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The Stamp Duty Holiday has caused a stampede to purchase property, and with the 95% guaranteed mortgage scheme, millennials are a driving force behind the dizzying market highs. With many indicators highlighting a trend of deurbanisation, many of these new homes are bought by young people in areas far from home and in greener pastures out of the city. As the property market is as confusing and tech-resistant as ever, and moving at a faster pace than ever before, this millennial exodus out of urban hubs comes with a myriad of potential pitfalls, unnecessary costs, and even legal risks.
Whether it’s flexible working conditions allowing young people to chase a lifelong dream of living by the seaside, or Pandemic restrictions encouraging people to search for more living space and a bigger house, many have left or want to leave cities. Data from property experts iPlace Global shows the sentiments of millennials towards urban living.
Of a nationally representative survey of 18–35-year-olds:
- 30% have seriously considered moving out of a city to a more rural area
- 25% will no longer commute into a city for their job
- 19% have moved or are in the process of moving away from a city
The 95% guaranteed mortgage scheme was specifically designed to encourage and assist young people onto the property ladder, but does anyone, particularly the younger generations, know exactly what’s needed? 300,000 deals fell through in 2020, with many because people rushed and did not have the right documents or understanding of each step – and this is only made more difficult in new and unknown areas.
Other property experts such as Dwell-Leeds say that without a more transparent purchase process and the technology to help people understand and complete deals, many are risking losing money, losing time, and ultimately having deals fall through. Technology has moved on at an incredible rate, but has made little impact on the property market to try and make deals easier and less fail. With over separate 11 documents and 24 important steps, potentially involving everything from removal men to legal experts, more must be done to increase transparency and make it easier for young home-owners-to-be to get onto the property ladder.
Simon Bath, CEO of iPlace Global, discusses the difficulties of buying a new home, particularly in new areas and for young people:
“There is incredible demand for properties at the moment, which has caused rising house prices and therefore more people selling to make the most of these high prices. This hasn’t been helped by dwindling demand as people to start to worry about a lack of available property and fewer new properties being built over the last few decades.
More needs to be done to make this process easier, more concise, and ultimately increase transparency so home-owners-to-be know what they have to do to buy their home, and all so that all this information is in one accessible place. Owning a home is an important part of the British psyche and our culture, and if home ownership is to be expanded as much as possible, we must do more to make it easier to buy and sell your home. As people look outside of cities, and potentially to new and distant areas, finding suppliers, surveyors, conveyancers, and everything else they need is even harder, and leaves people open to unnecessary costs and even legal risks”.
