NO SEX, darling; I am saving for a house!

It’s not a choice I’d have made when I was a younger lad, I have to say.

A survey of 2,000 British adults found that young people – Millennials and Gen Z – would forgo a year of sex for the chance to get onto the property ladder.

See the eye-catching headline here: Mortgage or orgasm? Why gen Z would happily give up sex – if it meant they could buy a house.

“Happily”?? Talk about self-discipline!

Older generations said they would not give up the chance of an orgasm for a year. Maybe they’re hornier. Or, in fact, it’s because most of them already own their own place.

Now, the article in The Guardian was pretty tongue-in-cheek.

And the survey was commissioned by Bloom Stories, otherwise known for creating audio erotica.

It’s hardly objective research.

But clickbait headlines aside, there’s an important lesson in this because it speaks to the failed aspirations of the young, and the enormous intergenerational inequality in the housing market.

Why should young people have to consider forgoing – at the prime of their lives – sex for shelter.

Older generations didn’t have to do that.

Here is the reality of what’s going on

According to the article, the average UK property price is now around £290,000.

And it’s worse in London. In the capital, the average property price is at £536,052. A 10% deposit to buy a place on a mortgage now works out at a £54,000.

Their research suggests it can take someone living in the capital close to FORTY years to save for an average level deposit.

While this might sound a bit hyperbolic, the overall message for me is clear. It is very, very tough for young wage earners to ever dream of owning their own home, of being able to catch up with the ever-rising house price.

They simply can’t save enough after the cost of rent, bills, and food.

That is what the above stat says to me. And by the time they have saved up a deposit, it’s likely that the real estate market will have already moved on out of reach again.

It turns into a vicious cycle. What can be done to break it?

Well, it seems saving is not going to be the answer. According to other research, we must look at the other extreme to find a potential solution.

With some sense of irony, here’s yet another article also from The Guardian, concerning one of those generations surveyed in the earlier research, the millennials.

But the sentiment could be hardly more different: Millennials on course to become ‘richest generation in history.

The richest generation in history?? Are they serious?

From the article:
Millennials may have been portrayed as frivolous spenders squandering their income on overpriced coffees and online barre classes in the face of pitiful long-term finances – but they are on course to become the “richest generation in history,” a study has shown.

Those born between 1981 and 2000 are in line for a “seismic” windfall over the next 20 years.

The switch will see $90tn (£71tn) of assets move between generations in the US alone, “making affluent millennials the richest generation in history”, Knight Frank said in its 18th annual wealth report.

So, rather than save, millennials are going to be the beneficiaries of the largest transfer of wealth in history.

That’s how they will get on the housing by ladder. And they won’t have to give up sex after all!

But what if you don’t have rich parents or relatives to give you a chunk of all their wealth?

Because one thing I do know is that such wealth will not be evenly distributed across this generation. Those who are already from wealthy families and possibly who are already on the housing ladder will, of course, inherit more.

Reflecting on all of this, while I don’t particularly have anything against these articles, here is what I think about both of them – complete bullshit.

Both are designed to be aggregated using social media re-posting amongst the generation they are marketed to. Deliberately designed to elicit an emotional response from the reader. But it’s when they came out that grabbed my attention.

Look again at the headlines and the terms used. This is the time in the cycle where hubris replaces truth as the primary motive to read them. I can tell you to expect plenty more of this as we approach the peak of the land markets.

However, if you’ve developed a real estate cycle lens to view the world through, then you’ll appreciate this: everything except the rising price of land is blamed here. In fact, look between the lines and there’s a message most won’t have seen.

If these articles are to be believed, the only answer left today for young aspiring homeowners is you have to inherit one.

If I had five minutes to speak to a young person from those generations who believes both articles accurately represent them, here’s what I would say.

If you want to become a homeowner, you need to prepare for what’s to come – starting now.

The time to learn how best to protect any sort of inheritance you may have bequeathed to you in the next few years is coming too.

There’s not much time left now before the land market peak in the US arrives.

Which means the rest of the world shall follow soon after. The time when you will be able to get on the fabled property ladder, without breaking your neck financially, is coming.

And for everyone else in between too, better be safe than sorry, right? That why, regardless of your generation, becoming our newest Boom Bust Bulletin (BBB) member is the best way to introduce yourself to the real estate cycle and its unique timing.

Each month you’ll have the chance to learn what the real estate cycle is, why it has been repeating for over two hundred years now and get the latest developments as the cycle turns.

All designed to give you the confidence to make those big financial decisions at the correct time.

Because you see, it actually has nothing to do with blaming the haves and have-nots. They are a symptom of the real estate cycle, not the cause.

You are living through a time where the pressure being placed on society is twofold. Ever rising land prices are eradicating any sense of fairness and equality in communities in general.

Now add the crushing weight of insane levels of debt required to even purchase a mediocre property, whether it’s in a good location or not.

You must rise above the noise, the stupid articles masquerading as research, and instead place the land market front and centre of your own research.

It can really set you free, free of white noise and emotion. And once you understand the timing of the 18.6-year Real Estate Cycle, use it to best position yourself to be safe and succeed.

And that’s what the BBB is designed to help you with. Those critical first steps on this journey.

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