STORAGE WARS

The latest cultural battle between generations is all about cramped flats versus spare rooms. And it’s all too easy to see why young Brits are getting hacked off, argues Helen Coffey

- Helen Coffey

More in common. That's often the phrase that gets trotted out amid the various culture wars, whipped up into a frenzy to divide and distract us from what's really important. From drag queen storytime to whether the National Trust uses marg or butter in its scones, the number of non-issues ripe for inexplicable weaponisation never fails to amaze.

The topics that pit generation against generation can be even sillier – does the length of your socks really signify anything? Does whether or not you send Christmas cards to everyone you’ve ever met, still have a landline, or choose to upload your musings to Facebook or TikTok really define who you are as a person?

But there are some genuine lines in the sand that are hard to ignore, the latest one being space. It’s in short supply – and some demographics are more equal than others when it comes to staking their claim. According to new data, baby boomer homeowners are enjoying ever more breathing space with bedrooms to spare, while Gen Z are being squeezed into increasingly small and expensive rental properties.

The latest English Housing Survey reveals that 55.7 per cent of owner-occupied homes in England, equating to just under 10 million, are classified as “under-occupied”, with at least two unused bedrooms. This number has risen by more than 10 per cent over the last 20 years. But the story of the rental market is very different – just 13 per cent of properties are underoccupied, down 3 per cent from the previous year.

The age group most likely to reap the rewards of all this room is pensioners: more than a third (36 per cent) of Britain’s homes are owned by this cohort. In the most recent census, 84.1 per cent of households where an over-65-year-old was the main resident were under-occupied.