Teenage reality hitting home

It wasn’t that much of a blip - homeownership was at its most affordable in the 1920s and remained more affordable than now until - well, now.

https://www.schroders.com/en-gb/uk/individual/insights/what-174-years-of-data-tell-us-about-house-price-affordability-in-the-uk/

To be fair not many teenagers buy houses. I bought my first house in the midst of a house price boom in 1973, it had rising damp, wooden floors and window frames were rotten, needed rewiring, no central heating, kitchen was a sink and dirty cooker. My mother cried when she saw it and said we couldn't possibly take our toddler to live there.

Friend of the family rewired it for us with us just buying the wires/plugs etc. Mum did lend us the money to get the floor fixed, we ripped out the sink and cooker, installed a sink unit and built shelves from wood which we stained. Then there was a price crash and we sold it for a bit more than we paid but if you added in what we spent on it we sold at a loss. That's life when you are young. Bought our second house as interest rates were rising, we applied for one rate, got offered the mortgage at a higher rate and by the time we moved in it had gone up again. Month one in that house we were terrified of any more increases and we could barely live as it was.

Apparently we had it easy but it didn't feel like that at the time.

I see, JustOnceMore 😁
you are presumably also child free and our posts are very similar.
Noticed when I used the nick Patrickiscrazy.
Now I'm not saying we should marry tomorrow, however, it is appreciated 😂👍

Very similar circumstances to you @GingerPirate, and agree 100%.

@Globules DD pointed out all of the parties are being silent on policies around their age group.

Point out to her that this is largely because her age group don't vote. The very very best thing she can do to make politicians care about her age group is to convince all of her friends to as well. Even if they spoil their ballots, it'll still count as far as the parties are concerned.

If you want politicians to court your vote, there needs to be a vote to court.

You could always be a guarantor on his mortgage?

If his goal is to buy a home maybe look at all the options available to him.

He’s done well saving 30k and he’s in employment.

Personally don’t think my DC will be in a position to buy til their 30’s as once they’ve finished Uni they’ll be in training posts for over 10 years minimum. However, we have looked at areas they could live and afford once they are settled.

Working towards realistic goals is what life is about unless you are a risk taker. Help and support him map out his plan.

Multi generational living is going to come back thick and fast I think

Was it really? I bought a place in London 1992 with my ex and it was 33k . Both not earning very much. If I remember I was being paid £119 a week and him slightly less.

It was done on 3 times my income and 1times his.

If the banks hadn't started lending 4 , 5 , 6 times income then the house prices wouldn't have risen so much

He’s a teenager with £30k in savings. Please stop and realise what a great start that is.

He has plenty of time to go to uni or find a professional qualification and earn enough money to get a mortgage. No one buys a house in their teens.

But then there are people like my Dad who was a postman and bought a large 3 bed house in London in the 70s. Mortgage taken on his income only

@Samlewis96 this was a tiny blip in history though. If you go back further, working class people have never been able to buy houses. The few decades after the war were the exception rather than the norm.

Agree that the generational inequality is unfair though. This is why there should be more tax on wealth and assets, rather than income.

OP your teen could be like my youngest DC in a few years time. He is 23, earns 39k and has 55k saved and is on a position to buy a flat in South East England.

Finding it hard to worry about the financial prospects of a 19 year old with 30k savings. He either has fabulous savings skills, or great family financial support!

Kindly, I think your teenage son with 30k in the bank needs to give his head a little wobble. Things are tough for the younger generations, including mid 30s like me, no doubt, but it sounds like he has had a helping hand from somewhere with the 30k. That is a lot of money to have as a teenager.

He needs a plan. Does he live at home? Where is the 30k? Is he planning on looking at any other jobs with progression or training?

If I were him, I would open a fixed rate cash ISA (there are loads of good deals atm while interest rates are high) and put 16k in, then also open a lifetime cash ISA and put 4k in this year to get the maximum 1k bonus. I would put the remaining 10k into premium bonds for now, and transfer another 4k to the lifetime cash ISA next April to get another 1k bonus, and then another 4k again in April 2026.

If he did this, as well as saving £500 a month until April 2026, then he will have at least £44,000 by then. That's not a bad position for a 21 year old.

Thatcher started the problems by letting people buy the council houses.
The banks then made it far worse with BTL.

Having said that, when we bought our first house for £35k, our NHS salaries were £6k and £7k and interest rates were far higher than today and then went higher. We had no furniture except a bed at first and no parental help at all.

To rent that exact same house in 1990 cost £550 a month. Now it rents for £750. Rents are much cheaper now compared to incomes in large parts of the country.

Basically house prices have quadrupled since then but so have salaries in my part of the UK.

There is no single property market in the UK, often people have to move to a different part of the country to get on in life.

Spot the BTL landlord

Just under 25s? I'm 34 and can't afford to buy!

Yes but it's not necessarily cheaper (in the UK anyway) in fact it's often more expensive to rent. If we had very long term tenancies and /or some form of rent controls then it would work.

How exactly has lack of regulation made rents higher?

I worked in a shop when I left school in the 70s - I was in management for a big chain but still couldn't afford to buy a terraced house until I got married. I lived at home until they transferred me to London where I couldn't afford anything other than renting a room in somebody's house as a lodger.

I agree it's tough. But then I point out that my grandmother was taken out of school and forced into a marriage with a stranger when she was 13. My mum was educated but not allowed to work.

And they realise they have it a lot better. Helps if you come from a tough cultural background.

Maybe an inheritance or savings that we're done for him throughout childhood

It is hard but OTOH when I was teen/early 20s, in the early 80s no one expected to go straight from uni to owning their own home/being able to afford the same lifestyle as their parents.

OP hasn't said anywhere he has saved for it, I assume it's been saved in his name, gifted or inherited.

Yes it's really shit for young people. I feel very sorry for them. They can work really hard and never afford a mortgage. I wouldn't be having kids now that's for sure

I appreciate i am completely missing the point here - but I am interested in how your son has saved almost double his annual wage at 19?