Why I Rent and Would Never Buy

In 2014 Ben Pentreath wrote an article in the Financial Times that flew in the face of commonly received understanding: he was happier with renting than he was buying. 

 

The whole article can be read here.  Below, is a short video in which he expands upon his article and gives the reasons why renting is his choice of tenure and why it suits his lifestyle. 

 

Here is a short extract from Ben's FT piece: 


"I’m often asked why I don’t own a house. In a world where our only hope of economic recovery seems to be yet another property price boom (which simultaneously chokes the life out of places, and the young out of chances, and causes all the other woes of the UK’s “boomerang generation”, ie: the 26 per cent of young adults now living with their parents) it is a question perhaps worth asking more often.

 

My first problem has always been that I don’t really love saving money for a deposit. I would sooner own a good painting or a Fornasetti cabinet, or a Ravilious coronation mug (which these days seem to accelerate in price faster than a good flat in Mayfair, and are probably rarer).

 

In truth, I am perfectly happy to save for the long term: I think, honestly, that I am the only single person I know of my age who is bothering with a realistic pension. I am just not very good at saving a deposit in order to take out a huge mortgage. I am no expert (and I realise I am writing therefore in the wrong newspaper) but it appears to me that giant mortgages are merely a form of renting money, very expensively. And I am not quite sure what happens when interest rates rise above 0.5 per cent, but I suspect that one or two people I know are not planning for that. Does the housing recovery feel a little fragile to you?"

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© Richard Berridge