The reason young people can't afford to buy houses

[GrabtharsHammer]

Is because they all have iPhones and Sky telly.

So sayeth my mother.

Nothing at all to do with the ridiculous house prices then? They are baby boomers and bought their first house for a few thousand quid on my dads modest salary.

Apparently the youth of today just need to get rid of their gadgets and telly subscriptions and then they will easily afford a deposit and mortgage.

Are everyone's parents this judgemental and out of touch or am I just particularly lucky?

(Fairly lighthearted) AIBU?

Op you mother is partly true but not all ture my neighbours have 3 sons who are are wanting houses apperntly they can't afford to move out

However when I questioned her more turns out

If they brought together considering there all similar age but they all want there own 2 bed homes witch is a bit pie in the sky tbh

Also they all drive brand new fiat sports now the money they pay each month could easily go towards deposits and two of them all have work vans that they can drive but want somthing sporty for the weekend they can't even dive the cars during the week as there in the van😳

So I think it's partly houses are expesive but I do think some young people expectations are way off and feel they have a right to a house with out any impact of there party and social life in my experience they really young to end up with homes with out parents supports often buy seconed hand bangers and put clubbing and eating out of the back burner

My dh is on 27K and I'm on 12k part time. we could easily pay off a 1200 mortgage every month (we live in a notoriously expensive city). But how do we build the deposit for an average 375k house? I'm not moving anywhere, I'm not going up north as my family are here. Why would I uproot my kids from school? We don't have sky, no expensive phone contracts, no holidays, one car, I don't even allow my children more than one after school activity. I cook all week apart from a Friday when I work a night shift and we buy a takeaway. I don't buy lavish things! I don't have an enjoyable lifestyle and I have savings but building it up to 35k for a good deposit is looking impossible.

I also vote! How the hell is voting going to help the house prices? You're an idiot Peppals.

Ha ha ha ha ha

oh yes, if only it was that easy- I'll cancel my monthly sim-only contract which costs £15 on my 5 year old iPhone.

After that, I'm sure we will be able to afford a 2 bed terrace house for 500k round here in SE London

Unfortunately don't have Sky TV so can't cancel that- too busy out at work to have the time to sit and watch all those channels. Maybe it'd be worth getting if me or DH didn't have a job to go to?

And We don't smoke, we don't drink. Oh, maybe one thing I did wrong was not working for 5/6 years because if I'd carried on working with small kids I would have spent more on childcare and made a loss of around £1200 a month. Maybe I should have done that.

feel they have a right to a house with out any impact of there party and social life

We don't have one of those (have a young child) and still can't afford a house.

We bought our first house two years ago, with assistance from the ILs for the deposit. I was 32, DH was 35, and we had a household income of about £60k, few outgoings (no luxury holidays, didn't buy coffee etc, refurbished phones), and we're an hour away from DHs work, and it's a fixer upper, and its tiny. And we still needed help to get the deposit together. We were bloody lucky to have that help - we'd still be renting if not, and if that were the case, we'd either not have started a family or we would have gone ahead and given up on buying.

A few coffees really doesn't pay a house deposit these days, no matter how much some people might want to believe it does in order to not have to acknowledge that they were lucky, as well as having worked hard.

Where I live you can get on the housing ladder with a deposit of £15k. I would have thought it was possible for a couple to save that in one/two years. Much more difficult in the south obviously.

How much is a deposit on a £150,000 house?

It's entirely possible to buy, if you really scrimp for a deposit & aren't fussy. I know several people who have bought in east London within the last 2 years, all under 30. Without a deposit contribution from parents, btw.

Yeah, and this is where your calculations all go wrong. The place you've linked to is a) very unusually cheap for all bills in and b) clearly marked as 'single occupancy only'

Margaret. If you care to search rightmove yourself, you will find lots of single person houseshares going for £350, and quite a number of places for two for £500pm. They are out there.

The fact that you seized on the point that that particular place has a single person restriction clearly illustrates my point that too many people fall into the self pitying unaffordability narrative, instead of really looking to see what can be achieved. And I know it can be achieved, because I have done it.

Go look on rightmove for the cheapest place you can for 2 people that looks basic, small, but clean, and do-able just for a year or so. I think you might be surprised at what you can get, but people just aren't willing to consider a reduction in living standards to aim for a longer term goal.

