The young Millennial mortgage nightmare – comment from Hargreaves Lansdown

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, comments on the findings of recent polls, showing the young Millennial mortgage nightmare.

Key findings:
    • On average, mortgages cost £663 a month, with 16% of people paying over £1,000 (figure taken from a survey of 2,000 people by Opinium for HL in September 2022).
    • A Millennial buying the average house at the age of 30 today, with a 10% deposit, and a 6.07% mortgage would have a monthly payment of £1,706. Only 4% of homeowners pay this much (figure taken from a survey of 2,000 people by Opinium for HL in September 2022).
    • Millennials with mortgages tend to have reasonable savings levels, and enough cash left at the end of the month to be resilient. However, rising rates will eat into their resources (detail taken from the H: Savings & Resilience Barometer produced with Oxford Economics in July 2022).
    • They’re already overstretched in other areas, and score particularly poorly for their non-mortgage debts – from affordability to uncertainty and whether they think they’ve borrowed too much (detail taken from the H: Savings & Resilience Barometer produced with Oxford Economics in July 2022).

Note: Millennials include anyone born between 1981 and 1996, who are roughly aged between 26 and 41. 

Sarah Coles says:

“Millennials are facing a mortgage nightmare, particularly those in their late 20s and 30s. Runaway house prices and the hikes in mortgage rates mean a Millennial buying the average house at the age of 30 today could face a monthly mortgage payment of £1,706.

“As a result, Millennial homeowners tend to be geriatric millennials – in their late 30s and early 40s, who bought when the average property cost closer to £150,000. They also include higher-earning younger Millennials. It’s this group who could be in trouble as rates rise.

“A Millennial aged 30 today, buying the average house with a 10% deposit would have a mortgage of around £263,000. If they re-mortgaged in December at 2.34%, they would have paid £1.159. If they re-mortgaged last week at 6.07%, they’d pay £1,706. In September,

“This is a phenomenal sum. The good news is that Millennial mortgage holders have some space in their budget. The bad news is that it will be eroded by rising prices, so that a year into the cost-of-living crisis only 37% will have enough savings and 8% will have enough cash at the end of the month to be considered resilient. It means an awful lot will struggle to make ends meet.

“To make matters worse, they already have weaknesses elsewhere in their budgets, most notably they may have overstretched themselves when it comes to debt. Fewer than one in ten are resilient when it comes to the affordability of debt, and two in five are when it comes to the uncertainty of future debts. This is a worse score than renters in any age group. They also score worse for their own view of how much debt they are carrying than any renters.

“It means if you’re coming up for a re-mortgage you need to take stock of your options.”

The options are:

1. Speak to a broker

If you’re worried or overwhelmed, or can’t find your way through, talk to a broker, The right broker will explain your options, know what’s available, and should give you a good idea of where you stand without charge.

2. Shop around

Rates vary significantly from one mortgage to another, so don’t assume the rate you’re quoted from your current provider is indicative of what’s out there. The more legwork you do, the better, and if you can’t face it, then this is where a good broker can be worth their weight in gold.

3. Budget

Some people will be able to budget their way out of this. If you haven’t needed to cut costs yet, you can start with the easier things: like giving up non-essentials and shopping around for everything else. If you’ve already done this, there may be larger lifestyle changes that can help.

4. Consider changes to the structure of your mortgage

Depending on your age, you may be able to re-mortgage over a longer term. You’ll end up paying more in interest because you’re spreading the payments further, but it will make the monthly costs more affordable. If you take this approach, you also need to consider the impact it will have on your future finances. If you’re paying a mortgage later in life, it may push your retirement plans back a few years, or it may mean compromises about your income in retirement. One option is to re-mortgage on a longer term now, and then when rates come back down, you can shorten the term again and get back on track.

5. Don’t put it off

It can be a horrible wrench, and it’s not the kind of decision you want to rush into, but it’s vital not to put it off either. The sooner you act, the fewer problems you will build up, and once the burden of an unaffordable mortgage has been lifted, it can open up so many more possibilities.

 

Kindly shared by Hargreaves Lansdown

Main article photo courtesy of Pixabay