House prices

Economic policy has resulted in crap wages & inflated assets. It isn’t sustainable, London property hasn’t performed as well as other regions over the last decade I think.

I meant more from the perspective that people in the South will inherit very significantly more than those in the North because of house price differences- further entrenching the N/S divide.

But that’s because the salaries in the South are a lot higher than those in the North, so it’s all relative. If people in the South want housing as cheap as the North, then their salaries would need to be cut to make it a fair playing field.

More affects the value of a property than just inflation FFS 🤦🏼‍♀️

But if first time buyers can’t afford anything in the nice area they would like, it just means they might have to make do with a small one bed in a not as nice area. Then in a few years, they see another house in a nicer area, sell and buy that one, and so on. When I started out many years ago I bought a back to back in a nice area, but had to compromise on no garden, a tiny kitchen and one bedroom. I climbed the property ladder every few years until I got my nice three bedroomed house in a nice area with a garden. Took a few years, but that’s how it works. First time buyers now want to skip the pokey little house, and go straight into buying their three bedroomed lovely home straight away. There will always be a two tiered housing population, always has been and always will be. Those who achieve their dream of big house in nice area, and those who can’t afford and live in rented or tiny homes in run down areas.

What do you mean by type?

How do you account for the fact that the same property is worth more or less depending on where it is?

If all houses of a given type cost the same, then why would anybody spend money on improvements if they weren't certain that they would be staying there for at least a decade?

Agree. If it went that way I’d sell up, travel and then come back and demand benefits. Why on earth would I bother working the hours I do if I’m going to be penalised for it?!

And also, as other posters have said, hugely skewed by area. House price increases in the SE have been of a different order of magnitude than anywhere else in the country. And the massive profits made by people who happened to benefit are entirely random, nothing to do with hard work or good judgment.

This is a great idea. I’ve been saying for years that the government should be encouraging responsible corporate landlords that can offer this kind of high quality housing, but public-owned is even better.

But if things carry on as they are, it won't matter whether you earn minimum wage or equivalent of 50k. You will be fucked either way unless you inherited. We already have a situation in London where hard working ppl who contribute to society and have studied for their careers for example teachers and nurses, struggle to afford to buy in certain areas and this is only going to become more widespread.

The difference you can make to your lifestyle by achieving a salary of say 50k compared to minimum wage is negligible if the next person can come along and put down a 250k deposit because their parents bought a house in the right location 40 years ago and this gap will widen as time moves on.

We are not too many years off from creating a society where hard work will count for nothing. However no one will do anything to stop this because as my previous post, those of us who are home owners will make sure we can set up our children so they are not left behind and so the cycle will continue.

When the baby boomers die off, billions will be inherited. Anyone not receiving an inheritance will be massively left behind and no amount of studying hard is going to get you the equivalent.

IMHO, it's not house prices that have risen too fast, but rather wages have risen too slow. Every year you accepted a raise less than inflation - or none at all- has contributed to this.
The difference is important as the solution is to now make wages raise faster. Good luck with that btw! This is what end-stage (or at least i hope it's end stage) capitalism gets you, sadly. We need unions back, we need better rights for employees etc. But even with labour in power, make no mistake, things will take years and years to improve -and that's if they steer a clear course and don't waver (big big if).

Tldr: there's no quick solution and the long term one is hard to implement. If all goes well, the toddlers of today MIGHT have a better chance.

Yes housing became expensive especially when 2 lots of MIRAS was abolished

I think more councils should be doing this:

https://www.nuplace.co.uk/site/index.php

Nuplace is not a housing association but a council owned housing company with reasonable/affordable rents. They have 72million in property assets and make almost 3million a year in profit even after investing in more properties.

I think it’s genius, because it’s essentially council housing but it’s not based on deprivation and so doesn’t pool together those in society who are most vulnerable and instead creates mixed communities with people from all walks of life. The homes are genuinely nice homes and in good locations too and give families the security they need.

I own my own home but wish these sort of schemes were set up everywhere so that my children could find affordable rents if they can’t buy.

