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

In reality, in previous generations single people wouldn't generally own their own homes, no.

Well, I guess at almost twice your age, I qualify as a "previous generation" according to your post @Fivebedexecutivehome and I've always been single (no man to be dependent on), and I own my own home, and have done since the 1980s and 15% interest rates.

You lack perspective, and you are quite narrow in your worldview, understanding & knowledge.

And this is the attitude I alluded to earlier.
The world has changed. Not only w.r.t to women working but the UK population has exploded. From 58 million in 1999 to 68 million today, about 2 decades later.
We're a tiny island.
Where are all these 3 bed houses with gardens going to be built, hmm?

You don't NEED a spare room, home office, garden. You want them, which is fair enough. But you don't need them.

Of course, flats don't have to be small and pokey, other countries have plenty of nice large ones, even more spacious than many UK houses. But the lack of a garden is an issue.

Which leads me to my other point, even if houses were built so that everyone could afford one, even proper big flats people would still refuse to buy it because it's not a house with garden 'because well in 1999 Ms. X bought on a single salary and it's not fair'.

House prices have shot up far more than average wages over the last couple of decades.

What a strange post! Lots of people buy on their own for a variety of reasons, as for affordability presumably if you were single, you could have bought a small flat on your own, but because you were in a couple, you bought a house.
I bought my flat on my own and currently I am looking to buy afor a house, again on my own, a shocker!

Same here, My Ds bought his house when single and now his fiancée lives there with him.

BS. By your thinking someone with no partner, single parents, widows etc… shouldn’t expect to have their own home? Not everyone has the privilege of a dual income.

where I am a 3 bed semi you could actually live in straight away is ~£600k .. obviously that’s the issue. Not a single woman saying she works bloody hard and should be able to buy a house!

I never had any doubt that I would not buy on my salary

I put a plan into action

Saved up
Had more than one job
Got a better job with opportunities to progress
Kept an eye on finances

Obviously it would be great if everyone could afford a lovely house of their own but people do seem very surprised that they might have to compromise in some way. Me and my partner separated and when I said we'd have to sell the property and split the equity they were surprised and outraged that they wouldn't be able to afford a house again. I'm not sure what they expected me to do if we didn't sell but it does surprise me that some people think they're entitled to a house when they can't afford it.

I agree but I don't want a modest 1 bed flat, I need a spare room for guests, another room for a home office as I work from home, a decent kitchen, and somewhere I can entertain family and friends, and a nice garden.

When I first started working 28 years ago, you could get that on less than I earn now with a 100% mortgage.

The BBC did a piece not so long ago on nursery costs and the pressures on working mums and again they had an interview with a transwoman about it. It's relentless.

If Emma wishes to buy a flat, she could possibly spend less time on some of Emma's activist activities outlined in the article I quote above and pick up a few shifts in the pub. They are all crying out for staff nowadays. Just a thought.

I fully agree. It should be proportional, so a single person should be able to afford the deposit and mortgage for an appropriately sized home, i.e. a one bed flat at the very least. Trouble is that "cheaper" properties like that are snapped up by wannabee landlords thus pricing the single people out of the market and forcing them to pay stupidly high rents (to pay the landlord's mortgage!). Something needs to change.

@Fivebedexecutivehome
You appear to completely tone deaf with regard to the fact 8.4 million people live alone in the UK. Would you have it so that none of those people were allowed to purchase a home of their own?
Wow just wow. Let's hope you never get divorced or widowed or you'll be back to renting.

To echo others - you’re talking absolute nonsense. I’m a single parent on a good salary and will of course be buying a property on my own.
I’m curious, what’s your suggestion - that we punish single people by not allowing them to buy a property on their own?!!!

A lot of the stigma comes from the housing sector itself.
And they never miss an oppertunity to let you know it isnt yours.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11089999/Heatwave-woe-housing-association-tells-families-garden-furniture-fire-risk.html

May I interject?

This article didn't ring true with me (I want to scream, I want to shout etc) so I googled Emma and this was the first article that came up. Inter alia it mentions this article and the BBC.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/07/22/wont-somebody-please-think-of-the-drag-queens/

The writer's hypothesis is that there is a trend for non-articles like this to be published by the BBC to try to normalise transwomen. It's not about the house prices.

It should be possible for anyone working a half decent job to buy a home, even if it’s a modest one.

I was brought up in a single income family and so were many of my friends, but our families owned houses on a mortgage. Working class, not middle class.

DH and I both work in pretty decent paying jobs and affording our 3 bed semi was bloody difficult and we’re mortgaged until he’s 70. It’s crazy.

It is the deposit. I had to save massively for this house. But my mortgage is using if what the rent would have been. I bought my first flat with £5k. Can’t do that now. I live in the north, but in an expensive city. Half decent areas are expensive.

Council tenancies are secure. Any stigma and pressure would dissipate if there were more of them (and doesn't actually change the fact that they are secure).

I'm not sure property ownership should be, but I think everyone should have an affordable, safe and secure (as in you can't be terfed out at short notice for no reason) home. I think rentals have their place, particularly when you're younger and maybe moving around. But I also think we should have more social housing rentals (right to buy was a huge mistake imo) and also longer term rentals such as in other countries so you have more security.

Property ownership offers security, so in that sense, yes. A council tenancy should offer security but unfortunately it comes with stigma, and pressure to give up the tenancy when their financial circumstances change.