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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder how the next generation will afford a house?

951 replies

Housepricewoes · 21/04/2014 11:19

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?

OP posts:
Objection · 21/04/2014 13:32

expat - what country would you recommend? Genuinely curious Smile

BigChocFrenzy · 21/04/2014 13:33

If you don't own property, you should save for a bigger pension.
Work out what suits you best - renting is more flexible, owning is probably better if you have a secure job and plan to stay for 10 years.

Objection · 21/04/2014 13:35

Creamy - so they are relying on the government to bail them out? A lifetime of spending on rent and then needing support? How is that better than owning your own home and paying your own way?
I am not benefit bashing or anything like that, I know that many people don't have a choice (some of my own family included) but I don't see how the "renting is better" position is at all defendable.

Eminybob · 21/04/2014 13:36

Me and DP saved a 5% deposit in 9 months for our first house just last year, while paying rent, car loans, all other bills etc.

We just made sacrifices. No help from mum and dad. I think that's the key thing. It is doable, but people get too reliant on expecting handouts, and forget about hard work.

expatinscotland · 21/04/2014 13:38

Depends on which languages they speak, objection.

Original poster
Housepricewoes · 21/04/2014 13:38

If you don't own property, you should save for a pension

That's a bit naive- in many cases the problem is that renting is so expensive it means you can't save- either for a deposit or for a pension.

OP posts:
Creamycoolerwithcream · 21/04/2014 13:39

I didn't say renting is better. Even if you have a house to sell it may not cover care home fees for as many years as needed and then you would still need some govt. help.

JumpingJackSprat · 21/04/2014 13:39

Part of the problem is the insistence that everyone must go to uni regardless of whether they actually need a degree for a particular career such as medicine or law. If uni wasnt seen as "the thing" to do after you finish school then less people would go and tie themselves into thousands in debt before they've even started to get a degree they won't use. When i was leaving school the only option i was presented with was university. I started at the bottom in my job at 18 and earning £12k and have worked my way up to be earning a decent wage without having gone to uni. Therefore i have no debt and much more disposable income each month which makes a mortgage much more achievable.

Ifpigscouldfly · 21/04/2014 13:40

Might I ask what your incomes were eminy ? That's a huge amount to save in a few months. I for example am lucky enough to be able to save 500 a month or thereabouts but I still estimate it will take 2 years to be able to put down a 5% deposit with enough to pay fees, insurance and for furniture as well. That said if there are 2 of you and I am single so perhaps you are not far off my financial status.

WooWooo · 21/04/2014 13:41

I bought my own home at 21, I worked hard and saved. It is very doable. I will encourage my DC to do similar

BigChocFrenzy · 21/04/2014 13:42

It's a hell of a lot easier to save 6 weeks deposit and (if applicable) agents' fees than deposit on a house.
If you move and rent out your house in the UK, you are responsible for repairs, redecoration, paying tax, also additional insurance and safety certificates. To provide a fast efficient 24 / 7 service, an agent is best, minimum 10%+VAT.

IfNotNowThenWhen · 21/04/2014 13:42

I am in my 30's and will never be able to buy a house, probably. Even if I could, anywhere I might just about manage to get a massive mortgage for, would on the kind of council estate I don't want to live on. I don't care if that annoys the people who think that you should just buy anything, anywhere for your "first home" and suck it up.
Sure, maybe at 21 that would have been OK, but not now, not with a young son, not when we would have to live in it for the foreseeable future/forever.
I agree with GrassisSinging. I have many friends who grew up in Inner London council housing. That just doesn't exist any more. The fact that a council flat could be three quarters of a million quid just sickens me.
Some people have got very rich off the great sell-off of our social housing, and the rest of us are on the scrap heap.
And my heart doesn't bleed for my Landlord, no. He has owned my house (and others) outright since the 80's. He collects a shedload in rent, and fixes nothing.
The electrics are wonky, the whole downstairs needs re-plastering (I will probably end up paying for this myself) the laminate floor is coming unstuck. The longer a house is rented, the more dilapidated it becomes, and I have been renting for 20 years, so I should know.
The other day, DS asked me if we could live here forever (he has moved 3 times in his memory, 4 in total).
I said "I don't know", because I don't. 2 months notice and we could be out, who knows. People who own have no fucking idea what it feels like to not have that security of knowing, especially when you have children.
I am so fed up with people who live in nice houses saying "oh we must be more like the Continent and get away from this vulgar British obsession with owning".
Care to swap with me? Thought not.

Apatite1 · 21/04/2014 13:42

I agree that it's very possible for people on average incomes to get on the housing ladder in less expensive parts of the country, by making a few sacrifices. It's not the same in London, or other highly expensive parts of the UK. You may get a tiny flat but who wants to raise kids like that? Some people will of course raise kids in a shoebox, but a decent family sized home with a small garden is really not unreasonable to want, in my view.

