Credit Crunch

Where are today's teenagers going to live in the future when they're ready to leave home and set up on their own?

Will they ever be able to get a mortgage or are other things more important to them, such as living in an eco lifestyle in a crime-free, tight-knit community?

Listen: Housing Discussion

These and many more issues were examined by an audience of young people invited by BBC Leicester to take part in our housing discussion at De Montfort University on Thursday 05 March 2009.

Listen to the discussion in full or the highlights here, hosted by BBC Leicester's Martin Ballard...

Join the Conversation!

BBC Leicester would like to continue the housing discussion here on the website. Have your say at the bottom of the page.

Where are today's teenagers going to live in the future? What are your concerns as a young person and as a parent?

Listen: Youngsters' Views on the Event

The young people, students from several county schools, our universities plus young professionals, put their concerns to a panel of experts.

They came from a variety of backgrounds including, housing charities and lobby groups, several local councils, the Co-Op Eco Town team, their critics and several youth groups.

The experts (pictured left to right) were Ama Uzowuru, Neil Griffiths, Dr Peter King, Krista.

It was a lively discussion, but what did the youngster there think of the event...

House Prices Factfile

What are young house-buyers up against? 

Here are a few gems of information that may put them off wanting to buy their own place in the first place...

• The average house price in England is £206,000. In Leicester it is £136,000. In Leicestershire it is 184,000. In Rutland is is £244,000.

• You need a household income of £37,000 in Leicester, £66,00 in Rutland, and £50,000 in Leicestershire to be able to afford a mortgage.

• Nearly 1.7 million families across England are currently waiting for social housing. In Leicester there are nearly 9,000 in the queue. In Rutland there are 546, and in the rest of Leicestershire there are 10,000.

• There are nearly 124,000 homes in Leicester of which nearly 6,000 are empty. In Rutland there are 15,500 places to live with over 800 empty. In Leicestershire there are just under 246,000 homes with 5,500 empty.

First time buyer Sarah has already been dealing with the housing market in the current difficult economic climate.

BBC Leicester put their questions and answers together to see if Sarah's experiences could shed any light on Mike's worries...

Sarah has been working for Topman in the centre of Leicester since September 2008 after completing a management scheme.

She has been looking for a house with her boyfriend Joe, and has just had an offer accepted.

Mike currently lives with his parents and sister, but worries about making the decision to move out of the family home and what this would mean financially.

Sarah and Joe looked around a variety of different houses and locations to really get a feel for what they wanted and what they could afford:

"We've been very lucky to find a property that we both instantly fell in love with, and it's the right offer for us to be able to make an offer on."

However financially it will still not be easy for the couple to cover all the costs of owning a house:

"Both of our parents have helped us out a lot. They've put up the majority of the deposit for us. We had savings ourselves, but obviously we need to try and budget for other things that we're going to need to do with legal costs and renovations.

"Without them we wouldn't have been able to get together the deposit as quickly and we would've had to keep plodding along and saving monthly and budgeting as we are, and are definitely going to have to keep on doing."

Sarah believes school's should teach teenagers more about finance and the implications of buying a first home, so that young people like Mike are more confident about the future.

She lives in a council house with her parents and two siblings.

Listen to Raheema as she imagines where she'd like to live as she becomes an adult...

In two years time Raheema sees herself studying at college, still living with her parents because it is close:

"The difficult thing is I have less independence as I still share my house with my family and I've got a sister who is still living in the same room as me."

Whilst at college she imagines herself sharing an apartment in Leicester with a family member, whilst many of her other friends live at home.

Raheema is keen to stay in Leicester when she has her own family, near everything that has been important in her life so far:

"I'm really worried about finding a house like this because it's really rare to find a house right near town but in a good area where there's no crime going on.

"You hear all the time on the radio about recession. Even though the price of the houses have dropped, how am I going to afford it, for example, if I don't have a job because of the recession?

"It's a dream but I hope one day it comes true."