Priced out of the market

1. Jim Wynand sits in his flat in Amsterdam, enjoying a cup of coffee before classes begin. “It’s not my ideal home, and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life here”, he admits. “It’s a bit cramped inside, and it gets fairly noisy here with all the other students around, but for now this place is just right for me. For starters, it’s very affordable. I mean, if it wasn’t for places like this, I’d still be living at home with my parents! On top of that, it’s very central, which is great.” Mr Wynand is one of many young people in Holland taking advantage of new developments aimed at tackling the country’s housing shortage. He is renting a fl at made from a recycled shipping container. The flats are compact, come with Internet, plumbing, gas and electricity fitted and can be placed one on top of another. At present, the housing development only has permission to stay where it is for the next five years, but developers hope they will be given longer.

2. It is quite possible that more and more people will soon find themselves living in similar kinds of developments, as they end up priced out of the housing market. Over the last decade, house prices around the world have risen dramatically. In London, for example, the price of an average house has increased by 240% over the past ten years, whilst prices in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, recently rose a terrifying 27% in just a few months!

 3. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, banks have offered more mortgages at low interest rates, which has lead to more people borrowing enough to buy property. Therefore, demand has increased faster than supply, which has increased prices. Also, prices in many countries started low, meaning dramatic price rises were inevitable. Finally, the number of people buying second homes - as investments or for use as holiday homes - has increased steadily.

4. Governments are constantly suggesting new ways of solving the problem. As well as innovative ideas like the Amsterdam developments, these include building more social housing, particularly in inner cities, and making sure that plenty of this housing is kept for key workers such as nurses and teachers. There has also been more building on land previously used for commercial or industrial purposes. Such projects protect the environment and stop cities getting ever larger.

5. While governments look for answers, families who can’t afford to move are having to develop their existing properties instead. There has been a huge increase in the number of people building extensions in their gardens or adding basements, thus creating that extra space they so desperately want. And one of the reasons why space is needed is that many young people are living at home longer than they might want. Indeed, in some parts of Europe the average age that children leave home has reached 34! It appears to be part of a broader trend where people today are doing everything later in life - especially getting married and having children, events which traditionally led to house purchases.

2. Определите, являются ли утверждения ниже истинными (True) или ложными (False) согласно содержанию текста. Исправьте ложные утверждения .

1. Jim Wynand pays a lot of rent for his flat.

2. The development he’s living in is temporary.

3. House prices in London have more than doubled over the last decade.

4. In recent years, it has become cheaper for house buyers to borrow money from banks.

5. More people want to sell houses than buy them.

6. Some houses are built specifically for people in jobs which are important for society.

7. The number of people adding extra rooms to their houses has increased slightly over recent years.

8. It is becoming more normal for people to leave home later than they had perhaps planned to.

Vocabulary