To wonder how the next generation will afford a house?

[Housepricewoes]

DH and I want to move to what will hopefully be our family home, in 2 years. Work commitments means we can't do it sooner but I'm stressing about how much house prices might rise in that time.

That got me thinking about how today's children will ever be able to buy a home.

I know it's a very British thing to aspire to home ownership but rightly or wrongly it is the norm.

Many of my friends and extended family have only been able to get on the property ladder with a significant hand out from the bank of mum and dad, but unless their circumstances drastically change, they are not going to be in a position to do the same for their children.

What do you think will happen about houses with the next generation?

Hear hear laquiter!

Iseenyou, yes agreed. Even those in big houses now would rather their kids would not struggle. Foreign investors definitely profit from rising prices! The government has duped people who live and will die in the same overpriced house into believing they have benefited in some way. You only benefit if you sell and buy somewhere better with the profit. Your kids will only benefit once the govt has gleefully collected the 40% inheritance tax.

Yes Iseenyou, I am hoping bubble (or large puss filled boil as I like to call it) is about to burst.

I don't understand why housing isn't seen as a universal right like access to the NHS or education.

Imagine if only the rich could get cancer treatment or have their DCs be taught to read and write?

IMO people ^need^ housing an awful lot more than we need health or education.

You need a roof over your head every single day of your life.

And not having adequate housing undermines the health and education that we do provide.

This needs to become a bigger political issue.

MN campaign?

It will only become a bigger political issue when renters out number owners or when MPs can't afford to buy their own house.

Yes, yes, yes Laquitar and Weatherall .... IMO housing should be seen more as a moral issue rather than an economic one.

You DO have a human right to own your home, it just doesn't say what you have to pay to own one.

www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/before-the-equality-act/guidance-for-service-users-pre-october-2010/housing-and-property/human-rights-and-housing/

I think children should have a right to decent housing regardless of their parents income. There should be better housing subsidies for those renting with children and there should be rent controls, at least for a while.

Id love my DDs to own a home in the future but I won't teach them that slogging your guts out and living your youth as if you're old in order to afford silly inflated prices and 'keeping up with the Joneses' is the way to do it. There's more to life than home ownership. They do want to buy tho and thats fine, I guess they will do that with their partners when the time comes. I understand why home ownership is an aspiration here, but I can't truly fathom why owning a house and what job you do seems to be such a big way of defining 'who you are'. Bricks and mortar will be here long after you are dead and gone. Work steadily towards owning a home if you must, thats a good thing. But putting it in the mind as a big worry doesn't seem to be a good thing. Worry doesn't tend to solve anything. My parents aren't homeowners here so won't be leaving me a house. They are landowners abroad tho, so that will be my inheritance. So there is always something else. But even if there wasn't - like many, Id just get by as best I can. Not all will be able to buy a home but, they will still live

I rent out my house (a small 2 bed semi in a very working class area of a big city) to a young couple. Before they moved in I made sure it was in top condition and I am determined to provide a lovely, warm home for someone. This wasn't an investment just my home of 11 years which I am keen to keep as a safety net after moving in with DP a year ago.

We have a DD and it may be that one day we use this house to help her get onto the property market.

The ever inflated prices do worry me (I now live in an area where prices have risen by 10% recently as reported by the BBC) bur I am positive they will crash at some point.

I think property investment is big business at the moment and I can't see it decreasing any time soon.

What use is a 1 bed flat to a youngish couple wanting to start a family, if it is a struggle to get to that how on earth do the get to the next rung. I climbed the property ladder because interest rates dropped, property rose in value and pay increased. First time buyers in the lower end of the market are in direct competition with investors, pay is static, food more expensive and that is without the cost of childcare.

I agree MistressDee, home ownership is not the be-all but there are such huge sums of money involved it is quite scary when making the wrong decision could cost you hundreds of thousands.

But people forget that owning a home is expensive in terms of maintenance and if you add the cost of mortgage interest its value is much higher. If prices go up then you haven't gained at all because your new home is more expensive. If your mortgage interest is more than renting after you have taken away the house price increase you end up with a deficit.

Someone buying a home now for 240000 and selling it for 480000 in 5 years time still ends up having to buy another property for that price. If 5 years mortgage interest plus maintenance and insurance costs are not less than the average rent you could actually lose out. This is why an increase in interest rates will bring house prices down - rents will be cheaper than mortgages.

Our parents keep telling us to buy a 1 bed flat but we're in our 30s and want children soon.

