To wonder how people are going to actually buy houses?

[slatternlymother]

There's going to be a whole generation that can't, isn't there?

What about those people who rented due to circumstances/not knowing if they wanted to live there long term/work commitments etc, and then hit the wrong end of the financial crisis?

We rent, and have (luckily) really well paid jobs for our age. We are 25, and between running a car, putting DS through nursery, and just living, I doubt we'll have enough of a deposit to buy anything reasonable before we're 30. 28/29 at an absolute push. And that will be pressuring us to make a choice on where we're going to be living, but we won't be able to leave it much later because otherwise we'll be tied up in a mortgage forever.

But we are so, so lucky. Actually, it was blind luck that got us here.

And if we're struggling, how the hell is everyone else coping? Tbh, I'd happily rent all my life, but I worry about retirement age and no longer being able to pull in a decent wage.

AIBU to think that long term, more and more elderly people will have been in rented accommodation their whole lives, so when they do retire; they're going to have to fall back on the state, aren't they? To put them up in council accommodation?

Isn't this just a massive time bomb for the future?

Sorry for rambling thoughts, I just have been thinking about this quite a lot recently

I will freely admit I didnt work hard for a mortgage, not in the slightest.I just bought at right time.

It all depends where you live, I live in the southwest and DS is working fulltime but will be lucky to afford to rent a bedsit let alone save for a mortgage, if you do not have a professional career and only a basic wage job(DS is a farm worker) then you have no hope of owning. But I thank God he has a job at all.

As for the time bomb, there are more and more young people having to take a basic wage, even uni graduates so yes there will be another down turn in the property market, maybe not as bad as the 90's crash, but something has to give. No first time buyers will result in lower house prices, then in 15 years time it will all start again, just one big circle.

'I know that the market is difficult but a lot of my friends who say they can't afford to buy haven't ever actually tried to save - they have expensive mobile phone contracts, go out every weekend, weekends & holidays away, sky TV, expensive clothes shoes, handbags etc.... '

Change the record already!

It helps if your'e a couple, but what of the singletons.

Story about his in the standard today. It said rent went up by over 10% in London last year, and 50% of renters have only £100 a month left after rent and bills to live on. No chance I saving with that.

A lot of renters have sky and iPhones etc perhaps (although of they didn't they still probably couldn't save enough) but 50% with 100 a month to live? That's shocking

expat it did say I appreciate that this isn't the case for everybody but we live in the North East where you can still get houses in some places relatively cheaply, rent isn't extortionate and with a group of friends who are professionals on a decent wage.
I do understand that this isn't the case in say London/south where the property market is ridiculous.

It all depends on how much is spent on non essentials, I think a mobile phone is an essential these days, and as for SKy, a basic package is £22 a month so not really a big saving if you cut it.

A mobile is all some people have for phone contact a lot of times. Because land rental is far from cheap, either, and if you're in private rented and move a lot, it makes sense to use a mobile rather than have a landline, and a lot of contracts supply net connection as part of a package.

How is a phone a luxury? I mean, how is your work supposed to contact you?

A mobile is essential but is the latest iPhone? Loads of people buy/sign up to this stuff because the headline deals are so cheap but over the lifetime of the deal they are hugely expensive (iphone5 on 2 yr contract costs min of over £1000) and there are lots of these little things that add up to an awful lot.

Yes, that's it, wonky. If only everyone could be like you, there wouldn't be this massively over-inflated housing bubble.

The pervasive petty, niggardly, blameful, downright hateful sentiment this government has done an incredible job of whipping up will be its undoing.

You see these? These are why I don't have a mortgage. I compromised my future security for shiny things, because I'm just too stupid to know any better.

Oh, and a minimum of £1000? Where are you looking?

Here are plenty for half that cost.

iphone5

£1000 is not 25% of £185,000 anyway. But you knew that.

Tbf wonkylegs is talking about the North East and everyone should be able to buy there as its extremely cheap.

Everyone lives in house shares in London when they start out, I did in 1998 and London has always been 5 times your salary for even a 1 bedroomed flat in Walthamstow.
Basically what the OP means is she can't buy where she wants to live, well nobody can when they first start out, that's hardly breaking news it is ?

'I know that the market is difficult but a lot of my friends who say they can't afford to buy haven't ever actually tried to save - they have expensive mobile phone contracts, go out every weekend, weekends & holidays away, sky TV, expensive clothes shoes, handbags etc.... '

Change the record already!

Could say the same to you though, you've been spinning the same yarn for at least 5 years !

DP and I are 28 and 29 and are planning to buy in the next year or so. We live in the south east, but not London, but it's still very expensive. We will definitely have to compromise a lot on area just to buy a small 3-bed, but we are ok with that.

We have saved up ~£30k so far, but initially it was quite tough as we were not earning as much in the past. But now, we earn £75k between us, and rent is £1000 pcm and we have no kids, so we can pretty much save my whole salary (£1700) each month so getting to a 20% deposit will be much faster. (This is assuming we don't make any big purchases or go on holiday abroad). But, if we had a combined income of £60k and £800 pcm childcare costs, we would not be able to save anything.

A 1 bed flat in walthamstow would have been around 50k in 1998. Definitely not five times the average salary.

They were £120,000 and I earnt £25,000 at the time. I know because I viewed one and sat down with the mortgage broker to see if it could be done on 100% mortgage and it could, nothing special though and I decided it wasn't worth stretching for - kick myself occasionally but there we go.

120k for a 1 bed flat in walthamstow in 1998?!?!?

Not a chance. Here are some actual prices : www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/london/bemsted-road/?sold_price_years=all&pn=3

I don't know what road it was but it absolutely was £120,000 obviously some bits are nicer than others