There is too much expectation of immediate self gratification, and rampant consumerism dressed up as necessity. It does no-one any favours.

poster TurquoiseDress Mon 28-Nov-16 10:34:46

I was digging at you we only manged to buy 2 years ago I am 35 and dh is 36

However my neighbours sons are 23,25,27 and like I said all have new lease cars could afford a joke if they put in together but all want there own 2 bed house 😳😂 they don't even use there cars during the week as they have vans to are basically paying a monthly car lease for a car they use on Saturday and Sunday's and not even Saturday as I see them in the van in Saturday's often

And they go out a lot being young lads however I don't think you can say you can't afford to buy with a stright face in that case I totally understand wanting your own two bed for for a young guy with no children in 2016 it's a bit of a over reach but together all 3 could afford a really nice 3 bed they have 15k each there mum said so they would rather live at home not own a home the comprise on each having a 3 bed 😳

I think we're going to get back to levels of overcrowding similar to the 1930s. I know lots of families who have another family live with them, or at the least another relative or two or a lodger, to make their house affordable (both rented or bought). And families with two kids who have a one-bed flat, all sleeping in one room with a small kitchen/diner/lounge room - one I know the grandparents offered about £20k for a deposit, but house prices have risen so much that it doesn't help them.

We're probably going to get back to the idea of a home being where you wash and sleep, but everything else is done in the pub or a cafe, with watching TV on your tablet in bed.

I'm so, so glad I ignored all the people who told us not to buy in 2000 because there had to be a house price crash in London soon. There hasn't been; prices have doubled. Sold first flat for 30% more in 2004, bought larger wreck in a cheaper area, which has trebled in value since.

My parents (just older than boomers) now get it intellectually but still struggle emotionally with the fact that rent is now hugely expensive, mobiles and internet are a requirement for jobs, not just a luxury, but physical items are cheap (but people's time is expensive). The house I grew up in (3x my dad's salary at the time, but mortgages were scarce so they had to travel 100 miles to the nearest bank with money!) is in a similarly-regarded area now, but about 9x a similar salary.

Doesn't stop my mum telling me I shouldn't have bought a house in London and should have got one like that instead - even though my house is cheaper than that one and transport is hugely cheaper!

I did ask neighbour why they all needed a 2 bed and she actually said. Well guests or course

Tbh that sums it up

You have the luxury to think about having a guest bedroom then your not serious about buying

When my parents bought their first home they both had relatively low paid jobs. They were renting and negotiated a deal with their landlord to do some work on the house in exchange for 2 months not paying rent. Two months rent was the deposit for their house. It wasn't a massive house but a 2 bed in a quite nice area.

HateSummer

Nobody is suggesting you do those things, but it's what we did.
We chose a good time school wise and said goodbye to family and friends.
The kids soon settled and made friends, soon got used to the culture change and moving from stix to large town.
We have only had one min wage in over 25 years, until 3 weeks ago when I got a pt job.
We just thought we had to do what we had to do because owning our own home was more important than anything else.

As mentioned a few posts ago I managed to buy a house way back in 1977 for 10K

It was affordable and we managed that, no problems. Sky TV and mobiles hadn't been invented then but I never felt deprived.

That house now is worth or there're selling for 450K so,

A mortgage calc says that a 400 K mortgage is costing £1897 at 3% or £2100 at 4% that assumes a 50 K deposit.

Now 2 grand a month surely that is a huge chunk of many for most people I would struggle to pay that these days I'd have to be on over 100K a year and here assume affluent south-east England average wage 35K ish a year?

So who is affording unless you have inherited from parents ?

On that scale the SKY sub and iphone are down in in the noise.

Is it really that unusual to live at home with parents without paying rent?

Surely most people in the UK do not claim housing benefit, so there is no additional housing cost from adult children living at home? As long as everyone is paying towards food, electricity, etc?

I would say it is very normal for people to live at home. That's my grandparents, parents and DH started out saving. That's how I assume DS will get a house.

Yes, we'll be overcrowded, but that isn't unusual either.

There is a lot of luck involved, and sooooo many people don't seem to be able to see that.

My parents bought a house in 1989 in Wales. It cost £73K, small 3 bed semi. They'd sold their previous house for £60K so had a small mortgage. They still live there, have built a conservatory. That house is now worth £170K. Great, they're happy there and it suits them well.

My ILs bought a house at around the same time in 1989 in the SE. That's where they happened to live and work. It cost £85K or so, decent size 5 bed semi. They haven't improved it really. Now worth £950K.

As I say, luck. They each bought houses close to where they worked and brought up their family there. But that luck now buys a lot of choices further down the line.

How the hell is voting going to help the house prices?

Vote in a government that promises adequate housing supply.

More houses = lower prices.

Yes, people need to vote in a government that builds many more houses and moves jobs to areas where house prices are cheaper.

Know ye of such a potential government?

No.

I thought the Labour Party did have it as policy to invest in jobs in the North, in Wales etc.

Either way, people need to get involved in political parties and get policies changed. Obviously austerity was never going to involve government investment in housing.

It's the local council who approve resi planning applications. And the NIMBY baby boomers who object vociferously to new, necessary housing!!