Is it worth buying a small flat were desperate to leave then pay all the fees and stamp duty to move ? And then from a 2 bed to a 3?

Or is having children just a no go area ? a luxury theless well off can afford.

we currently have a few thousand in savings an are just in a position now ie earning enough to save on top of our rent. but if we do have children we will not be able to save anymore. we will need to rent a bigger place and not even considering maternity leave, nursery is £1200 + a month

So what should we do ? Keep saving and delay children? But for how long ?

How do people save tens of thousands of pounds ?

And yes the thing about holidays - when you need to save tens of thousands spending a bit of money on a holiday feels fine because the saving feels like pissing in the wind.

My friends who have inherited or have been given money have made tens of thousands in the last few years on property (for doing NOTHING) and are moving into family homes while DP and I are being left behind . Pls don't tell me to work harder. I have yet to see any friends buy because of 'hard work'.

If/when interest rates go up, won't landlords put up rents to cover their increased mortgage payments?

namechangepro get your names on the council waiting lists. You deserve subsidised housing and there are some quite good schemes available now. Don't delay having children and when your youngest is ready for school you can buy somewhere. Hopefully by that time the market will have crashed!

Hoopy, I showed you the Portmouth £60ker because that is Sussex.Surrey and your husband could keep his business and commute. So that's doable. You can buy but choose not to.

Our next case is fridgep - don't think I know enough yet to solve that one. Probably lives somewhere in London, earns above average wage (for London or UK? - assuming for UK so let us say £27k x 2 so could borrow £162k (3x joint earnings say)), in a couple so two salaries, no savings.
Lots of one bedders in zone 5 where I live in London for that - some down to £100k in outer London. The new right to buy is 95% if you cannot drum up a bigger deposit. So let us say they look for a £100k flat in outer London. They need to raise 2.5% each = £2500 each. Assuming current full time salaries yield no savings at all all year and obviously things done like no eating out, giving up all alcohol, no Starbucks, no new clothes for a year, no holidays, obvious things the rest of us have done.......

other ideas to raise her £2500 I would suggest a second job as the obvious one - not sure what she is qualified for/ I've marked A level exam papers in my day, I've written legal articles, my children have done things like bar work, Let us say you could earn £100 per weekend that's 5200 before tax raised in a year - so in a year bob;s your uncle and you have your share of the £2500 deposit. Doable?

Maria - earning multipliers no longer apply. It's all about what the FCA has defined as affordability. That's a massive change from the way it used to work and is precisely why so many people are now finding it difficult to get a mortgage or remortgage.

You can buy but choose not to.

Maria, I think you might want to get a map and some specs to read the fine print (not to mention a grip).

Portsmouth is in Hampshire not Sussex or Surrey and that property was shared ownership not outright ownership.

As for ypur continued insistence that 3 times joint salaries is in any way relevant to today's mortgage marker- I give up!

I know but most good mortgage brokers will get you 3x joint salary even now. I get a huge impression of major defeatism on this thread. There are ways and means to get loans if you tolerate awful conditions as many of us on the thread who are older have done. Obviously if you have 2 minimum wagers no way ever has anyone been able to buy and never will. That's pie in the sky. If instead you have a better paid career then you always had hope and you do today.

I think it is a bit like that test for toddlers - do you want 1 sweet now or 2 later. Those who go for the 2 later in life and delay gratification in a lot of ways in the meantime tend to do okay.

do you not see that having to tolerate 'awful conditions' is a bad thing ?

I know but most good mortgage brokers will get you 3x joint salary even now

What a load of bollocks.

No-one can magic a 3 times salary mortgage for a couple with high childcare and or travel costs and in most areas 3 times salary just won't be enough anyway.

In places where house prices are low they are low for a reason- lower salries and or higher commuting costs.

You really are one of those annoying people who have no empathy for how tough it actually is and continue to insist that you managed it so everyone else can.

There are a lot of people who delayed gratification (by going to university to better their earning potential, for example) who aren't getting that pay off because student loans affect your affordability.

Also, people in low-paid manual jobs (there was no NMW until recently) were able to buy houses in the past.

Finally, the multiplier used by brokers is calculated on salary after tax and essential expenditure including debt and childcare, not gross salary.

I am a homeowner BTW so I'm not being defeatist about this, it isn't affecting me right now, and even though I wouldn't be able to borrow very much under these new rules, I don't need to as repayments on SVR on my outstanding mortgage are still comfortably affordable for me. I have no personal agenda here.