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

You're being really daft - which is leading you to be unreasonable.
People want to buy property because, historically, if you are able to own somewhere outright before you retire, your pension doesn't have to stretch to rent, so you can live more cheaply. It also means that provided you can cover food & utilities and don't get into debt you will always have a home.
Also if you buy, you are paying a mortgage roughly equivalent to prices at the point you bought, and therefore reduces, in real terms every year, whereas rent tends to only go up.
This security is even more important for single people to achieve, as they are less likely to be sharing their living expenses with anyone else when they retire.
It's not rocket science!

I've just had my initial assessment approved for my mortgage and I'm mid 20s borrowing 5.5x my salary with a 5% deposit in London it's been hard but the cost of my mortgage will be the cost of a room in London.

If we had good renting options in the uk I wouldn't care to buy but renting is expensive and awful in this country.

Well the person in the article has a single income that's more than the average U.K. household income, so their income is more than many couples in any case. I don't think the maths of this case really add up, but then I think this individual has been wedged into the article for reasons other than being a good example of the point being made.

Of course single people should be able to afford a home - not much, just a one bed flat at least! It’s not like we’re all out here demanding 4-bed houses.

More people rent in Europe because the rent is controlled. Here the situation is ridiculous and in some cases costs more per month to rent than a mortgage. My mortgage on my one-bed flat is 700pm but to rent it would be at least 1200!

House insurance is like 25 pounds a month and I had it when I rented anyway. Rents are definitely higher than mortgage. All other bills are payable whether or not you own. So yeah actually if I pay £900 a month rent regularly then I can afford to pay £700 mortgage a month. Rent is a rip off and it’s not because the property needs constant improvements because it never used to be this high.

Mortgages can also increase depending on the interest rate of the day but at the same time you can also take out a longer fixed term mortgage e.g. 5 or 10 years instead of 2 years which may mean your earning power can improve in that time...or it may not, though salary inflation should mean that your pay increases with time.

Rents on the other hand can be increased far more often which can be problematic.

What's your problem with single people OP?

I'm single by choice and have just got the keys to my first house, a 2 bed semi with a garden. Admittedly has taken longer than expected due to various setbacks but have done this myself on a single average wage. I'm very proud to have bought my house by myself and not have to rely on having a partner to make it happen. Why should I either have to buy a house with someone or rent to fit your narrative?

I suppose when British people say people should be able to buy their own home, we mean they should be able to access secure housing and in the UK that tends to be buying a home. I think it's weird that you don't understand that, and imperiously saying that you'd like someone to name all these other countries where it's the norm implies that you're stirring a bit. Given that you, as a couple, couldn't manage to buy without significant family help and a decade of saving...why are you picking on single people as being unreasonable in their expectations? 😂

House prices have risen exponentially compared to salaries so single people have been hit harder and many people who would have been able to afford a purchase alone now can't afford it. I don't think there's anything wrong with them drawing attention to that.

Single mum of two and I've managed it on a similar salary to the person in the article.

Yes, it's a bit of a fixer-upper and it's located in a dodgy area, but since buying it I haven't had to spend my time worrying about being put onto yet another S21 after 6 months/ 1 year - the main reason I've moved almost every year since I came of age. I have also not had to worry about finding somewhere in the vicinity of the kids' schools, somewhere that would fit my furniture or even just about leaving a mark on a wall and having to find the right shade of magnolia to cover it up.

Having said that, I do wish people would stop perpetuating the myth that the ability to fork out £200pcm more on rent than a mortgage would enable people to buy and maintain even the basics of a house. By the time that insurance and basic property maintenance have been taken into account, you are paying far more while owning than you do renting. There is a reason rental prices are so high, and that is to cover the cost of maintenance and stuff going wrong. That's before profit is even taken into account, so rent controls won't help much there.

UK housing is in a mess, and much of it comes down to the general cost of living, but also the age of property here. I've lived in other countries which were, in large parts, flattened during the war and had to be rebuilt from scratch - hence, property doesn't fall apart like it does over here in the UK. That and better general building standards for still reasonable prices.

In short, it's very much possible to buy on your own, but you do have to adjust your expectations. On a single salary, you will naturally not be able to afford the same size or quality as people with double the monthly income.

No, I don't.
Your point of view is extremely simple. Currently, social housing has been decimated and LL's have too much power.
Therefore, the solution is for ... Everyone on minimum wage to be able to buy a property.

All I pointed out was
a) How is this supposed to happen, when there are more people needing homes, than available properties?
b) Why are you focused on home ownership, Vs stable housing?

Also, I'm an immigrant myself. Whether you like it or not rapid population growth puts pressure on housing. You can plan for a rate of population growth based on births and deaths. Even if the birth rate increases it'll be 2 decades at least before they reach adulthood and need housing.

Immigrants, especially those with families arrive and immediately need a big enough place to stay. Where are you going to magic a house up from?

Anyway there's more I could say. But you don't seem interested in deeper discussion and are flouncing as you're incapable of it. Probably for the best instead of wasting my time

Extreme policies won't help but neither will magical thinking that just says 'oh, it should be this way' with zero idea as to how it could possibly happen.

also anecdotes isnt data.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-interactive/2023/nov/21/find-out-where-you-can-afford-to-buy-or-rent-in-great-britain

The typical household cannot afford to buy a mid-price home in almost half of postal districts, while renting is unsustainable in others.

