With the cost-of-living crisis beginning to hit, the 20 and
30-somethings of Neath urgently need the help and support of the Government to
help them get on the property ladder.
For the last few weeks, we have listened to the debates and
hustings of Liz and Rishi. Between them, they have told us how they are going
to stop building on the green belt, slash taxes, outbid each other on the
number of refugees they are going to deport and push back against WOKE culture
wars, but what are they doing for the 20 to 30-somethings of Neath?
Dubbed ‘Generation Rent’ by the press, desperate to get on
the property ladder, this is an open goal for any candidate to obtain more
votes to become the next Prime Minister.
Yet only 16% of the c.200,000 Tory membership is aged
18 to 34 whilst 47% of members are aged between 55 and 74.
Therefore, it’s not a surprise that neither Liz nor Rishi aren’t
speaking daily about the cost of petrol for the daily commute, rising childcare
fees or the lack of opportunities for first-time buyers to purchase their own
properties.
(For balance, 16% of Labour’s members are 18 to 34, 20% for
the Lib Dems and 16% for the SNP).
Everyone is feeling the effect on their household budgets
with the rise in energy bills. Yet, it is the younger generation (i.e.,
Generation Rent) that are having to cope with the frenzy of rising energy costs
the most.
Whilst increasing energy prices will affect all households
across the country, younger (and less affluent) households are more prone to be
disproportionately affected than those on the lowest incomes (i.e., Generation
Rent).
In the financial year ending in 2020, the least well off 25%
of households spent 5.59% on energy compared to 3.9% for the average UK
household. With 2023 energy bills set to be triple those figures, energy bills
for those in the lower quartile will rise to around 16.8% of their household
budget.
And let’s look at the housing element of the ‘Generation
Rent’ household budget.
The average rental of a Neath property in the summer
of 2020 was £581 PCM; by the summer of 2021, itwas £650 PCM, and today,
it is £698 PCM.
Overall, Neath rents are 7.4% higher than a year ago
and 20.1% higher than two years ago.
This is the fastest annual rate of rental growth since
records began in 2006. This increase in rents isn’t standard. Before 2020, I
would have expected to see this level of rent growth over a seven-to-ten-year
period – not two years. Good news for Neath landlords, yet not so for Neath
tenants.
Why have rents increased so much in Neath?
It comes down to fewer rental properties and existing Neath
tenants not moving as much.
There are 161 fewer rental properties in Neath than
five years ago, leaving only 2,852 private rental properties in Neath.
9 out of 10 rentals come onto the market because the
existing tenant is moving. Yet, because there are fewer Neath rental properties
and the asking rents for those are much higher than their current home, many Neath
tenants are not moving, exasperating the issue even further.
Today, I looked on Rightmove, and there were only 6
properties available to rent. I would have expected that to be over double that
pre-pandemic.
Neither candidate has been silent on the topic of
homeownership for the young.
Rishi Sunak said he would stop building on the greenbelt.
This, however, would not help Generation Rent massively.
Liz Truss
has pledged to help more renters buy their first home by stating she will
ensure tenant’s rental payments could be used as part of mortgage affordability
assessments. This is important as the mortgage payments can be 10% to 20% lower
than the rental payments.
Tied in
with new relaxed mortgage affordability rules announced by the Bank of England
in early August, this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction to help
Generation Rent.
Truss also plans to scrap the red tape holding back
housebuilding and give local populations more say on developments. However,
when Boris Johnson suggested something similar a few years ago, the policy was
quietly dropped after the Liberal Democrats used this against them resulting in
the Tory’s resounding by-election defeat in 2021 in Chesham and Amersham.
So, by the end of the first week of September, we will know
who the Prime Minister will be. Whoever gets the job has a gigantic task on
their hands. I wish them luck and ask them not to forget the younger generation
and their aspiration to be homeowners.
