Some areas are very expensive, but there are still plenty of parts of the country where housing isn't unaffordable, yet many people still rent anyway. A semi-retired mate of mine owns two rental houses in such a place and they are almost always both let and never sitting empty.
The difference between when I grew up and today, is I was out grafting and earning money at 16, and saving a good chunk of that cash, so I could afford to buy a house at 22. A lot of today's youngsters have never even had a full-time job by that age, but have spent years going to uni and generally racking up debt instead. Then they want to leave home but suddenly realise they haven't saved any money to put down to buy something, so all they can do is scrape together a month's rental deposit and go for a house share. Then they can't save much for a deposit because they are spending all their money on rent and socialising...... It's a question of priorities. I don't know any youngster who owns their own property, but they can always find the money to go out, go on holiday, buy clothes, and upgrade to the latest model of smartphone. Most of them aren't building up any meaningful pension pot either, because they don't want to sacrifice their lifestyle.
