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

Yes both my sons are single and own their own homes - one a flat and the other a small terraced house. I bought my ex out of our house 20 years ago. Should we all be in rented accommodation then? Why should single people be penalised?

I bought my first home as a singleton on a secretary’s salary back in 1990. Try doing that today!

And to add it was about a twenty minute train ride into London.

So what’s the alternative if you’re not in a couple?

@Fivebedexecutivehome

what are your plans when your husband walks out on you?

I didn't need a man to buy my house. Ok so it's not 5bed detached, but it's mine, all mine.

your smugness is not attractive.

If your husband shags the neighbour will you graciously except your return to renter status?

So because I haven’t got someone to shag I shouldn’t be able to buy a home? God get off your own planet and back onto earth OP!

Why do single people need any housing? I'm sure there are enough sticks in the forest to make shelter.

Of course you should. Many of my friends older than me and they all had their own homes under the age of 30 (they are now in their 50s). It depends on the type of house and the area, but of course you should. House prices are obscene now.

Yes but we don't all live in the south East and whilst I know prices are going up everywhere it's,Been known for a long time that London and the south East is ridiculously expensive
Plus wages will vary massively.

I know! Whatever next? The entitlement of expecting to own a home all by yourself.

Which I do, btw. I bought my current house as a single person 3 years ago. Yes, it's a house, not a flat because I live in the countryside and the flats are scarce and depressing and, at the age of 50, I wanted a garden like I had in my previous (owned) house. My house is in the exact area I wanted and has 4 bedrooms and is detached. I'll probably stay here for the rest of my life and even if I ended up in another relationship (not likely as men don't find me attractive) my home is mine and will not be shared :-)

I think there’s always been a massive disparity between south and other areas.

i bought my first home in Home Counties at age of 28. With my then fiancé . No way could we have afforded to buy if we had been on our own or not benefitted from an inheritence I had (relatively modest) to boast the deposit. Plus back then interest rates were in double figures, so not just deposit that was difficult. Actual repayments were. And that was even based on old interest only with endowment. We’d not have been able to afford mortgage at those interest rates on a standard repayment mortgage. But again interest only and endowments were the norm and had been for my parents too.

I was not isolated in this. I knew a lot of of people in London who bought as friends as tenant in common deeds , including a close relative and his mates and my best friend with her mates. You just don’t hear that happening much these days as a way to get on the property ladder. In all cases it worked really well for them to not wait till married etc. and they made a good yield when they sold later (mainly when getting married) but even then they were all late twenties.

im talking about graduates in all cases as well. In days when only 10% when to uni and polys still existed. So, we were all decently waged

I think for south it is a myth thst your average earner could afford to buy on their own. I don’t know anyone who managed that in 1980/early 90s. My own ds is on a very good salary, a stupidly good salary. He’s 30 . He can’t save the full amount for a deposit as his rent is massive as recently lives on his own in London 1-bed place after splittin*with his long term partner. He could standcthought of going back to HMO at this stage. Ironically he could afford a mortgage where he wants to live on his salary- it’s saving for deposit that’s a massive issue now it’s just him.

however, I live in north now. And I grew up in north. My average wages niece and nephews up here bought easily with their partners in mid twenties. And by now, in their late twenties/30s could buy easily as sole tenants on their own. It is massively different. A one bed flat is massively different in price in south vs north to tune of multiple hundreds of £.

I think younger generations do have unreal expectations, set by the property programs dominating tv and media these days. Only in some parts of country have you been able to buy on your own since around 1970s. Prior to thst property was a lot cheaper mainly because a wife’s wage was not taken into account by mortgage companies . Didn’t matter what her job was, one salary calculated only. Progress was a good thing, but had a downside in terms of what it did to house prices !

also the sale of council houses did not help. Lack of secure homes in rental market meant more people trying to buy. Also agian setting expectation that everyone “has right to buy”. It isn’t a right. But sadly only way now for most to secure a home of their own for the future without a landlord or private company holding the cards in terms of security.

