Why Europeans love to rent

One of the hot political topics in the UK over the past few decades has been rising house prices, leading to a lack of opportunities for young people to get on the housing ladder. But if your dreams of owning your own home seems every distant, don’t despair.

We’re here to see if we can’t learn a little from our friends in Europe about appreciating some positive aspects of renting with a letting agency in Leeds over buying.

After all, not everywhere has the eye-watering prices of the upper class areas of London. If you’re looking for your perfect estate agent Leeds is one of the best cities to be in. You’ll find plenty of renting options that are far cheaper than you might expect.

However, this has in no way pushed down the desire to buy for many British tenants. For them, buying their first home is a vital part of their future aspirations and the realisation that this would mean saving up tens of thousands just for an initial deposit can be one that fills them with dread.

To add salt to the wound, this is also all going on at a time where young people are struggling more than ever to secure work, with part time and zero hour contracts becoming more and more common. In this environment, planning to buy is something that feels distinctly out of reach.

But maybe it’s not all doom and gloom after all. Maybe we are simply looking at this situation the wrong way.

While a lot of Brits view renting as sinking money into someone else’s mortgage, other European countries have a very different outlook.

The German and French view on renting and house shares is rather different.

To put it simply, they love it. In fact, the former has the lowest rate of home owners in Europe. And far from being a sign of economic problems, it remains arguably Europe’s most successful economy.

So what’s the reason for this difference in renting and house share attitudes?

Some of it is certainly cultural, but it may just be a matter of smelling the roses. There’s tons of advantages to renting that rarely get recognised here. For example, when you step into one of the many letting agency Leeds boasts, you’ll find yourself with a level of variety and freedom that few home owners can enjoy.

That freedom comes from knowing there’s a whole host of potential concerns that are your landlord’s responsibility. From water damage to faulty boilers, you don’t have to deal with nasty financial shocks that can befall first time buyers.

You’re also free to move around as much as you want. If you need to relocate for work or just fancy a change of scene, once your tenancy is up, you can go. You don’t have to deal with the often draining process of trying to sell.

There’s also a lot more flexibility with renting. If you’re financial position improves, you can simply move onto renting a more expensive property. Or you could always stay right where you are and keep all the money to yourself to spend as you please.

The magic of renting is that it liberates you from being locked into one place. Life can be complicated and situations can change. With renting, you are free to be more flexible with your options. So while you may not have the investment of buying, you also don’t have the risks.

For young people especially, this should be seen as a huge advantage, as there’s still plenty of time to decide where you want to settle down for good or just carry on with a house share.  There are positives to both buying and renting and perhaps, like our friends on the continent, we shouldn’t always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.