Sep 25, 2026 · 20 min · 10 segments
Today on the show - Jemma Slingo is here to answer whether it always makes sense to buy a house. Generations have grown up with rampant house price growth that has rewarded them for borrowing as much…
Ed MonkHost
Jemma SlingoGuest
Now, from one point of view, Gemma, people are going to hear this question, does it make sense to buy a house? And they're going to say, well, yes, of course it does, you idiot.
You're going to need somewhere to live, particularly you're going to need somewhere to live later in life when you're not going to want the insecurity of renting.
I guess what we're really asking is, does it make sense to always buy a house at all costs as soon as you can? Because until quite recently, the answer to that has been yes.
We basically wanted to probe that really deeply ingrained belief that buying a house obviously makes financial sense and that renting is basically equivalent to throwing money out of the window.
And I've heard this so many times, often from older relatives or politically home ownership is framed as like the ultimate aspiration.
You alluded to security, you know, you're not going to suddenly find yourself evicted at short notice.
You also have the joy of owning something and you can change it, extend, you know, redecorate.
But I think sort of the cold financial case of home ownership needs more scrutiny.
We're going to look at that kind of financial equation, which has been a bit of a sort of slam dunk for many years.
In fact, some historical context, I think it's going to be really useful for what we talk about.
Now, from one point of view, Gemma, people are going to hear this question, does it make sense to buy a house? And they're going to say, well, yes, of course it does, you idiot.
You're going to need somewhere to live, particularly you're going to need somewhere to live later in life when you're not going to want the insecurity of renting.
I guess what we're really asking is, does it make sense to always buy a house at all costs as soon as you can? Because until quite recently, the answer to that has been yes.
We basically wanted to probe that really deeply ingrained belief that buying a house obviously makes financial sense and that renting is basically equivalent to throwing money out of the window.
And I've heard this so many times, often from older relatives or politically home ownership is framed as like the ultimate aspiration.
You alluded to security, you know, you're not going to suddenly find yourself evicted at short notice.
You also have the joy of owning something and you can change it, extend, you know, redecorate.
But I think sort of the cold financial case of home ownership needs more scrutiny.
We're going to look at that kind of financial equation, which has been a bit of a sort of slam dunk for many years.
In fact, some historical context, I think it's going to be really useful for what we talk about.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
