Owning her own home was never a dream for Lyndsey Yates. The freelance graphic designer and her partner Mark, a web designer, have always hankered after something more flexible, more exotic.
"When we first got together we were convinced we would never buy a house because we wanted our freedom, to move around wherever we wanted to," she says. They both had good careers. Freelancing gave them flexibility. Life in Spain or Switzerland looked like fun. "At one point we were learning Dutch because we were thinking of moving to Holland."
Life got in the way. First came the birth of their daughter three years ago, making the idea of a more permanent home appealing. Then their rented home, in Newburgh, near Wigan, was hit by flooding and their freedom became a burden.
"We had to move out, but we couldn't find anywhere to live," Lyndsey says. "None of the landlords wanted to take a risk on two freelancers." At the age of 32, Lyndsey and her family moved back in with her parents.
Seven months later, after more than a dozen viewings, they found a nice house. Now, like the rest of generation rent, Lyndsey is wondering if her family will be able to buy a home.
Renting has become the new normal for millions of people in the UK. Rising house prices and a lack of new homes for first-time buyers takes home ownership out of reach of millennials, particularly in the south east of England, where house prices have far outstripped salaries. Add in the burden of debt from student loans – the average debt for a graduate is £32,220 in England – and it's easy to see why many think twice about taking on a mortgage.
"We believe that renting should be as valid a choice as ownership," says Dan Wilson Craw, interim director of campaign group GenerationRent.org. "But it's not a choice. People want to escape a sector that is preventing them from finding a long-term home.
"People know a rented house is only a temporary home. Renters are less likely to feel like decorating, less inclined to take part in the local community and they feel as though they don't really have a home."
So why is home ownership seen as better than renting? The roots of our obsession with owning houses sprang from the political upheavals of the 1920s, when the Conservatives faced the electoral threat of the new Labour party, according to Brian Lund, a visiting fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of Housing Politics in the United Kingdom.
"The argument was that the working class now had the vote, and the way to attract them was through creating a property-owning democracy," Lund says. "They pushed the idea that you're a full member of the community when you own property. Renting – particularly council renting – is the contrast. That has entrenched owner-occupation as an ideology."
There are also practical, financial benefits for homeowners. Mortgage repayments are often lower than rent, and once the mortgage is paid off, the owner has a valuable asset. But that is part of the problem, Wilson Craw says.
"We've seen the development of housing as a commodity to invest in, as opposed to somewhere to live. You see people investing their savings in buy-to-let property, raising house prices and creating a perception that property is a safe bet."
Building more houses is the obvious solution, but the average annual rate of housebuilding is 144,000 – not enough to cool rising prices in housing hotspots. And tenants of private landlords still need protection.
Wilson Craw says better safeguards for tenants would make them feel more secure. "Tenants who complain about their landlords know they will just be hit with a retaliatory eviction. They need more power in the rental market, so that landlords take their responsibilities seriously."
If the twentysomethings of generation rent believe home ownership is impossible, will they abandon the idea altogether? Are other millennials opting for Lyndsey Yates's dream of a freewheeling lifestyle?
Laura Meier has. The 24-year-old recruitment consultant left Munich earlier this year to take up an 18-month contract in London. She didn't know anyone in the UK, and was worried about finding a house and making friends. The answer for her was co-living: renting a room in a converted Victorian house with a state-of-the-art kitchen, a laundry and shared workspace. Everything is included – cleaning, electricity, water, council tax and wifi – for a single price.
"I like that you can choose if you want to socialise or not," she said. "If I feel lonely I can just go to the living room. You can always find someone."
Instead of tenants, the people who live in the house are members of a startup called Roam, which offers properties in Miami, San Francisco, Tokyo and Bali. They can live in any of the properties any time they like.
"You get people who stay for months, like me, and some who stay for a few weeks and move on," Laura says. "Most of them work from home, so they are self-employed or they have a job that it doesn't matter where they are, like a software engineer."
Bruno Haid, the founder of Roam, believes that it could be possible to break the link between owning property for investment and for living. He is planning a global property fund for his members to invest in.
"The idea is that you invest every month in a portfolio, and the dividends from that pay your rent," he said. "At the start the dividends might not be so much, so you'd need to top up your rent. But after some time, you build a bigger stake in the fund, and the dividends cover all of your rent. So you have both your investment and flexibility. A bit like having your cake and eating it too."
That might sound out of reach for many, but co-living has been catching on in London with properties available to rent at market rates. The Collective has a 550-bed block of "microflats" in Old Oak, west London, and has been adding properties to its portfolio. Other developers are joining the so-called "build-to-rent" movement, with 80,855 homes either completed or planned.
Stuart Scott, a Brighton landlord who embraced the trend a few years ago, now has six properties within his Co-living Spaces business. "Actually it can be cheaper for some people. A one-bed flat in this area is about £1,000 per month plus bills, whereas a room in a co-living unit can cost from £550 to £800, with all bills included."
Scott insists that his tenants are customers. "These are young professionals and they want somewhere they can be proud to live in. It's about providing good customer service."
