Aibu to think that "suspended adulthood" is going to lead to large problems?

[BlancheBlue]

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/22/young-people-living-in-a-suspended-adulthood-finds-research

Just this really. There was a telling comment about this article with the ever increasing age profile of parents the chance of children knowing grandparents is going to be remote.

I think lots of the boomer generation really fail to understand this. Whenever it is said it is tough for young people que loads of "well I worked my arse off and owned a house by the time I was 21" type comments.

lurking - wow, at that rate she'll have a house deposit by the next geological age!

A bit more historical perspective this 2011 census analysis that was released in 2013:

<a class="break-all" href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census-analysis/a-century-of-home-ownership-and-renting-in-england-and-wales/short-story-on-housing.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census-analysis/a-century-of-home-ownership-and-renting-in-england-and-wales/short-story-on-housing.html

which says

Key Points:

In 1918 the majority, or 77%, of households in England and Wales rented, with the remaining in ownership.

From 1953 ownership started to increase at a faster rate than in previous decades and by 1971 there was an equal percentage of households owning and renting.

Ownership continued to increase, reaching a peak of 69% in 2001, however in the last decade it has fallen to 64%.

Within the rental sector policies following the World Wars impacted on the percentage of those socially renting. In 1918 just 1% of households socially rented and this reached a peak of 31% in 1981.

Between 2001 and 2011, the number of households buying their homes through a mortgage fell by 749,000. Some factors that might have impacted on mortgage buyers are: high house prices, low wage growth and tighter lending requirements.

The percentage of households renting increased in all English regions and in Wales in the decade to 2011. London had the highest percentage of renters, accounting for 50.4% of households in the region.

Er t4nut? When I finished paying off my student loan 3 years ago (it was only £12k- I was paying back £385 a month. In what world isn't that noticeable!

We managed it in our early 20s by staying with parents for a year and saving every penny. We bought a small cottage that needed bringing back from 1970 and did the work ourselves.

Both have good careers yet we are still stuck in the tiny 2 up 2 down after years of paying mortgage and getting payrises as we are priced out of anything bigger

It is doable but I think not in the south and not if your already renting!

The word 'crisis' over eggs that pudding of an article.

I did move north to be able to buy a house, and achieved that at 23 (one year after graduation). That was 10 yrs ago, when I was on less than average wage. Sold that property at a loss to move into our current home 4 years ago, am only now just anywhere near the national average house price / wages.

It's all about choices. I chose that path as I wanted a house stability back home I have lots of friends with parents or renting with young children. Faced with either option is still rather move.

Well, the sums don't really add up, here in Hampshire anyway. I'm in this boat.
Let's take round figures to make it simple and a best case scenario, with my personal circumstances - single, earns approx £25K, living in the SE. Bank might lend me 4x salary, fab - £100,000. I'm early 30s. Ideally I'd like to start a family soonish - best looking for a 2 bed, at least in that case.
So that rules out a lot of properties that someone early 20s might be able to slum it in.
Where does that leave me? Looking at properties at least £140,000 (in need of investment and renovation - fine, but obviously an extra cost to bear in mind) to maybe £200,000.
Bank will only lend me £100K, 5% deposit. I might have 5% deposit, but I certainly don't have 5% deposit (£5K) + the difference between the mortgage and the properties available to buy. I'd be looking at £45K to put down. For a grotty flat or house in a poor area of town.
And for the record, my friends and family and job are all here. Other places in the south are even more expensive. If I moved, I'd likely incur a lot of cost in travelling to northern towns and cities to find a job and place to live, while isolating myself. Hardly a favourable solution! One that people might take when they don't have a support network or have nothing to lose, except the fact is - I do have something to lose.

That's the reality for many single people... it's not the 5% deposit per se it's the difference between the mortgage and the value of the property PLUS the 5% deposit. Got it now...?

Btw there are also still plenty of normal people buying property in London. It's different (lots of people might buy with a friend) but it happens for say, average workers. I know 2 people on £26-30k each who just bought a 2 bed flat.

A lot of people here are referring to family houses and no, it wasn't common for normal people to buy a 3 bed semi in London ever really although you have far more
Right to buys here which helps people buy

You don't, realistically get the 5% deposits anyway people. As others have said. I don't think T4 has got a mortgage in a while

On the other hand, those claiming that they can't manage to buy on London salaries could easily buy in Hampshire at 200k or up the M11/Cambridge corridor and be within an hour's commute from London. Probably plenty of other places too within an hour's train commute. I find it hard to be very sympathetic to households with six figure gross incomes claiming they can't afford to buy, when what they really mean is that they can't afford to buy in London and they don't want to commute.

South west house prices are very high too...most 30 somethings have to go to bank of mum and dad for a loan for deposit.

Also read something about cornish 2o and 30 somethings struggling so much with cost of living they can't afford to go to the places tourists visit. Price of houses inflated there because many have moved to cornwall and some have bought second homes for holidays and rent them out to holiday makers.

