“租世代”：何去何從？

Owning her own home was never a dream for Lyndsey Yates. The freelance graphic designer and her partner Mark， a web designer， have always hankered after something more flexible， more exotic.1

“When we first got together we were convinced we would never buy a house because we wanted our freedom， to move around wherever we wanted to，” she says. They both had good careers. Freelancing gave them flexibility. Life in Spain or Switzerland looked like fun. “At one point we were learning Dutch2 because we were thinking of moving to Holland.”

Life got in the way. First came the birth of their daughter three years ago， making the idea of a more permanent home appealing. Then their rented home， in Newburgh， near Wigan，3 was hit by flooding and their freedom became a burden.

“We had to move out， but we couldnt find anywhere to live，”Lyndsey says. “None of the landlords wanted to take a risk on two freelancers.” At the age of 32， Lyndsey and her family moved back in with her parents.

Seven months later， after more than a dozen viewings， they found a nice house. Now， like the rest of generation rent， Lyndsey is wondering if her family will be able to buy a home.

Renting has become the new normal for millions of people in the UK. Rising house prices and a lack of new homes for first-time buyers takes home ownership out of reach of millennials， particularly in the south east of England， where house prices have far outstripped salaries.4 Add in the burden of debt from student loans—the average debt for a graduate is ￡32，220 in England—and its easy to see why many think twice about taking on a mortgage.5

“We believe that renting should be as valid a choice as ownership，” says Dan Wilson Craw， interim6 director of campaign group GenerationRent.org. “But its not a choice. People want to escape a sector that is preventing them from finding a long-term home.

“People know a rented house is only a temporary home. Renters are less likely to feel like decorating， less inclined to take part in the local community and they feel as though they dont really have a home.”7

So why is home ownership seen as better than renting？ The roots of our obsession with owning houses sprang from the political upheavals of the 1920s， when the Conservatives faced the electoral threat of the new Labour party，8 according to Brian Lund， a visiting fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of Housing Politics in the United Kingdom.

“The argument was that the working class now had the vote， and the way to attract them was through creating a property-owning democracy，”Lund says. “They pushed the idea that youre a full member of the community when you own property. Renting—particularly council renting9—is the contrast. That has entrenched owner-occupation as an ideology.”10

There are also practical， financial benefits for homeowners. Mortgage repayments are often lower than rent， and once the mortgage is paid off， the owner has a valuable asset.11 But that is part of the problem， Wilson Craw says. “Weve seen the development of housing as a commodity12 to invest in， as opposed to somewhere to live. You see people investing their savings in buy-to-let property， raising house prices and creating a perception that property is a safe bet.”13

Building more houses is the obvious solution， but the average annual rate of house building is 144，000—not enough to cool rising prices in housing hotspots14. And tenants15 of private landlords still need protection.

Wilson Craw says better safeguards for tenants would make them feel more secure. “Tenants who complain about their landlords know they will just be hit with a retaliatory eviction.16 They need more power in the rental market， so that landlords take their responsibilities seriously.”

If the 20 somethings of generation rent believe home ownership is impossible， will they abandon the idea altogether？ Are other millennials opting for Lyndsey Yatess dream of a freewheeling lifestyle？17

Laura Meier has. The 24-year-old recruitment consultant left Munich18 earlier this year to take up an 18-month contract in London. She didnt know anyone in the UK， and was worried about finding a house and making friends. The answer for her was co-living： renting a room in a converted Victorian house with a state-of-theart kitchen， a laundry and shared workspace.19 Everything is included—cleaning， electricity， water， council tax20 and wifi—for a single price.

“I like that you can choose if you want to socialise or not，” she said. “If I feel lonely I can just go to the living room. You can always find someone.”

Instead of tenants， the people who live in the house are members of a startup21 called Roam， which offers properties in Miami， San Francisco， Tokyo and Bali. They can live in any of the properties any time they like.

“You get people who stay for months， like me， and some who stay for a few weeks and move on，” Laura says. “Most of them work from home， so they are self-employed or they have a job that it doesnt matter where they are， like a software engineer.”

Bruno Haid， the founder of Roam， believes that it could be possible to break the link between owning property for investment and for living. He is planning a global property fund for his members to invest in.

“The idea is that you invest every month in a portfolio， and the dividends from that pay your rent，”22 he said. “At the start the dividends might not be so much， so youd need to top up23 your rent. But after some time， you build a bigger stake24 in the fund， and the dividends cover all of your rent. So you have both your investment and flexibility. A bit like having your cake and eating it too.” That might sound out of reach for many， but co-living has been catching on in London with properties available to rent at market rates.

1. freelance： 自由職業者的；hanker after： 向往，渴望；exotic： 異國情調的。

2. Dutch： 荷蘭語。

3. Newburgh： 紐堡，位于英格蘭西北部蘭開夏郡；Wigan： 威根，位于英格蘭西北部大曼徹斯特郡。

4. 房價的不斷抬高，以及初次購買者面對的新房源數量不足的問題，都使房屋所有權對于千禧一代而言愈發遙不可及，尤其是在英格蘭東南部，那里的房價遠遠高于工資水平。millennial： 千禧一代，泛指1980至2000年間出生的人；outstrip： 超過。

5. loan： 貸款；mortgage：抵押貸款，按揭。

6. interim： 臨時的，過渡時期的。

7. 租戶往往沒有裝潢和布置房屋的興趣，也并不愿意融入當地社區，他們會感覺自己好像并不真正擁有一個家。

8. spring from： 源自；upheaval：劇變，動亂；Conservative：指英國保守黨人士，保守黨是英國的老牌大黨，立場中間偏右，距今已有300多年的歷史，是英國兩大主要執政黨之一；electoral： 選舉的；Labour party： 英國工黨，英國兩大主要執政黨之一，英國左翼政黨，1900年2月27日成立于倫敦。

9. council renting： 即rent a council house，租用政府救濟房。

10. entrench： 鞏固；owneroccupation：（房屋、公寓等的）業主自用，業主自住；ideology：意識形態。

11. repayment：（借款）歸還，（債務）償還；asset： 資產。

12. commodity： 商品。

13. 你能看到許多人都將積蓄投資于“購房出租”中，這使得房價進一步飆升，并形成一種共識：房產是一個穩賺不賠的買賣。buy-to-let： 購房出租，先買后租；safe bet： 準能贏的打賭。

14. hotspot： 熱點地區。

15. tenant： 房客，租戶。

16. retaliatory： // 報復的；eviction： 逐出，趕出。

17. opt for： 選擇；freewheeling： 隨心所欲的，自由自在的。

18. Munich： 慕尼黑，德國巴伐利亞州首府。

19. 對她而言，答案便是合住：在一棟改建過的維多利亞式住宅中租一間屋，宅內配有一流的廚房、洗衣房和共享工作區域。state-of-the-art： 最先進的，達到最高水準的。

20. council tax： 英國的房屋稅（市政稅），是英格蘭、蘇格蘭以及威爾士三個地區地方政府以住戶為單位征收的一種稅，是地方政府所提供的一些功能服務的部分資金來源。

21. startup： 新創辦的小公司。

22. portfolio： //（某人或某公司持有的）有價證券組合，投資組合；dividend： 股息，紅利。

23. topup： 充值，追加款項。

24. stake： 股份。