Bricks & Mortar the best investment for the future?

A recent report has stated that property prices have risen by 51% in the last decade, which surely must mean that it is above all others in the investment stakes as an asset base.

Why then increasingly have we got generation rent? And unlike in Margaret Thatcher’s heyday less emphasis is being put on getting into a home you own as soon as possible.

For me an older generation, on the cusp of the baby boomers, it was expected that by 21 years of age you would be buying your first home, possibly to live in with your new wife. That was the 1980’s.

Now in the 2020’s things are different; lending is different with lending multiples in London being 9 times income, and 40% of salaries covering just the mortgage. The average age of a first-time buyer being around 37-years, and marriage in your early 20’s being seen as old fashioned.

Also, strange things are happening around ownership of property, with coliving in all of its manifestations becoming a larger component of the housing ecosystem, people living in balanced mini societies, from HMO’s to concierge living. No two up two down for these type of home dwellers.

And now with the pandemic, we have WFH, and is it a fad a craze or a reality, and if it is here to stay, will the bricks and mortar we live in, also be the bricks and mortar we work in too?

Back in the 1980’s when I first sold property, buyers gravitated towards Victorian splendour, high ceilings, fireplaces, or brand-new builds, a mock Adams’ style fireplace in the sitting room with a gas spur ready for a gas fire of your choice and double-glazed doors to your patio.

What in 2035, fifty fives years on from then, or 14-years from now, will greet us as we walk through our front doorway?

Will it be home or a commercial and property space? A wing to work in and areas to relax, and will we live and work here until we retire and move … into a coliving community that looks like the dystopian Sci-Fi future worlds we see in films.

Which brings us back to the opening point, if we buy a property to live in it escalates in price, in truth inflation elevates the price plus the boom bust mentality of the housing market.

That was fine when the property was a ‘normal home’ what will house inflation look like if the property you live in is a two up two down, plus two business suites and a charging area for you flying car? Will the same model of investing in property be as safe as houses then.

If you have a view – please let us all know by emailing me at [email protected] – Andrew Stanton Executive Editor – moving property and proptech forward.