A slick marketing scheme might not appeal to a generation priced out of home ownership
Maybe it shouldn’t come as such a huge surprise that Generation Rent… rents. John Lewis has unveiled a furniture rental service, starting at £17 a month for a desk or chair for 12 months. Similarly, Ikea announced last year that it was looking into furniture rentals and a system of environmentally friendly customer returns, embracing the circular economy.
Maybe, like me, you’re thinking: “Eh?” The rent-everything revolution has passed me by, though it’s fashionable big business. It’s not just about homes and furniture, it’s cars, technology, clothes, music, vacuum cleaners, blenders… anything! Unsurprisingly, as much as this is ideological it’s rooted in economics: home ownership is at a record low among 25- to 34-year-olds. In the UK and the US, more people are renting homes than at any point in the past 50 years, with tenants moving regularly. People either can’t afford or don’t desire Forever Furniture. Conceptually, the idea of home has morphed from ownership to flexibility and turning impermanence into a positive.
Continue reading...from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3apQPCW
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment