Debt for debt’s sake

By Alex Reid

From this week, High Street lenders will be offering mortgages on homes – old and new – up to the value of £600,000 with just a 5% deposit.

As a 32-year-old renting in London for the best part of the last 10 years, it should be great news for people like me, right?

But instead of trawling Rightmove and Zoopla, I’m still happy to play the long game.

We all know the pandemic has massively changed the way we work, whilst the longer-term future of work is still to be defined. So do I really want to be tied to a place, when remote working, or working-on-the-move has changed so much?

It took me a long time to pay off my student debt, and the prospect of adding hundreds of thousands more, for the sake of owning a small flat, isn’t one I’m particularly bothered about.

As we watch office spaces and working cultures change overnight, who’s to say we won’t be expecting the same level of flexibility when it comes to our living arrangements before long?

Of course, it is welcome news for people working in some industries, and good luck to them. I imagine people like my brother, a police officer on the fringes of Birmingham, where house prices are considerably lower, is happy right now.

Sure, I’d like to own my own home. Even better I’d like it to be in London, where my life is.  But for me, I’m happy staying on the sidelines for now.