Real Estate Agent Offers Millennials Advice On Saving Money--And They Didn't Like That

A real estate company called Strutt & Parker has got UK millennials pretty peeved after suggesting they'd be able to save enough for a housing deposit by making a few small lifestyle changes over five years. The whole lecture was published in the Evening Standard, and it suggests that what's holding younger people back from home ownership isn't astronomical housing prices, but rather, their habits of buying sandwiches and lotto tickets. Seems like a pretty lofty assessment of spending habits. Seems to leave out key points about quality jobs but his claims aren't without some steep criticism.  

I'll just share my favorite paragraph in the whole thing:

New analysis suggests that potential homeowners from “generation rent” could accumulate the £64,000 they need for an average London deposit — after help from parents — within half a decade by making “relatively small changes” to their lifestyles.

Emphasis is mine! Yes, it would be easy enough to save a deposit if you gave up certain expenditures and also had mom and dad's help. £64,00 is approximately $84,320. Over five years, you'd have to set aside about $16,864 annually. Is that how much you're spending on cappuccinos and avocado toasts?

To clarify, the agents at Strutt & Parker are making these calculations based on the assumption that your parents will pay about £29,400 of that deposit on their own. Naturally, these assumptions have people flipping their lids all over Twitter.

Not only is everyone shocked that real estate agents are so out of touch with what kind of money the average millennial has, they're also astounded that these folks think lotto tickets are still popular:

Blaming millennials for killing industries is now a new industry. Don't get mad; get a sandwich.