The best cities for millennial renters

The slump in the UK home ownership rate from 73% a decade ago to just 63% today reflects the fact that more people are now renting property in the PRS, particularly among the millennial generation, where the ownership rate has collapsed even more dramatically, owed largely to high property prices and weak wage growth since the financial crisis. But what cities should buy-to-let investors looking to cater for this group of renters consider investing in?

New research by credit experts TotallyMoney looked at 16 elements that are widely considered to be important to millennials and used them to rank 63 cities across the UK to reveal the best cities for millennials to live in.

These elements include work factors, such as overtime hours, paid overtime, average weekly earnings, number of business start-ups, graduate hires, employment rates, and the number of young people on benefits; property factors, such as the cost of a one-bedroom property to rent as well as to buy; cost-of-living factors, such as the cost of a cappuccino, gym membership, and meal for two; and lifestyle factors, such as number of things to do, the population aged 0–17 and 18–29, and the percentage of Brexit remain voters.

The research sees Scotland take two spots in the top three, led by Glasgow, owing to decent weekly wages, innumerable entertainment hotspots, and house prices well below the national average - thought to be a huge contributor to its top performance.

Despite its reputation for eye-wateringly high living costs and house prices way above the national average, London still performs well at second place. The capital isn’t shy of things for millennials to do, but also sees the highest weekly earnings at £727 per week - as well as the highest number of graduate hires - across the whole UK.

In third place is Aberdeen. Its employment rates are the same as London’s, has higher-than-average weekly earnings.

Basildon in Essex takes the bottom spot, owing to a paltry 2% of graduates finding work here, as well as extra-curricular activities paling in comparison to the rest of the UK. Basildon also delivered the second-lowest Brexit remain figures.

Yorkshire cities Doncaster (62nd), Wakefield (60th), and Huddersfield (59th) also performed badly. While one-bedroom property costs are low, so are wages, with graduate hires comprising just 6% across all three cities.

James McCaffrey, spokesperson for credit experts TotallyMoney, said: “There are some things millennials have had to adjust to that haven’t been experienced by past generations, and with this comes an entirely different set of priorities.

“Rising house prices, stagnant wages, and Brexit are just some of the hurdles this generation have to get over. But, that’s where our map could help, as it makes it much easier for millennials to find the places where those hurdles might be easier to jump.

“Of course, the rankings should be taken with a small pinch of salt, as some factors will be more important to some than others. Nevertheless, if there’s a particular area young people have on the brain, our map certainly makes it easier for them to consider elements they might not have thought about before.

“As always, a good place to start for anyone thinking of improving their financial health or buying a home is checking their credit score and free credit report, to make sure there’s nothing that’ll hold them back.”

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