to think it cant carry on young families living in cramped flats while protected pensioners rattle around in 5 bed houses

[generationrentsucks]

I just think with the Tories in now, nothing will change with housing, they will keep prices high by carrying on with these help to buy that just allow sub prime loans.

Also I think hardly anyone actually ever downsizes, everyone says they do but not many can actually bring themselves to do it.

Most elderly people I know in large homes own their own house.

BearFrills pp is given for social-housing bungalows but not for bungalows to sell; that's what needs to change.

MerynFuckingTrant We also need to bypass the NIMBY local authorities and allow a massive building programme - and new build can be under a covenant excluding BTL although enforcement could never be 100%.

Ho hum.

Well, we've got 6 bed farmhouse my parents a 5 bed. You can buy them off us if you like, OP - at market rate. .

The sell off of social housing is the big issue here.

Ah, I see Andrew, then yes, that needs to change.

We worked hard to get our house. The only benefits we received were Family Allowance and then only for 1 child at first. We saved for what we needed. When we were first married we did not have a TV, telephone or central heating. I am not going to give up my lovely house so that someone has more children than they can afford can have it. I am sick to death of the young slating the old. Do what we did - work and save. I still can't work out how a family who on benefits (yes I know one) can go on holiday 3 times a year - two of those being Canaries and the Greek islands. BUT if I start slagging them off then I am in the wrong.

I also know single working people with lots of money living in 4 bedroom houses in London that they have bought.

A lot of younger people have no idea how hard it was for their parents and grandparents. When I was born we had no central heating and most people could not afford to buy a house ever. My grandfather lived ni a boarding house with 26 other young men in 1901. You don't get many young men living like that. When we had our children just about every bit of baby equipment was second hand and from church jumble sales. I remember driving to buy a second hand high chair as we could not afford a new one. We paid 12% interest on a mortgage and I took 2 weeks of annual leave to have a baby in. I have worked continuously without a break for 30 years. I am very lucky to own a home but I don't think I've had it that easy and I have worked in a way most mumsnetters are not prepared to work.

pudcat - Probably through family. My brother and SIL are on working tax credits and neighbours wonder how his family can afford the life they do. The answer is family give them lots of help.

Also to get where I am I had to live for neatly the years in flat shares in london. Some were grim, some fun but it was often a pita to share with other adults. This allowed me to study and get qualifications, work in junior roles and work myself up. No pain, no gain, I'm afraid.

We are pensioners living in a mortgage free detached 3 bed bungalow which we downsized to buy. It cost under £200k 10 years ago and is still worth about the same . House prices here (North Shropshire) have stayed stable after a big slump and mini recovery.
All (5) my dc and sdc own their own homes. They are all in their 40s now and all married with dc. One lives in a huge house in the SE, one in Herts, one near me and two abroad.
I grew up in a council house and my parents moved to an assisted living council bungalow (2 beds) so I inherited nothing.Dh's family were home owners but his dad died young, his mum eventually moved in with us then into a care home. She was in her nineties when she died. He inherited about £5k (no missing noughts).
How on earth have we managed this I wonder?

I know how frustrating it is, with house prices and housing shortages.

But I am at people suggesting pensioner who own there own home should downsize or made to feel guilty about it.

That seems like you are starting to stray into very deep waters.
Next it will be , we should have a law to make sure everyone has the same amount of space Per person,' you can't buy a house/flat that's big enough for 2 if you are single, or a 2 bed if you are a couple without children, and you must sell up and downsize as soon as the children fly the nest.?

More houses need to be built but what really needs to change is making sure the infrastructure for it is also built at the same time.

There has been many villages /small towns which have in the past almost doubled in size, but a new school. Dr's, planning of the roads for extra traffic and just adding to a outdated overworked sewerage system. Had not been taken into account.

Btw I've not RTFFT. So sorry if I'm repeating something

When my grandparents were young they had no central heating, both had to leave school at 16, shared a 2 bed house with another couple when they were first married. They grew up with rationing, outrageous racism / sexism / lots of other isms. When my mum first got married the mortgage company wouldn't take her salary in to account because she was a woman and she expected to have children and give up work. She was also a very capable woman who left school at 16 because nobody ever considered than a poor but intelligent girl might benefit from studying A-levels or going to uni.

Yes, I get frustrated that I can't afford to buy a house (currently saving - 2 years to go til we have a deposit), but I don't buy in to the "good old times" crap. There's so much better about living now compared to my parent's and grandparent's generations.

Many years ago when I first got married we bought our first house for 100, it had no heating, no hot water, outside toilet and no bathroom or garden. I have never inherited a penny or been given something for nothing, I worked all my life and mainly brought up 4 children on my own.

I now have a 6 bedroom house.

So all you older person haters can have my bus pass/heating allowance but I'm damned if you are having my house too.

I moved out of London as I knew I could never afford to buy there. I purposely chose to move somewhere with low house prices. Sometimes it is not just about working, but the other decisions you make.

Why do people act as thought people who have bought their own home are evil.

Evil. Really? What an absurd exaggeration.

There's so much typical Tory bullshit on this thread, same old 'politics of envy' crap that gets trotted out time and time again.

My husbands gran lives in a very large 3 bedroom council home in a desirable area, perfect for a family. She is in her 90s and has been on the waiting list for almost 4 years to downsize to a more suitable property. The council are obviously happy for her to rattle around in a property that she can no longer manage whilst families are squeezed into flats.

My grandmother rattles around in her own house with a couple of spare bedrooms. Its hers and other than her state pension she receives no benefits. Its none of your business what she does with her own home. She is just as entitled to her pension as you are child benefit or whatever it is you may be claiming at the moment.

If you want to buy a home you need to work for it. I sacrificed children earlier in my 20s so that I could get on the ladder.

Stop being so bloody entitled and earn your home instead of expecting it to be handed to you on a plate.

?
The housing market appears to be malfunctioning severely, it is not meeting the needs of the population, supply and demand are massively out of sync.
I doubt that there is a way to address the problem without causing severe disruption
Will it continue until there is some kind of collapse, or will we somehow muddle through? ?

I'm pretty sure many people who can't afford to buy a home are working hard.

I simply don't recognise this picture you paint of all these entitled lazybones sitting on their arses doing nothing and waiting for somebody to give them a house.

Surely bungalows are a very inefficient way of housing people, flats would make more sense if only the sound insulation was better

Yes if people have brought there homes then no one can make them give it up.

But I find it quite untastefull when people keep going on that 'they have work hard for there 5 bedroom house" yes that you may have.
But You do realise there are people that also work hard on minimal wage (50 +hours a week) who will never be able to afford to buy a house.
Those who say they should aim higher, get a better paid job etc.
Have you thought about who would clean in a nhs hospital,who will help teach your children at school (TA).
Who will pick up the litter in the street, as people find it beneath them to.
The carer who looks after the most vulnerable in society.
The person who served you at the shop today.
All the above people also work very hard, and society would not work without them!

It would help if the banks would accept a 5% deposit like in the old days. We live in a very expensive area but you only have to travel a few miles out to find something affordable. Paying the mortgage would not be an issue but saving for the deposit is another matter.

Moreahabbytganchic I don't get WFA yet but I have a bus pass and they can't have that either. I paid rates and council tax and fares for previous generations to have their passes and it's my turn now!