Vicky Spratt

London

Columnist & Housing Correspondent at The i Paper

Housing correspondent @theipaper Orwell Prize finalist 2023 & 2024 Author of TENANTS & We Were Promised The Moon (2025) Please do get in touch with stories.

Articles

In my rush to hit life milestones, I made big mistakes

4 days ago | inews.co.uk | Vicky Spratt

For millennials who grew up in the era of “30 under 30” lists and girl boss feminism, it can often feel like you’ve failed if you haven’t ticked every life box by your thirties. Professional success. Check. Buying a home. Check. Finding a partner. Check. Having children. Check.
'I took out a 95% mortgage - it was a risk I wish I didn't have to take'

1 week ago | inews.co.uk | Vicky Spratt

This is Home Front with Vicky Spratt, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here. Good afternoon, and welcome to this week’s Home Front. I think we need to talk about low-deposit mortgages. That’s home loans with a 95 or 90 per cent loan but just a 5 or 10 per cent down payment.
I've stopped staying in Airbnbs - they're ruining my favourite destinations

2 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Vicky Spratt

This is Home Front with Vicky Spratt, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here. Good afternoon, and welcome to this week’s Home Front.
I'm a housing expert - but made a huge mistake when buying a home with my ex

3 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Vicky Spratt

The last thing you think about when you move in with your partner is breaking up. As you wander around Ikea, buying things you don’t actually need and plants that will definitely die, you’re not considering what will happen to all of it (or the credit card you’re buying it with) if you separate. But you really should be.
Labour is now worse for renters than the Tories ever were

4 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Vicky Spratt

It could have been so different. When Labour won last year’s election, change was possible. But, today, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her Spring Statement to Parliament MPs, worried private renters and frustrated young adults across the country were all telling me Labour’s approach to government is not only more of the same but, arguably, worse than the Conservatives. And that’s an incredibly hard act to follow.
Where the money from your mortgage goes

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Vicky Spratt

This is Home Front with Vicky Spratt, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here. Good afternoon and welcome to this week’s Home Front. If you have had a mortgage come up for renewal during the last few years of fluctuating interest rates, you’ll know the pain of seeing your repayments rise all too well. But where does the extra money you are handing over to your bank go? It is a good time to ask the question.
New towns will get power to overrule local objections to new roads and rail links

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Vicky Spratt

New towns will be given powers to overrule local planners in order to build new roads and rail links. Housing minister Matthew Pennycook told The i Paper new planning rules will “fast-track” the delivery of new towns and transport links connecting them with existing infrastructure.
Social housing to be demolished as post-Grenfell repairs are too expensive

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Vicky Spratt

Social housing is being demolished or sold off as owners cannot afford repair bills to make the properties safe in the wake of the Grenfell fire disaster. Housing associations have told The i Paper they have no choice but to tear down buildings or evict tenants and sell their homes on the open market as no government funding is available to help meet the cost of renovations.
Homeownership is no longer a way to get rich

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Vicky Spratt

Why would you buy a home? The obvious answer, surely, is that you need to live in it. But homeownership is not as logical an endeavour as it ought to be. Since the expansion of mortgage lending in the 1980s and 1990s, many people have bought their homes as “investments”, assets which they hoped would appreciate in value. And, because house prices have continued to outpace earnings in this country, for a long time they were right to do so.
The end of leasehold is nigh - the days of rip-off service charges are numbered

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Vicky Spratt

This is Home Front with Vicky Spratt, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here. Good afternoon and welcome to this week’s Home Front. With so much news being generated by events outside of the UK – it is easy to overlook what’s happening here.

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Vicky Spratt @Victoria_Spratt

9 Apr 25

RT @J_Elliott94: Absolutely devastating increase in service charge from £94/month to £646/month, roughly 2% to 10% of take-home earnings fo…

Vicky Spratt @Victoria_Spratt

9 Apr 25

Excellent from @georgeeaton again today. Even with Trump’s pause - climb down or row back - it’s still clear that the accepted economic order of recent decades has changed. That’s been clear for some time. Q is whether politicians are brave enough to act https://t.co/DNFNEGSMpO https://t.co/iHGtlWbnNG

Vicky Spratt @Victoria_Spratt

9 Apr 25

Labour may yet get there first. And, arguably, they should