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

Normalising the fact that housing is basically unaffordable for most young people is very wrong. You just need to go back a few decades and look at earnings relative to house costs to realise how insane it is

I find the idea you need to be coupled up to afford a home very odd tbh.

A third of all UK households are single people - should they all be expected to live in rental accommodation with the long and short term challenges that brings?

Depends how much you earn and where you live. I can't help feeling that what this woman means is she can't rent somewhere nice and have a nice lifestyle whilst saving. Probably true.

I agree with @AndForAFortnightThereWeWereForever “There can't be any blanket rule or blanket statement about this.”

OP says they and their partner had a joint income of 75k and could buy. A single person could make the same/more on their own, why should they have to rent? By the time you’re making 75k in your career it’s dehumanising to live in a moldy flat or house where you’re not allowed paint the walls or make any changes.

I think a lot of the issue now is how precarious renting is - a lot of landlords are looking to get out of the game, or the rental price they’re stuck at is not worth it. If the economy was in a better place and people didn’t having a looming fear of eviction in the back of their minds, renting would be much easier. The constant threat/fear of eviction is the number 1 reason I want to buy. We pay more in rent now than a mortgage will be.

Sometimes I think it has to do with expectations. I bought a small 1 bed flat in my twenties (average salary), in a relatively unpopular area of the city. There were similar articles in the press at the time from people on similar salaries to mine bemoaning the fact they couldn't afford to buy (a 3-bed house with a garden). I read the story and wondered what her expectations were. £50k is a high salary to me.

Another single parent here, part time worker and I own my home. Though I’m in Scotland so homes are much more affordable up here.

I didn't get married till I was 32, but I moved out of home age 19. I bought my first house age 23. I think it's a reasonable expectation to be able to live alone and buy a property.

Op, do you think everyone should be in a relationship?

In addition to all the point above about single people needing somewhere to live, the fact that it takes two salaries to buy a decent house (ie small 3 bed in a safe area) causes other problems.

For instance, if houses were affordable on one average salary, ordinary couples would be able to afford to pay their own childcare costs rather than needing government to pay for it. So government funding could be targeted better (eg to single parents, or those unable to work).

Looking at the photo of Emma, my first thought is that Will Self has let himself go!

I’m 59, single for eons, I bought my first house when I was 25, my second when I 30. Its a very bog standard Victorian terrace which suits me fine. I’ll be carried out in my box.

Not everyone wants a @Fivebedexecutivehome but its not unreasonable to want to my own, very modest home.

Or should that be a privilige reserved for the married people, and single people shoved into grotty bedsits or house shares with no privacy or outside space.

Perhaps if the rental market was better regulated and affordable in this country more people would see renting as an option. A neighbour of mine pays £900 a month rent, more than my mortgage ever was.

Not saying that.

Just saying that nuclear independent living is not the norm in the world, and certainly wasn't pre 1950s. We can have expectations but if the middle class is being eroded, not sure how we are supposed to maintain it.

Indeed....

Emma likes the limelight I think
(and hasn't read up on flattering angles)

I bought my first flat on my own earning about £25k in 2010 in a frontline public sector job, couldn't do that now, the salary for that role has barely moved in 14 years for a start

Everyone should be able to buy a home. You’re being ridiculous

Imagine single people thinking they're, like, independent grown-ups. Madness.

Search the name + BBC on X to be enlightened.

So, what about people like me. Long-term relationship split up in mid-40s. We weren't lucky enough to be successful in having kids. Am I really so low in society that I don't deserve secure housing? As it was, I was lucky enough to be able to buy out my partner from the flat we were in.
I earn £45k in central Scotland. I couldn't afford the 2-bed flat I really wanted in Edinburgh, so moved 20 miles out. It's fine. Worth it for me to have housing I'm not worried about being evicted from.

"Why is that woman moaning about not being able to buy a house? Most single people buy a flat as their first property."

I agree that a flat is good for a single person, but I also know that if you live in the countryside, there aren't many flats.

By the time I got to the end of the article I wondered if they were just trolling us

I’ve never let being single get in the way of anything I have wanted to do in life.

I bought by myself a few years ago. Most of my friends who are homeowners also bought by themselves.

Edit: Just to add that this is in London, and in my case as well nearly all cases among my friends, there was no family help with deposit.