SuzzieScotland · 21/04/2014 13:43

No. They are long overdue a crash.

Property ladder is such a stupid term, it just meens signing yourself up to a lifetime of debt and means you have to keep on working.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 21/04/2014 13:43

Where I live a monthly mortgage payment on a family house is much cheaper than renting. If ever we had to go back to renting again I really don't know how we could afford the same sized house as we have now. I just hope and pray that we both remain lucky enough to Stayin jobs that will enable us to pay off our mortgage in 15 years time.

I know people who are going through a divorce and who jointly own a house but whoever moves out can't afford to rent a place big enough to accommodate the children when they come to stay. They end up stuck in a shitty bedsit with no hope of renting somewhere bigger OR saving for a deposit on a bigger place.

The rentals market is fucked up as well as house sales. So we could never be a nation of renters like much of Europe with rental costs so high here. What will happen is that grown up children will have to live at home long term as happened years ago with in married grownup kids.

LtEveDallas · 21/04/2014 13:46

DH and I have just bought our first house. DD is 9.

The house we have bought has enough room at the side and back to extend and build a 'granny annex' or 'student flat'. We have kept some money aside to be able to do exactly that if needed - we don't know what DD is going to want to do as an adult of course, but the option will be there if she wants it.

My sister downsized a few years ago to get her daughter on the housing ladder. DNeice still lives at home for now and has rented out her starter home whilst she completes her studies. She gave her tenants a 5 year contract, but tbh I can see her staying at home for a lot longer.

uselessidiot · 21/04/2014 13:46

My dds are obviously welcome to stay but they'll have to live separately from their partners unfortunately. By moving 2 more adults in we would be considered to have made ourselves intentionally overcrowded, in breach of tenancy and therefore evicted.

BigChocFrenzy · 21/04/2014 13:46

Buying and owning a property is more expensive than renting. Saving is normally more flexible than a mortgage. Those who can't afford to put something extra aside for a larger pension would struggle to be homeowners.
Sadly, many people are struggling. A rotten situation to be in.

IfNotNowThenWhen · 21/04/2014 13:47

And, oh how it makes me ROAR with laughter when people suggest I move rather than nag the LL to fix stuff. Sure, because all other rented houses are in such good shape!
The market (as we are being buffeted hither and thither by market forces which tell us that we live in "properties" not "homes") is so competitive for reasonable family homes where I live, that, should I decline to live somewhere that will probably need a bit of work, someone else will, in a heartbeat, leaving me, er...homeless.

God, some people on here live in cloud fucking cuckoo land.

BackforGood · 21/04/2014 13:47

I think one of the problems on this thread, is that people who live in London are living in such a different world from people who live in the rest of the country. We could have a more realistic debate if there were 2 separate threads running.
Part of this conversation happens every generation.
I know when my brother brought his first flat in the mid 80s for about £20,000, my parents were horrified at that sort of debt - they were talking about how they'd been negotiating over a £25 difference between the offer and asking price when they bought our family home in 1967. Then there was a sudden boom, and suddenly when I was looking for a similar flat at the end of the 80s, and prices were £43,000, all my colleagues were horrified at the idea that myself, and another young colleague had taken on mortgages of £30,000. So it goes on.

Original poster
Housepricewoes · 21/04/2014 13:50

It's often cheaper per month to pay a mortgage than to rent.

Many people commit to massive rentals (50%+) of salary and scrimp on everything else but they just couldn't get a mortgage with that level of monthly payment as no one will lend it to them.

OP posts:
Original poster
Housepricewoes · 21/04/2014 13:53

Buying and owning a property is more expensive than renting.

Can you provide a link to prove that, as in my experience, that's just not true.

As I said above- renting is often more expensive than a mortgage based solely on monthly payments.

Ok, you have to maintain a property you own but you also benefit from and increases in its value.

OP posts:
Creamycoolerwithcream · 21/04/2014 13:54

Who knows what is going to happen in 20 years time. There could be more Help to Buy schemes or 35/40 year mortgages could become the norm now people are working and living longer. I don't think the only people who buy are the one hat inherit money.

SuzzieScotland · 21/04/2014 13:55

People saying it's cheaper to buy are only looking in the short term. Interest rates are the lowest they've ever been!

Mortgages are long term debts, interest rates could triple.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 21/04/2014 13:55

Where do you live If? Where I am (naice bit of Lancashire) there is enough rental property that the grotty ones just stay empty for ages.

I own a house in Wales that I rent to a family member, again there are plenty of decent alternatives she could choose.

It's not Cloud Cuckoo Land, it's just not London or the South East.

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