Make it a century

No retirement for the youth:

A 50-year home loan might sound depressing to some, but perhaps not if the alternative is never being able to buy a property. Long-term fixed-rate mortgages are an emerging financial product that should in theory allow first-time buyers who are currently priced out of the market to get on the housing ladder.

By spreading the repayments over longer – the average for mortgages taken out this year is 29 years – buyers should be able to borrow up to eight times their income, rather than the current average of 3.2 times, say potential providers.

50 years? Those are rookie numbers. Go for 100-year mortgages! The boomers racked up huge budget deficits and exploded the public debt. Might as well add mortgages for the grandchildren. It's not like all that debt will be paid back.