The degree to which young Stoke on Trent people are locked
out of the Stoke on Trent housing market has been revealed in new statistics.
A Stoke on Trent
landlord was asking me the other week to what effect homeownership rates in Stoke
on Trent in the early to middle aged adult age range had affected the demand
for rental property in Stoke on Trent since the Millennium. I knew anecdotally
that it affected the Stoke on Trent rental market, but I wanted some cold hard
numbers to back it up. As you know, I like a challenge when it comes to the stats..
so this is what I found out for the landlord, and I’d like to share them with
you as well.
As anyone in Stoke
on Trent, and most would say those born more recently, are drastically less
likely to own their own home at a given age than those born a decade earlier,
let’s roll the clock back to the Millennium and compare the figures from then
to today.
In the year 2000, 50.1%
of Stoke on Trent 28-year olds (born in 1972) owned their own home, whilst a 28
year old today born in 1990) would have a 26.7% chance of owning their own
home. Next, let’s look at someone born ten years before that. So, going back to
the Millennium, a 38 year Stoke on Trent person (therefore born in 1962) would
have a 73.9% chance of owning his or her own home and a 38 year today in Stoke
on Trent (born in 1980) would only have a 57.6% chance of owning their own home.
Since the Millennium, overall general homeownership in the 25 to
44 year old age range in Stoke on Trent has reduced from 68.37% to 49.44%
If you look at the graph below, split into the four age ranges of 25
year olds (yo) to 29yo, 30yo to 34yo, 35yo to 39yo and finally 40yo to 44 yo,
you will quite clearly see the changes since the Millennium in Stoke on Trent.
The fact is the figures in Stoke on Trent show the homeownership rate has
proportionally fallen the most for the youngest (25yo to 29yo) age range compared
to the other age ranges.
The landlord
suggested this deterioration in homeownership in Stoke on Trent across the age
groups could be down to the fact that more of those born in the 1980’s and
1990’s (over those born in the 60’s and 70’) are going to University and hence
entering the job market at an older age or those young adults are living with
their parents longer.
I read some national
homeownership statistics of different age groups with the same number of years
after they left education (rather than at the same age) and that gave an
identical dip to the graph above. Neither
are these drops in homeownership related with a significant increase in the
number of young adults living with their parents. Again, nationally, that has
hardly changed over the last 20 years as the percentage of 30-year-olds living
with Mum and Dad only increased from 22% of those born in the early ‘70s to 23%
of those born in the early ‘80s.
So, what does this
mean for the rental market in Stoke on Trent?
Only one thing .. with the local authority not building Council houses,
Housing Associations strapped for cash to build new properties and the younger
generation not buying, there is only one way these youngsters can obtain a roof
over their head and have a home of their own .. through the private landlord
sector. Now with the new tax rules and up and coming licensing rules, Stoke on
Trent landlords will have to work smarter to ensure they make the investment
returns they have in the past. If you ever want to pick my brains on the future
direction of the Stoke on Trent rental market .. drop me line or pop in next
time you are passing my office.
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