You're being ridiculous, where do you expect single people to live??
The problem is that house prices have risen disproportionately to wages so buying as a single person is more difficult than it used to be. Many of my friends bought property as single people in their late 20's / early 30's but it's noticeable how few of the grads at work in that age group now do. There's a distinct increase in people living in flat shares and even with parents until they are older. And while they're renting that's several hundred £ a month that they can't save for a deposit. Also, well paid jobs are often in places that are more expensive to live.....a tiny (and I mean, can't swing a cat!) 1 bed flat round here will set you back around £150k so at a 3.5xtimes salary, that's only really affordable if you're earning more than about £40k a year.

Both my DS's bought a 3 bedroom house on their own. 1 has a gf he got after buying but she has her own home.

What a lot of nonsense...

A house on the road I first bought for has just gone sstc. It was up for 117,000. 2 bed terrace. Decent condition.

A starting salary on my degree comes up as 25-30k.

4x salary gives a mortgage around 100k. So, yes, I could probably still buy my first house, so long as I could rent somewhere cheap enough to enable saving nearly 20k first.

If only you'd told me 20+ years ago,@Fivebedexecutivehome . I managed to buy a house alone and without a handout from Mummy and Daddy.
Hope you are happy in your smug rung on the housing ladder.

Phobic? I don't think anyone is the least bit afraid of you.

They shouldn't need to own but they should have security if it's not owned.

I'm a parent to 2 children earning minimum wage. If I were to get divorced I would up my hours but even with the equity I got I would struggle to even get a shared ownership so it would have to be rented.

My issue with renting is that I would be at the mercy of the landlord, they could kick me out at any point or raise the rent to whatever they fancied. I wouldn't be allowed to make it nice, unlikely to be able to have a pet and I would just be treating it like a hotel room that wasn't mine. Not to mention the fact that even working full time I would need to claim UC which isn't popular with landlords and neither are kids so I would already be on the back foot.

It makes total sense why women feel trapped in abusive marriages because going it alone on a low salary is really really difficult. We shouldn't be making things harder for single people, times have changed and single people are an integral part of society and we should be treating them as such.

You think it’s perfectly fine for the 90-odd % of the population who don’t earn £75k though? Not dehumanising?

What's arrogant is donning a dress and expecting us all to pretend a man is a woman.

And 'expectations' feature heavily in this article.

OP are you seriously suggesting that only people in couples should be allowed should be able to buy a house
I bought my own house when I was single in my twenties. I feel so sorry for people nowadays because it was so ridiculously expensive. The house cost £69,000 20 years ago (I was on 22k gave a 5k deposit) it is now £300k yet that job I used to do only pays £28k so no way on god's earth could I have bought it now.

Lack of investment in social housing, allowing property to be sold to Chinese and other foreign investors and right to buy has totally mess this up.
We need to move away from growth and inflation being linked to house prices.

I mean exactly what I said but QED.

Not relevant to the discussion but shoehorned in anyway. And you say the opposite side have an agenda.

Look,doubtless I'll get another little warning note from HQ about how I should shush and stop pointing out when people are phobic. Being phobic is OK though, right MN? Free speech for them but not for me.
But tough. I'll keep on for now. And yes, I was born female and still am female before everyone jumps

Of course single people should be able to buy a home. A home is not always a house. The individual in the report wants a house, which is why they're struggling. They can afford a flat on that salary in nearly every part of the UK, a flat is a perfectly acceptable home for anyone.

You absolutely should. Perhaps not a 'family home' type of larger house but an apartment at the very least. I live in an expensive city where single ownership (without massive handout) is inaccessible on even an above average salary. It's discriminatory imo. You shouldn't be forced to be assetless/ continue paying out rent money forever because of a romantic status/choice.

I'm going out on a limb here, but not only should one wage be able to buy but a 'living wage' should be sufficient level of income to do so. 'Affordable' housing should be just that.