I blame governments of both parties for this mess. If banks had been kept out of the mortgages market then while mortgages would have still been tough to get the upward pressure on property values would have been less. Then Labour reduced capital gains tax to such a low level it actually paid for people to buy up as many properties as possible borrowing as much as possible so that it became a bubble and priced working people out of their areas. It also got all MP's in on the property game so set themselves against their own constituents home owning dreams. House prices should be around three times median wages, not 12 times.

+1 A few of my friends who have jobs in France are being denied rental accommodation because of lack of funding/insecurity in their job, though they are engineers. I don't think any of them even considered buying a house.

At least the French have a better attitude to property than the Brits do.

Do they ? Please explain I haven't got experience with anything other than the British attitude to property.

To me renting is plain daft as all you are doing is paying somebody else's mortgage and at least you end up with a capital asset you own with a mortgage. I do accept that sometimes people can't get a mortgage for one reason or another.

The point isn't is it daft or not. I can't get my head round how you are meant to find the initial deposit for a house when you're 25. I'd really struggle to put 5k on the side right now, and i'd rather use it to pay off my student loan i think

Don't get me wrong I haven't got a clue either. My first house cost £18 k and we struggled to get the the deposit etc for that. So how young people are supposed to get started these days is beyond me. ( I have 2 early 20's and they are home based for a while that's for sure )

But what is the French attitude to property that Amnesia was on about that's what I'm interested in.

What's interesting, to me, about this phenomena is that it's going bugger up the job market.
If you can't afford to move away from wherever you happen to be, then you're rather stuck with whatever the local job market is.
My own skill set is of very limited use here in a town full of hotels that tries to make most of it's annual income from tourists on holiday.

So what'll happen is we'll be stuck where we were 60+ yrs ago; social mobility a once fond memory, as we prepare to fill the shoes of our fathers.
My father worked in pit, as did his before him, and his before that. I were born in this bedroom, just as my father was, and his before him...
You get the idea.

The French banks do not give out huge LTV on a property. That means you need a much bigger deposit than here for the same value home. French property in general has not climbed out of the reach of the majority of the population. Plus when people buy they tend to stay where they have bought. That means they are not supporting a huge industry geared up to moving every few years. That costs and who pays for it, You do in higher estate agent fees, stamp duty etc.

It also means that people can actually live reasonably well on a average wage. Rents are considerably lower than here, so that helps a lot. Plus you get longer leases, years are not uncommon abroad, whereas 6 months is the norm here.

If your kids go to university they will leave with £20 k in student debts and then have to save probably twice that to get a deposit for a home. Then provide for a pension because all parties have messed the pension system up. It has been a huge intergenerational theft from the young by the elderly.

Yes but you can still move to an area just will not be able to buy there until you have saved for the deposit. Renting in all these other countries is not an issue. You are just as stuck with negative equity when the property crashes. If you get foreclosed you were just a renter anyway.

Then that ignores the hidden costs of a property bubble. You get loads of people entitled to housing benefit and their costs have risen and so the tax needed to pay for your share of the property bubble. Politicians moan about the cost of housing benefit, but forget that it is the flip side of a property bubble.

A 6 month minimum let is quite common and helps to cover the costs of the now compulsory inventory. This is good news for tenants but costly for landlords. You can make longer initial contracts but you will find in most cases get out clauses that are valid with just one months notice after the initial six months.

In the UK rental market normal wear and tear to a property has to be considered before deductions from and rental bond can be taken. In Denmark tenants expect to lose their bond as the properties 'require' painting between tenancies, even if there is no damage at all.

Don't forget the poor Italians. There have been a few articles (years ago) saying how common it was for children to live at home well into their thirties.

It still happens, even into their forties, but I think that is down to the perks of living at home.

I think most of the people I know at work are still living with their parents as they cannot afford the rent locally, unless they've reached the magical management tier.

And that is what is wrong about the property bubble. It forces rents above a level that people can actually afford. What about people without parents such as those from care or foster parents or orphans?

A house is just a place to live and really should not be treated as an investment.