Britain doesn’t build enough homes. From that one fact, a long chain of consequences follows. For one thing, it means that homes in Britain are extremely expensive. According to the Office for National Statistics, the average salary in Britain in 2021 is £29,744. The average house price in the UK (as of March 2021) is £256,405 and prices have risen 10.2 per cent in the last 12 months. And if you want to settle in London, the average property price is now over half a million. No wonder so many people have chosen to move out.
Big prices mean big mortgages, taken out by the millions who are looking to climb what’s usually called the “housing ladder.” But the “ladder” metaphor, with its connotations of a consistent and inevitable upward advance, is deceptive. Most people who take out a mortgage are so burdened with debt they’ll spend the rest of their working life paying it off. Less “ladder,” more “merry-go-round.”