House Price Crash? Better to Rent!
Young professionals are putting off buying a home until well into their 30s and even their 40s due to fears of a house price crash, a property expert has claimed.
Emily Hill, the founder of accommodation website www.housemateheaven.com said yesterday that more young people then ever before were choosing to rent rather than buy property.
She said fears of an imminent crash in house prices was putting record numbers off taking the plunge and buying a house for the first time.
Ms Hill said: “We have seen massive increases in house prices over the past decade and many young people have been unable to get onto the ladder.
“But now we are starting to see something a little bit different. Young people who may have saved enough for a deposit are afraid to buy in case the market tumbles and they end up in negative equity.
“More of them than ever before are choosing to wait rather than to second guess the market. It means many people in their thirties and even early forties still prefer to rent.
“By renting they are able to hold onto their cash as liquid asset and can therefore buy at a time in the future when they judge the market has reached the bottom.”
Cambridge graduate Ms Hill, 25, who founded www.housemateheaven.com last year, admitted the phenomenon of later first time buyers was good news for her business.
She said: “It is great for us. It means the people who want to rent are becoming more discerning. We match people with compatible housemates to share with and our business is going very well.”
Ms Hill’s business aims to prevent nightmarish flat share situations by introducing an internet dating-style questionnaire within people’s online profiles.
It means house hunters across the UK can find like-minded friends to share with while landlords and sitting tenants are able to specify what kind of person they’d consider renting out a room to.
Ms Hill decided to launch the site after seven years of house sharing – and a few unpleasant experiences of her own.
She said: “HousemateHeaven.com is the first website to give you a good idea about the lifestyle preferences of your potential housemates.
“Like most young people I struggled to get on the property ladder due to crazy house prices so I had to share houses.
“Living in a shared house can be great fun as long as you get on well with your fellow housemates. But it only takes one rotten apple to drag the whole atmosphere in the house down.
“There have been one or two people I’ve ended up sharing with who I wouldn’t have chosen as friends yet I found myself stuck with them under the same roof.”
She added that the idea for www.housemateheaven.com came when showing people around the spare room in her shared house in London.
“Lots of people came to view the room, but only a few of them had anything in common with me and the friends I was sharing with – for the others it had been a wasted journey.
“That’s when I decided to set up a website that could indicate in advance whether you’re likely to agree on issues like house parties, and the washing up.”
Website members take a ‘Lifestyle Questionnaire’ to record their views on cleaning, socialising within the house, guests and sharing possessions. Their results will generate a ‘Lifestyle Type’ and the system will match them with compatible housemates in their desired areas of the country.