Again bluesbaby, that all makes sense, but what you're saying is that you can't buy a house in the area that you want to buy it in. Which is a shame, but it doesn't mean you couldn't buy it elsewhere. You don't want to do that, so you've made a choice not to buy a house. Complaining about that is a bit pointless really.

Those 5% usually have huge conditions. Ie one is you can take 5% but have to pay the other 5% within 2 years.

So based on £390k 1 bed tiny flat here. £39,000 is 10%, £19,500 is 5%. So you could give £19,500 but would have to then give the other £19,500 within two years for mortgage to be valid, otherwise you would default.

Why would I want to buy a house in an area I don't know, in an area that doesn't appeal, that's is hours from any friends or family, that's miles from airports we need, places we want to go, etc

I could go and buy a £50k house in Wales tomorrow, I woudnt want to live there though

Oh, and to put it further into perspective (assuming circumstances don't change), it could take up to 16 years to save £45K at £200 a month with an average growth value of 2% (generous looking at today's savings accounts), at which point, do you think the houses worth £140,000 will still be the same?

When your take home is approx £1600 with the cheaper old means tested student loan (because we're all old), and rent and bills is approx £1000 per month minimum before food and other essentials, it doesn't leave much of a gap for saving.

'Why would I want to buy a house in an area I don't know, in an area that doesn't appeal, that's is hours from any friends or family, that's miles from airports we need, places we want to go, etc'

And there you have it. It's not about not being able to buy a house, it's not being able to buy precisely the house you want, where you want it.

I bought a house in an area I didn't know, in a place other people said was 'dodgy' (it's not), in a different country to the rest of my family. We are now mortgage-free. We wanted to buy a house, so we made it happen.

Well, yeah, I could move to somewhere like Cumbria, but I'd still have to travel up there and find a job, and somewhere to live - do you think it's free to do that?

The other issue that needs sorting is that rent is often significantly higher than a mortgage would be on that property. So in you may be paying 800pcm but a mortgage with even 5% deposit would be £700pcm. Demand means LL can put the rent up.

I was watching homes under the hammer and a baby boomer couple were buying up terraced homes that needed updating, doing them to a very good standard and then renting them out at affordable prices - much less than the price the agents were suggesting - because they saw it as their way of giving back. They had over 100 properties on their portfolio and they rented them long term at low cost so people would live in those homes again without making them silly rich (tho I guess with so many houses they were overall making a good profit). Many LL though own one or two properties as investment and so put the rent up to make some profit/pay admin costs etc.

Oh I see. The problem is not that the younger generation can't get on the housing ladder. It's that young professionals in London can't afford housing in the place they love, close to family and with the best prospects to maximise their income.

Gosh, you must have exerted quite some effort to misrepresent me quite so much. I hope you didn't strain anything.

I was simply responding to an immensely stupid post about why people live or work in London, and suggesting some of the other reasons I've encountered.

But knock yourself out, weepy lent want to have an honest or reasonable discussion or anything.

Weepy lent? We wouldn't.

Well on that basis Artando I want a house in the Peak District. We have family and friends there, I'd have good career prospects there, there's lot I want to do there. Same in Richmond (London one) actually.

Why shouldn't I have these things? And why shouldn't I have had them at 23?

Well, yeah, I could move to somewhere like Cumbria, but I'd still have to travel up there and find a job, and somewhere to live - do you think it's free to do that?

If you can't afford the train fare to Cumbria then I think property ownership is well out of your reach.

I moved out of London 30 years ago as I couldn't afford to rent a one bedroom flat, never mind buy one.
Although I know that goes against the narrative that older people all have it easy with housing.

*Why would I want to buy a house in an area I don't know, in an area that doesn't appeal, that's is hours from any friends or family, that's miles from airports we need, places we want to go, etc

I could go and buy a £50k house in Wales tomorrow, I woudnt want to live there though*

Yes, with comments like this though, you aren't willing to make the necessary sacrifices to be a home owner, which is fine but don't moan about it.

This is what the last generation did, some of us even went off grid and lived "The Good life" in order to afford our mortgages when interest rates rocketed. Having pence left each month, no phone or internet charges though as we didn't have them back then.

We lived on one wage because there weren't subsidised nurseries on every street corner, and of course moving away from family and friends meant no network of help with the children.

Hey, but it was so much better for us.

Live an hour outside of London and spend 700 quid a month of your net salary on commuting costs... (We moved back to London and our monthly outgoings remained the same, but we were investing in buying a permanent roof, rather than boosting railway companies' profits)

And there you have it. It's not about not being able to buy a house, it's not being able to buy precisely the house you want, where you want it.

What's in it for people with such hyperbolic misrepresentation?

That's not what the post you quoted said. For many, about not being able to buy an even vaguely suitable house, or any at all, in an area that would enable some of the ties they really value to be maintained.

But by all means, belittle people who find themselves in that situation. A sense of superiority is warm and fuzzy.

The 'move north because housing is cheap and you should retrain in something you have no interest in to be able to have a job here, and you should have absolutely no qualms about uprooting yourself from your community that you value trope' is so tired, and about as valid as me saying 'if you want security of tenure stop moaning about the failings of the current situation and move to Germany.'