Allsopp’s strange advise to purchase an own house

Harriet Williamson, The Independent

Another day, another variation on the “give up some small thing that you enjoy and you’ll be able to buy a house” fallacy.

On Sunday, Location, Location, Location presenter Kirstie Allsopp treated young people to some advice on how to buy their first home. She said she felt “enraged” when people claimed they couldn’t afford to buy a house. Her solution? Move in with your parents, give up “luxuries” like gym memberships, Netflix subscriptions and holidays abroad, and move to a cheaper area of the country.

You know what leaves me feeling enraged? Immensely privileged people — Allsopp is the daughter of the 6th Baron Hindlip, no less, and worth about £16m — repeating the same untruths about the “sacrifices” we should be making to get on the property ladder.

Since 2000, UK house prices have vastly outstripped wage growth, and data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that in March 2021, the average house cost more than 65 times the average home in January 1970, but average weekly wages were only 35.8 times higher.

A typical house now costs seven times more than median annual salary of £31,596 – but in parts of London and the south east, it can be up to 27 times the average yearly wage. According to analysis by the housing charity Shelter, a couple with children in England would earn an extra £44,000 a year if wages had risen as fast as house prices.

The fact that many young people are struggling to get on the property ladder has absolutely nothing to do with whether they pay for Netflix or the gym or a morning Starbucks. It’s because wage growth has not kept pace with house prices, and because many of us are trapped in a cycle of renting – paying rip-off sums to private landlords every month, which hobbles our capacity to save for a home of our own.

Allsopp thinks young people should just live with their parents until they’ve saved enough for a deposit, another comment that highlights just how out of touch she is with reality. For many young people, living rent-free with parents is just not feasible — for a wide variety reasons, including financial and health concerns. Having this option available is a privilege.

As for moving to a cheaper part of the country, I suppose Allsopp means we should drop our jobs (which weren’t easy to come by in the first place) in more expensive places like London and hotfoot it up to Middlesbrough or Barnsley. Not always possible. I’m tired of people like Allsopp making tone deaf statements about what we should give up to get on the property ladder. They love blaming young people for not owning homes, because that’s probably easier and more convenient than looking at the broken housing market in this country and how it’s been allowed to get in this state. No, much better to instruct us to suck the last vestiges of simple joy out of our lives, in the form of Netflix or avocado on toast. People with multiple properties and whacking great salaries jeering at young people, many of us fighting tooth and nail to financially keep our heads above water, because we don’t own our homes and have the temerity to spend money in other ways, is becoming extremely tedious. Allsopp bought her first home aged 21 with the help of her family (who also helped her out by employing her in her mother’s business, Hindlip & Prentice Interiors, and letting her study at Christie’s — the famous auction house where her dad was a chairman), back when the average home cost around £51,000. Her comments aren’t just unhelpful, they’re downright hypocritical and show her inability to recognise her own privilege.

Halifax puts the average deposit for a first-time buyer at £59,000. I don’t have a gym membership or go to Starbucks, and I haven’t had a holiday in years. What’s Kirstie’s plan for me now? Please, hands off my £5.99 Netflix subscription.