Sure the typical FTB doesn't buy a mid priced home (i certainly didn't buy a mid priced home in London at 26, I bought a 400k 2 bed flat that was 25% below the median price at that time), but at the same time aspiring FTB would probably have lower than average salaries due to their age (I was certainly earning below an average londoner at that time though DH was earning slightly above and that combination took us over the threshold plus benefit of rent free living with parents).

Either way, I think at least 35% are priced out of owning their homes (even at age of 50, higher for singles, lower for couples. worrying thing is that in the past a big chunk of the 38% lived in social housing but that is less of an option these days

the media is basically centred in London (and media/journalist pay has not kept pace with house prices to a greater degree than other professions). Mumsnet was started by a woman who lived in north london and she got her first subscribers by leafletting in her local neighbourhood (islington).

So while mumsnet has become far more diverse, it is not hard to see that if the earlier subscribers have stayed, they are likely to be still living in London/SE and have kids in that area. Also i read somewhere that older mums (more prevalent in London) and mums who are far from their family are more likely to join parenting forums... the former probably because their friends may be past the baby stage, the latter because they want a support network.

If you are an older mum, it may be because you met your partner late or fertility problems or you just wanted to have children late, but another big factor is also house prices (based on the stats)

Isn't the popularity of renting in places like Germany because of access to secure, social tenancies? I remember watching a programme about it with George Clarke. He gave us a tour of an apartment in a typical social housing tower block. Spacious, light and all had balconies as well as lots of communal amenities.

thank you! There's this constant refrain in MN and the media that it's completely impossible for anyone under 40 to ever afford to buy a house, ever, which doesn't represent my life at all.

I'm in my early thirties and nearly all my friends and siblings had bought their first houses by their late twenties, at least half of those bought on their own even if they then moved a partner in or sold the first house and bought a second one together.

I don't know all of their financial details but the ones I do know (close friends and siblings) all have very normal jobs and didn't get deposits from their parents either.
I don't deny that it's very hard to impossible in some areas of the uk
but london and the south east isn't the UK.
I understand that people might not want to move away from friends family and support system just to buy a house.
I also fully accept that it's hard if you have children young or have other caring responsibilities.
But if it's something you want then it's far from impossible, you just have to prioritise it, which does mean sacrificing other spending.

A secure affordable home is a basic thing to which we all should have access.
The same as we should all have access to healthcare roads to drive on, free education for our children.
A person working a basic full-time job should be able to afford a decent home and a decent life from the proceeds of that job.
Otherwise what's the point in working (working to make someone else rich) if a full-time wage isn't enough to live on.

Of course you should expect to be able to. Lots of people are on their own. I am a single parent, surely I deserve a house? It's a relatively new thing, needing two incomes to buy a house anyway. It only happened when the housing market got out of control and wasn't in line with wages any longer.

What an odd take. You could just have easily said ‘isn’t in reasonable to expect people who have children to all live in the same home together forever? After all it’s their choice to have children and there aren’t enough homes for everyone to be able to buy their own’, it would have sounded just as batshit.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03668/

I have rented
I have bought

It is very difficult to buy in an increasing number of areas for couples, let alone singles. It is much easier for couples, thats what the article is about. I am someone who bought at 26 in London (as part of a couple) in 2019 but i still feel it is very difficult for our generation.

www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interactive/2023/jun/12/interactive-tool-that-shows-where-you-can-afford-to-buy-or-rent-home-great-britain

Because I've lived here for 30 years, and people actually talk to each other!

I'm single and I bought my first flat straight out of uni. Now, 30 years later, I'm still single and a homeowner. It would be bizarre not to buy just because I'm single!

Plenty of people do buy places on their own, even if only a studio flat. It isn't at all unusual.

surely the expectation can't be that everyone wants to buy a property themselves? And surely that's never been the expectation previously

Weird OP, I mean why wouldn't people want to is probably a cultural point. In other countries they don't, here they do.

We are also not a multi generational household country typically.

Also your implication is that single people shouldn't want to, but that goes against my feminist principles. I think all women should focus on their financial independence first before anything else, including owning their own assets.

Well unless your daughter is disabled, she's now breaking two MN housing rules. There was a thread a while back that stated only disabled people should be allowed to buy bungalows.

Single and able-bodied? How dare she?!

I get what you’re saying OP. And it’s not that single people shouldn’t be allowed to buy.

I think people seem to think there’s some crazy conspiracy. That we don’t have enough houses so houses are more expensive, or other macro economics.

Whilst the macro economics are true obviously to a degree. Really it’s maximum half the story. Because the fundamental is that a house is only worth what someone’s willing to pay for it. And it’s not the Saudi Prince or the foreign shadow corporation that are buying 99% of U.K. homes. Your competition is your colleague you sit next to at work, and the guy who’s managing or serving you in Tesco.

A couples obviously going to likely have double the buying power a single person. And that’s just life. I don’t know why people are confused about that.