[Just_Smith]

>Can you live in the same property in 30 years?

...can you? Even owning a home doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to live comfortably in one place for 3 decades. Median homeownership is usually shorter than 15 years[1]. (Per 2009* - more recent numbers that I've seen indicate that number is decreasing, not going up, but those are usually based on more short-term studies, post 2008.)

And renovations aren't exactly something homeowners are comfortable with, even if they technically can do it.

Source: I work for a homebuilder who aims to sell multiple homes to each customer (from first-time, to trade-up, to retirement.) If the median homeownership-length went up to 30 years, we'd have to reevaluate our entire business model.

[1] https://nahbclassic.org/generic.aspx?genericContentID=194717

[esotericn]

Sure, I could, if I bought it.

It would be completely within my control (excepting the extremely rare case of eminent domain being applied if the UK wanted to build a railway station or something).

What the median or mean or modal person does is neither here nor there. It's completely irrelevant.

15 years is also a colossal period of time compared to any private rental. The average tenancy length in the UK is about 2-3 years.

[bluGill]

Median home ownership is not the right metric. If you trade in one house for another you still own a house for the long term.

[Just_Smith]

The remark I was responding to was "can you live in the same property for 30 years". Changing homes is not living in the same property, so I believe I chose the correct metric. Home ownership does not guarantee that you will be in the same place for 30 years.

All of this isn't even to consider the fact that most homeowners don't literally "own" their home in that timespan, as 30-year mortgages are very common. A lot of people buy homes because mortgage payments are oftentimes cheaper than rent payments (there are exceptions, obviously.)

[bluGill]

The point is living in 7 different homes for 30 years, means at the end your home is paid off and you have no rent. Of course that is ideal, most people extend their loan terms often.

[Just_Smith]

As you said - that's ideal. The home people trade-up to is usually more expensive than the home they move from (not counting empty-nesters) and - ideally - there will be a myriad of factors that can help one finish paying off their new more-expensive home within the same timespan, like more income or selling at a profit. But those aren't necessarily givens, as they're determined by things like your locale and the state of the housing market.

[toasterlovin]

People renovate their houses all the time.

[Just_Smith]

SOME people renovate their houses SOME of the time. Our biggest market is trade-up buyers, which is usually viewed as the alternative to remodeling. The housing market has been on an uptick since 2008, which increases the rate of trading-up, as the hope of selling at a profit is one of the reasons people buy homes to begin with.