For many, the dream of owning their own home is evaporating

COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS

- Rachel Reeves

WHEN I was growing up, with two parents who were primary school teachers, the idea of one day owning your own home didn’t feel like an impossibility. 

Of course, you knew you’d need to work hard and be careful with your money – something my mum and dad always taught me. But it was a dream within reach.

Things feel very different for young people now. For many, that hope is evaporating.

The number forced to shack up with their parents has soared, because rents or saving for a deposit are so high.

The most recent Census showed 700,000 more adults were living with their parents in 2021 than in 2011. More than half of 20 to 24-year-olds now live with their parents.

It’s a positive thing to have that choice. But when it isn’t a choice it becomes a problem. And it isn’t just young people seeing their dreams slipping away.

I know a number of older people in my Leeds West seat are feeling the crunch from rising mortgage costs and wondering how they will manage.