To think you shouldn't expect to buy a home on a single salary?

Single people wouldn’t generally own their own homes in previous generations, but in previous generations it was very very likely that the man would go out to work, and the woman stay at home. So it’s still only one wage which purchased the house, and the wage had to feed/keep more people.

@Fivebedexecutivehome

So every unattached adult in Britain has to live in a house share?

Houses used to be affordable on one average wage. They should be now.

Well you're the one that a) posted with no nuance and b) targeted single people.

Obviously being single is not the issue. A single earner could earn 200K why would anybody prevent them from buying a house?

FWIW I agree with you,in that 'everyone owning homes' isn't a worthy goal
Everyone deserve a stable home, yes whether it's a lifetime tenancy with affordable rent or home ownership.

i mean, everyone could be a 'homeowner' of a pod sized, rabbit hutch flat, or they could have low rent houseshares or large flats with self contained units. How is ownership making it different especially as flats still require management charges.

We cannot build landed property for everyone we are a tiny island.

However your AIBU title is deliberately inflammatory and you just posted a silly article with not additional discussion
So YABVVU

This is tosh. I bought my first flat on my own, as did my best friend (she actually bought a whole house). I have had colleagues and family members who have also bought property on their own. I've had other property as a single person, until I met my husband and we bought together.

Re: environmental impact… where do you think all these non-homeowners are living now?

I'm sure once 'Emma' finds a rich husband he'll be fine ...

Looking at UK stats

1914 15% of population were home owners
1938 32% of population were home owners
Building was increased after WW11 & Government policies have changed over time to encourage home ownership
1996 67% of population were home owners
2024 50% of population are home owners

I cannot easily find the info about buying as a single person (someone may be able to find this)

However, historically in the past some women did not work after marriage.

I bought my own flat myself with a 100% mortgage. Its not fair people can't do that now.

So you and your husband both earned less individually than the person in the article, but because you had the great virtue of being marrieds you deserved it and the person didn’t?

I find it more strange the BBC are gaslighting us again because that's a man.

My closest friends are in their fifties. They all bought alone. Many of my friends who are similar in age to me bought alone. In good areas.

But DH is younger than me and many of his friends haven't been able to do similar. Particularly if they are several years younger.

My ds and I bought a house. I paid the deposit (from an inheritance) and he was paying the mortgage. He was managing to pay that okay, but interest rate shot up, so we paid off the rest of the mortgage together. He has continued paying me the amount it was costing him on the mortgage and will pay me the rest of the mortgage money he owes later this year, leaving him (single and in his mid thirties) a fully paid up house owner. He does live in a low housing cost area though.

I think OP thinks you're only a 'growned up' if you're married.

Pretty much all our parents and grandparents bought a house on one income. I don’t see why this generation wanting to do the same is a problem?

I would be wary of having a hole. Look at what NIMBYs do to moles.

Everyone should be entitled to buy their own home instead of renting. It shouldn’t be the way it is, where people have to rent because they cannot afford a deposit. I don’t understand why you have to bring relationship status into it. Why should someone not expect to want to buy their own home because they’re single? As if they’re any less of a person because of their relationship status. So what you’re saying is that couples in your eyes are acceptable to own their own home but single people have to make do with what they get? EVERYONE should be entitled to buy their own home, but unfortunately in todays age it’s virtually impossible

Wait til your marriage goes tits up OP and then see if you feel the same.

I was born in the 50's.
I have many acquaintances who bought their house/flat as single people when they reached adulthood.
They were mostly in steady, safe, well-paid jobs in the public sector, and just wanted to invest in a home of their own.
Certainly, as many PPs have said, not everyone is part of a couple, and why on earth should single people not have as much right to own their home as couples, rather than wait around for a partner who may or may not materialise?
But the crucial factor is that we can't fail to know that housing was far more affordable then than it is now, and it was perfectly possible and quite normal for property to be bought just on one salary.
That's what well-paid single people are angry about.

BBC are completely obsessed with men who identify as women. 6 articles about the COL and all are about these males with "special" identities. So bored of this gaslighting.

In terms of the OP, I'm a lone parent so what would do OP? Suck it up in the rental system lining other people's pockets? Effing ridiculous.

I'm lucky that I'm on a 6 figure income so I've been able to buy a house but honestly I despair at people like you. You probably also think people shouldn't have kids unless they are in a heterosexual relationship!