What Are The Primary Reasons Behind The UK Populations’ Never-Ending Desire To Be An Owner Of Property?
Similar to many other people in the UK as a whole my ears prick up when I hear that the Halifax, Nationwide or the Institute of Surveyors has made a prediction or an announcement about the UK property market. As usual the same old emotions go through my mind. “Should I Sell My House? Should I buy another house? Should I think of having a place to rent out to nurses as my neighbour does precisely this and he’s worth a bob or two ?”
It’s reasonable enough to say that we in the UK as a whole are obsessed with property. When We Buy Homes it is fair to say that we are buying into something more than just the construction materials that they are made with. No, We Buy Houses as part of an increasingly popular trend for nest feathering which means that huge quantities of our disposable income are spent on the house, flat, garden – in fact anything that is property related ! It truly has become a lifestyle wherein we work to support the house, rather than viewing the property as merely a dwelling. The spiralling growth of the DIY sector has , in my humble opinion, been due to something more than the desire to save money on skilled workmen and artisans.
No, We Buy Homes now as an all consuming hobby, a means of entertainment. If you like, we are all playing a game, but one where proper cash is spent and the commitment is overpowering as when We Buy Houses it’s a type of Monopoly but in the real world. The DIY store has evolved from a shabby counter store wherein people could buy nails to nail things together, screws to screw things together and pieces of tube to connect things together.
What a change today. A journey to any suburban DIY superstore is just about a trip to a material world wonderland with advertising and lighting displays tempting us to spend our money on credit to make our homes resemble the striking traditional and futuristic displays that we see as we walk around the store. It has to be noticed that whilst we are doing this, often of an evening after stopping off from work at the office , we are not actually spending any time at home which probably has real world issues in it such as mess , unfinished DIY projects and untidy teenagers !
No, my arguement is that the UK public have more than just simple shelter in mind when We Buy Homes. It’s back to the old days of keeping up with the Joneses in that if your biggest purchase, usually your house, is bigger, better and more well equipped than your seeming rivals then you are somehow a better, more socially upwardly mobile person and for us in the UK property ownership is the pole that we rely on as far as social status goes.
Rarely if at all do we hear the words “I’m going to Sell My House and buy a nice tent to live in” . Or even “I’ll Sell My House and rent for the rest of my days and use the returns to subsidise my monthly rent”.
I propose that it’s all down to snobbery. In many other countries home ownership is not a social climber as it is in the UK and my contention here is that , at least in part , this is down to a history of social hierarchy that dates back to mediaeval times , but seems to have permeated our culture to the extent that it’s unthinkable to distinguish between status and property ownership.
Looks like British snobbery still rules OK !
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