'A housing catastrophe': 4 charts show how millennials were priced out of Britain's housing market

Housing estate London

Reuters / Neil Hall

LONDON — Young people are spending three times more on housing than their grandparents, according to a report from the Resolution Foundation.

The policy group found that millennials — those born between 1981 and 2000 — are being forced to live in smaller spaces, commute for longer, and wait on average until their 40s to buy a house.

The report found that millenials now spend an eye-watering quarter of their income on housing costs, a figure which has been driven up by a chronic lack of house-building, spiralling rents, and rocketing house prices.

"Britain's housing catastrophe has been 50 years in the making, but while its effects are widespread, it is millennials who are truly at the sharp end," said Lindsay Judge, who co-wrote the report.

"The big danger today is that young people are having to settle for lower quality, longer commutes, and less security in order to afford a place to live, despite spending a record share of their income on housing."

Here are four charts which illustrate the true extent of plummeting homeownership in the UK.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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