 - £40,000
1988 - £49,000. 1989 - £55,000
1990 - £60,000. 1991 - £62,000
1992 - £61,000. 1993 - £64,000
1994 - £66,000. 1995 - £67,000
1996 - £70,000. 1997 - £78,000
1998 - £87,000. 1999 - £96,000
2000 - £109,000. 2001 - £116,000
2002 - £136,000. 2003 - £155,000
2004 - £173,000. 2005 - £184,000
2006 - £193,000. 2007 - £214,000
2008 - £211,000. 2009 - £194,000
2010 - £209,000. 2011 - £215,000
2012 - £230,000. 2013 - £242,000

A chart up to 2013 (as far as that chart went up)

It must be an average over the country as we sold a house in 1980 for slightly more than that and had to pay nearly double that for a house in London in the same year.

I do feel sorry for the Under 40s and am surprised when many GN members criticize them for wanting it all, expecting so much, free childcare, latest phones, etc., and how older generations 'made do and mend'.

IMO it is so much harder for them than it was for those of us born in the 40s/50s/60s - the cost of housing has skewed everything.

2008 was the global crisis, did the labour government cause this ?

The people I work with despair that all grants and special funding is directed towards the the under 25s!
The Tories haven't been in power long enough to have single handedly destroyed the the chances of young people. That most likely happened in 2008. The economic crash that did for so many peoples chances. Er who was running the country then? Umm?

The key to moving forward again lies in the younger generation getting political, registering to vote and actually voting. They need to wake up to the reality that there is a direct link between the cross on the paper in the ballot box and the result. I think, and hope, we are on the brink of that happening. I know how I would like them to vote but, for heavens sake, just vote.

The under 25's are less likely to vote so are of no concern to this government , they reply on the grey vote and the guilty middle