'We escaped the rent trap - seven months later we bought our dream £358,000 four-bed home'

Many young people are now being caught in what is dubbed the 'rent trap' with home ownership becoming a distant dream. Sky-high rent costs are now taking up so much of tenants' income that they are struggling to save enough to get a foot on the property ladder.

Coupled with unaffordable house prices and soaring mortgage costs, many renters are now facing up to the prospect of paying rent forever. But one young couple from Manchester say they had a lucky escape from the rental cycle by moving back in with parents, which allowed them to save much more - and much quicker - than they could whilst renting.

Seven months after leaving their rented home, Papa and Ope, both 27, managed to save enough to buy their first house - their dream £358,000 new-build in Bolton. The couple spoke to the Manchester Evening News as part of our Where I Live series, where each week we chat to a different homeowner about their buying and renovation journey; whilst looking inside their home.

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READ MORE: You can read more stories from our weekly Where I Live series here

After meeting at university in Hull and marrying in 2021, Papa from Doncaster and Ope from Manchester moved to Salford together and began renting a two-bed house. The pair were initially paying around £625 a month, but over the next year they saw their rent rise.

"It was an old terraced property but it had recently been renovated. The price was £625 per month when we first started renting, which was pretty decent in comparison to other places. But when we renewed the contract it went up to around £675," Papa, who is a software engineer, told the Manchester Evening News.

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