11/06/2026
NOW THIS IS AN INTERESTING READ 📖
🏡 58.9% of Cannock Chase's under-35s own their own home… so much for 'Generation Rent'! 😮
Since the mid-2000s we've all been told the same bad news housing story. Young people locked out. Deposits impossible. Mortgage rules too strict. 'Generation Rent' here to stay. 📰
Yet quietly, without much fanfare, the latest Census data tells a very different story — especially right here in Cannock Chase… 📊
✅ In 2011, 48.0% of Cannock Chase residents under 35 owned their own home. By 2021, that had risen to 58.9%.
That's not a small increase. That's a profound social shift. 💥
And look at the decade it happened in — austerity, Brexit uncertainty, tighter mortgage rules, rising house prices and a global pandemic. Despite ALL of that:
🔑 24,142 of the area's 41,002 residents aged 18–34 were living in a home they OWNED by 2021 📉 Private renting among under-35s fell from 27.0% to 21.6% 📉 Social renting dropped from 25.0% to 19.5%
In simple terms — fewer young people renting, more owning. The complete opposite of what the headlines have told us. 🤯
Now, that's not to pretend everything is rosy. Deposits are still hard to save, many buyers still need help from family, and higher mortgage rates since 2022 have made life tougher for first-time buyers. 💷
But these figures reveal something deeper about aspiration. Young people still overwhelmingly WANT to own. Security matters. Stability matters. Putting down roots matters. ❤️
Buying a first home has never been easy — every generation just faced different barriers. Today it's deposits and affordability; for previous generations it was double-digit interest rates or restricted lending. People adapt. Some buy later, some buy smaller, some move to more affordable areas. The route has changed — the destination hasn't. 🏠
And our little corner of the world may explain part of the story. Cannock Chase has stayed relatively affordable while offering great schools and a brilliant quality of life for commuters and hybrid workers — a trend that accelerated sharply after Covid. 🌳
For local homeowners and landlords, this matters. Demand from younger buyers hasn't disappeared. Far from it. 📈
Sometimes the real story is hidden quietly inside the data… 🤫
💬 What are your thoughts? Does this match what you're seeing locally? Share them below!
📞 Webbs Rugeley: 01889 583377 📞 Webbs Cannock: 01543 468846
