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  3. For a large number of young adults in Britain, homeownership has become increasingly difficult to achieve, viewed as a distant g

For a large number of young adults in Britain, homeownership has become increasingly difficult to achieve, viewed as a distant g

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问题     For a large number of young adults in Britain, homeownership has become increasingly difficult to achieve, viewed as a distant goal attainable only later in life, if at all.
    That is a significant shift for Britain. For years owners occupy a higher percentage of homes in Britain than in the United States, France or Germany. One reason homeownership is so attractive in Britain is because property values dropped less drastically than in the United States, in part because of a shortage in housing. Prices in some large cities, including London, have even increased recently. People still perceive a home to be a better and safer investment than a pension fund, said Andrew Hull, research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research. "Homeownership is also culturally entrenched," he said. "Owning a home is the main way of showing you made it. "
    The big shift toward homeownership came in the 1980s when Mrs. Thatcher issued right-to-buy policy, which allowed many in rented government housing to buy their homes. About two million homes were sold, earning the government tens of billions of pounds. At the same time, the rental market became increasingly unattractive. Unlike Germany and other Continental European countries, Britain’ s private rental market is highly fragmented, with many landlords and laws that generally favor the property owner. Most leases are for six months only, with landlords rarely agreeing to commit to longer terms; this makes renting highly insecure.
    But as the pain of government-imposed austerity sinks in, disposable income has shrunk and loan requirements have toughened, forcing more and more Britons into renting rather than buying. Over the last 10 years the number of people who owned homes here dropped to 67 percent from 70 percent. Meanwhile, the number of people in private rented housing rose to 16 percent from 10 percent over the same period, according to the Office for National Statistics. Rising demand has pushed up rents by an average of 4. 4 percent over the last year, according to LSL Property Services. In London rents increased 7.8 percent.
    "A growing number of young would-be buyers are preparing for lifelong renting—by necessity rather than choice," said Jonathan Moore, director of easyroommate. co. uk, a property Web site. Charlotte Ashton, 30, has lived in rented accommodations ever since she left her parent’ s home to attend university. She said she was saving for a down payment to buy her own home. "I do believe in the fundamentals of owning bricks and mortar as security for the future, more than leaving my money in the banks at a low interest rate," said Ms. Ashton, who works in public relations. "But now it seems unless you have a very well paid job and are willing to save every penny, it’ s unfeasible to buy without the help of the bank of Mum and Dad. "
    Some economists are concerned that as more people are forced to wait to buy a home, it could open up a widening of the wealth gap that already exists between homeowners and non homeowners, endangering the retirement prospects for a swelling group of young adults they call "generation rent. " It could also have implications for the cohesion of neighborhoods, Alison Blackwell, a research director at the National Center for Social Research and author of the Halifax report said. Renters tend to be less involved in local communities because they are forced to move more often. And the economy as a whole may suffer because renters tend to curb spending to save for a deposit.
More people’ s inclination to rent rather than buy a house will not______.
选项 A、enlarge the wealth disparity between the haves and have-nots
B、reduce the renter’ s commitment to the community
C、slow the recovery of economy
D、curb social mobility
答案D
解析 本题考查对最后一段内容的理解。最后一段作者着重陈述了一些专家对越来越多的人倾向于租房而不是买房给社会造成的潜在威胁：1)扩大有房者和无房者的贫富差距；2)增强社会流动性从而降低租户对于社区活动的参与度，降低社区凝聚力；3)抑制消费。根据这三条我们可以判断[D]符合题干要求。
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