If you’re under 35, it looks like someone has played a mean prank with the property ladder by ripping out the lower rungs, with major implications for our canals.
New research by comparethemarket.com of two thousand 25-35-year-olds in the UK reveals that growing numbers are avoiding high rents by making homes anywhere they can find them. Millennials told of living under the stairs or in cupboards at friends’ flats, as well as in a child’s playhouse, a shipping container, an old aeroplane, a tree-house and – particularly enterprising – a caravan in the office car park (imagine the time and money saved on commuting).
But the most popular budget alternative seems to be life afloat. The survey discovered that around one in three millennials would consider living on a boat to save money. Britain’s houseboat population in London has grown by 50 per cent over the last five years, according to the Canal & River Trust. East London has witnessed a naval invasion, with a huge 85 per cent annual increase in residential moorings.
Phoebe Patey-Ferguson, 26, a PhD student and teacher lives on a London houseboat says ‘About a year ago I bought Toad Hall from some friends. Before that I lived in a flat in zone 3, but couldn’t afford to do anything so I would just sit at home. With the boat it’s the opposite, I’m out all the time and I’ve even been able to go on holiday for the first time in a long while.
I paid £2,000 for it and spent about three months and £1,000 doing it up, with friends and family helping. We had to waterproof the wood, re-do the flooring and add insulation. It costs around £400 a year for a canal licence and £500 for boat insurance, in case I damage someone else’s boat. There’s no electricity or running water and I spend less than a tenner a month on the gas cooker and wood for a multi-fuel stove. It’s a really cheap way to live, but I have got a very fancy gym membership.
I “cruise” the boat, which means moving to a new mooring every two weeks around London. I get to base myself in areas such as Paddington, King’s Cross, Islington and Broadway Market. My friends and I couldn’t afford to rent there.’
It’s mainly eye-wateringly high prices that drive millennials to explore alternative living. That’s why two-thirds (64%) of property-pressed young Londoners are happy to consider trying them. By contrast, more than half (54%) of 24-35s living in the comparatively affordable East Midlands say they will stick to comfy, dry conventional living, thank you very much.
Other popular money savers were campervans (30%), couch surfing at friends (22%), sharing a bedroom (22%) and sharing a bed with someone other than a partner (9%)!
And the one essential that millennials most miss if they have to go without – after electricity (of course) – is their precious wi-fi connection. The research reveals that around one in six (17%) millennials will hang on to their wi-fi at the expense of anything else. Across the nation, they say they would even rather go without an indoor loo than forego their internet!
Thanks to Comparethemarket.com for permission to reproduce this information.
© 2016 comparethemarket.com. 