Well if we we’re going to make everything a level playing field,why would anyone study hard to achieve greater earning potential if they thought we were all going to get a home at equal cost to each other. Getting on the housing ladder, and climbing up it, is what we all strive for. If people can’t be arsed to work, or are just happy working in a minimum wage job, then that’s their prerogative, but they shouldn’t want to drag everyone else down.

Yes this

This is just one example though surely? I bought a 2 bed garden flat in zone 3/4 ( could walk to either station within 10 mins) for 97k in 1998 (aged 19!!!) Sadly didn't make any money because ex-husband racked up massive gambling debts but if he hadn't? I think our combined income was about ,£50k when we bought (and when we divorced, after paying off debts we had about £5k each 😂 so NOTHING like now

We have pretty much created a vicious circle where ppl feel they must own a property to not get left behind. If property contains to inflate as it has, the issues of home ownership and unaffordability won't just affect London, but most places in the UK and for future generations, your lifestyle will be determined not by how hard you work but by whether you inherited - that's already the case in some areas but this will be widespread in 50 years.

That's not great for society.

The joke is on us average ppl because while we are doing our best to ensure we have something to leave to our children, the gap between rich and poor will get wider and for future generations, ppl will be fucked unless they inherited.

My average home doubled in price in 8 years, not in London, and I'm not even that old. I'm late 30s. This is unsustainable and basically fucks us all in the long term but of course I won't give my equity away because i need to pass it on to my children one day so they stand a chance in future. It's a huge issue and I recognise I am a part of the problem. My next house purchase will be significantly more than i ever thought I'd pay for a house for a smaller one than I'd hope, but I will no doubt pay it anyway to try and not get left behind.

I would be open to any solution but it needs to be one that everyone goes along with. I worry massively for future generations

Not read the full thread just the OP.

Sorry OP but houses in outer London in the mid 80's were not £50k !!

I bought a studio flat just outside the M25 in 1988 for £47k. A studio flat. At that time affordability was a stretch at around 4x income.

But what are single people meant to do?
It's all very well if you have a buffer of a partner/spouse to contribute to the mortgage calculations but what happens if you are a single 30-something healthcare professional earning 35k. Where can you buy something for 120k?
What happens if you are divorced and need a home as well as shelling out for childcare fees?
People stay in marriages because they can't afford to live alone. This can't be right.

The idea of home ownership being accessible to everyone may well be a short lived concept. Prior to the second world war it was relatively unusual to own your own home and it was only really the latter half of the 20th century where it became common and people began to assume it was almost a right.

Like so many things that originated in the post war era, a sense of entitlement has grown around this we need to think long and hard about whether these ideals are realistic in a modern world.

I haven’t thought through the nitty gritty of it tbh. Perhaps the average price of all types of properties over the last 5 years could be calculated (so yes a tiered system) and rises limited to a % of that average?

But going with your averages, it also means that the average age to hit that 35k per year is 40 or more.

Not great for young families at all.

occaminvesting.co.uk/average-uk-salary-by-age/

Well, I don't agree entirely with the poster but I also think that people should stop treating a house as an investment and a flipping opportunity. My grandparents live in a house they bought in the 60s. It never occurred to them to sell and move because they bought the right size at the right price to accommodate their existing family plus an extra child they had 6 years later. Prices of the property rose and fell many many times in those 60 years, it never affected them and we still don't know what it is worth now because nobody is planning on selling it for as long as they are alive.
If houses were more affordable, people would be able to afford their forever home. There would be no need to move unless in circumstances like a divorce or death.

Honestly, some are but many aren’t. Don’t forget a lot of us between 50 and 65 have children of our own who are in the age bracket who are looking to buy so we’re extremely aware and sympathetic.

Because fleeing a partner due to domestic abuse isn’t a thing? Divorce isn’t a thing? Terrible neighbours aren’t a thing? Living miles from a suitable school for your SEN child isn’t a thing?

Nope. Can’t think of a single reason why people might need to move… it’s a head scratcher.