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Whilst killing time in a hotel bar in Spain some years ago, I got chatting to a very nice chap from Rotterdam. I say “nice”, he did admit to having one major problem with the British…

“My one major problem with the British,” he began, “is your ridiculous obsession with bricks and mortar.”
“The fact that you spend the best years of your lives with a financial noose around your neck is a great source of amusement to us Dutch.”

“Just rent!” He said, with a wide arm shrug. “Don’t be so hung up about owning… It’s still somewhere to live, after all… and you’re free to come and go as you choose.”

After my laid back Dutch chum laughed-off my desperately unoriginal “dead money” argument, I had to concede he had a point.

Maybe the Dutch, and while we’re at it, the Germans, French, Italians and Spanish have got it sorted. You see, by and large, they all rent the property they live in. My German neighbour says her parents back home are horrified that she’s about to buy a place in Chiswick. Nothing to do with the West London suburb, it’s just that the idea is considered lunacy in Germany. She daren’t tell them how much it’s going to cost her.

Likewise when a previously home owning friend of mine moved from the Midlands to Milan a couple of years back, buying was never an option out there. Incidentally, he’s back now and continues to rent in the UK. Why? He doesn’t believe in the property market here, at least not for the moment, anyway.

So where is this leading?

Well, lots been made about the fact that first time buyers are now all but totally squeezed out of the UK housing market. Housepricecrash.co.uk reports that in just 10 years the number of first time buyers has gone from 55% of the market to just 29%. Now it seems that the middle rung of the ladder is more elusive too. Many mid income families can no longer afford to upgrade to a bigger house in the same area.

Homeowners wishing to ‘buy up’ the chain face a stark choice: either stay put and chuck stuff out, or move to a less desirable neighbourhood to give yourself a bit of extra elbow room. Or, I suppose, like my friend, or me for that matter, if you want to stay where you’re happiest, you can just rent. After all, as they say in Rotterdam, what’s the big deal?

Advantages of renting over buying property: High gearing
Wholesale renting is still a weird concept to us Brits. But despite this, the UK is awash with landlords at the minute.

Now traditionally, these were wealthy people with large property portfolios.

Nowadays everyone’s doing it. Easy cash has made it a cinch for folk like you and I to play ‘Monopoly’ for real.

Advantages of renting over buying property