Journalist Siam Goorwich believes that her generation, that of the millenials aged 26 to 41 today, hasn’t had it easy. In the United Kingdom, they lived through the post-Tony Blair years, suffered the economic crisis of 2007-2008 at the start of their careers, and above all had to deal with soaring property prices. “Add to that the fact that more and more of us are waiting longer and longer to procreate,” she writes in The Spectator, “and you end up with a generation with few financial or family ties to weigh them down”. The pandemic has come to reinforce the desire to leave this generation, held back by few things.
The destinations favored by young Britons are the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and France. Almost everywhere it is cheaper to stay than in central London. In effect, “according to ECA International, London is the most expensive city in Europe for tenants, and the fourth most expensive city in the world (behind Hong Kong, New York and Tokyo)”.
Siam Goorwich talks about her colleague Abby Young-Powell, who moved from London to Berlin a few years ago. “Life there was overall more relaxed and fun, more affordable and freer. There was more nature around the city and people seemed to have more time for friends and socializing,” explains Abby Young-Powell, who recognizes however that expatriation is not always a long calm river. Indeed, the grass is not always greener on the other side. Siam Goorwich, for example, says that one of her friends who went to live in New York had the impression of having a “money hemorrhage”.
Anyway, for Siam Goorwich:
“The millennials have nevertheless ended up doing well. As Billy Ocean said, ‘when times are tough, the tough endure’. And that’s exactly what the millennials are doing, this generation that has been constantly denied access to property. If only I had the courage to do the same.”