Why don’t people understand that not everyone wants to buy a house?

In 1999 I bought a flat in London for 220,000k.

People told me I was mad, that there was a crash coming, that’d I’d lose money.

It’s now mortgage free and worth £1.4m

Glad I didn’t wait for the crash

Only to the local housing allowance rate which almost NEVER covers your rent.

Find out what it is in Kensington and Chelsea for example and show me some rents it would cover?

If you keep waiting prices will just keep going up anyway. I’m not saying there won’t ever be one but there has been talk of one for over 30 years. Long enough to buy a house and pay it off.

So because a crash didn’t happen when you thought it would there’s never going to be one ???

My parents are in a council house, and have never wanted to buy.
To them, secure housing, rather than an investment, was more important.

My DP is mid 50s and still rents. He has moved all around the country so never really set down roots. Can't afford to buy now anyway.

When?

in the 90s prices went down and stayed down for 10 years

what if you lose your job during those 10 years and can’t pay the mortgage?

you can’t sell up, it’s worth less than your mortgage and even if you could drop the price there’s no buyers.

I remember holding out for the crash. Didn’t want to buy a two bed flat in Brighton for £60k because the crash was coming.

Ive never yet found a rental property with rent lower than the interest on a mortgage of a similar property.

It did used to be more of a thing, where there were landlords who owned a lot of properties outright, but these days more are owned heavily mortgaged by landlords who need to return enough in rentals to pay an expensive btl mortgage and turn a profit on top. The math ain't mathing.

That housing benefit may not cover all of the rent. I would be really surprised if there’s any pensioners who are getting their entire private rent paid via HB. It’s £900 per month to privately rent a one bed flat in my average part of the north west.

Imagine having to up and move with a month's notice and find a new rental age 80. People are less willing to rent to you if you don't have a high income.

I’d hate to pay £££££ a month year in year out to not have anything to show for it. Also the uncertainty that the landlord wouldn’t want it back at some point. The feeling when I paid off my mortgage in my 50’s was just brilliant.

So what happens when you retire and still need to find rent at extortionate prices in London. Hope you have a good pension

@soupyspoon @ForLovingAquaSheep @Ilovelifeverymuch

You're confusing interest any repayment.

My post specifically refers to interest on a mortgage comparable to rent. Which they are. This is about "wasted" money.

e.g. if you get an interest only mortgage over 25 years, then after 25 years you need to either pay off the amount you borrowed, or sell the house to cover the debt.

As house prices generally rise, then you will end up selling with the mortgage paid off and a lump sum, but then probably unable to buy another house and will have to rent (depending on age and ability to get another mortgage).

Most people sensibly take a repayment mortgage, which means the interest bit is your equivalent to rent, then the rest is repayment of the loan, so that after 25 years the property is yours.

Not London but where i live even though house prices are at an all time high, it is till cheaper to buy than to rent. My ds is about to buy his first property, his mortgage will be about 1,500 pm, to rent the same property would be 2,500pm.

Not really a great reason to rent is it though….
cant afford it that’s ok, we know know the country will hand it over for free.

But if you can't afford rent when you are retired then you will get housing benefits or whatever it is hese days.

There's a world of difference between a house and a home. However good your financials, renting will never bring the peace of permanence. Yes, there's peace in knowing that your landlord will have to deal with repairs, but that's nothing compared to the peace of knowing that nobody can take away your home (as long as you make any mortgage payments).

You don't know that peace and stability until you experience it.

Otherwise, no it's not always better financially to buy than rent, especially in London. Other assets can do more for you. That might be more appealing for you, it's not a blanket rule. But personally, I've cut my cloth so that I have both the peace and stability of a house I can call a home AND making leftover deposit work better for me than a bigger house would have (also didn't want to put too many eggs in the same basket).

Because people have been brainwashed into thinking house prices can only go up.

Play buzzword bingo with one of the following phrases :

i) Renting is dead money.

ii) You can't go wrong with bricks and mortar.

iii) They're not building any more land.

iv) In the long term house prices only go up.

I bought a house at 51. My biggest fear was getting to retirement age and having to live in a HMO.
Thank goodness I did. The house I paid 800 pm for was remarketed at 1400pm. I wouldn't be able to afford that now, let alone when I retire.

Anyone I know who has ever said someone should buy instead of renting was not advising someone who lives in London. Or Cambridge/Bath/Oxford. Surely everyone knows how enormous a deposit you'd need?

You can buy in my SW town for £200k with a 5% deposit.

Thing is that has to be a heck of a lot of money to generate an income that’s enough to cover rent. Granted my area is expensive (Home Counties commuter town) but rent here for a 3 bed family home is at least £2,500 per month. You’d need a significant amount of cash invested somewhere to get that amount each month to pay your rent!

My relative has just bought thier first property … Zone 1, £750k (yikes). However, mortgage is comparable to rent, she’s not planning on selling it or moving so any crash won’t matter - if she sells in 30 years time it will be worth more that it is now.

We are in the North .. mortgage paid off by 50, so don’t need to worry about that. DD has some additional needs, so makes me feel comfortable that she’ll always have a home (this one, as she’ll get it after we kark it)

Its foolish to privately rent long term if you have the opportunity to buy a property, aside from very few select circumstances. Thats the reality, i dont know anyone who rents when they have the opportunity to buy, save for those in social housing (which makes sense).

I’m with you, if you have a good deal on rent it’s vastly cheaper than paying a mortgage in zone 1-2. London has a low yield and you are better off investing the money you would put towards a mortgage.
Reasons to buy are security, renovations etc.

I hope so then my daughters stand a chance of owning and having security