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?

1 bed flat Edmonton zone 4 £179k
m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/42320900?search_identifier=be53f2256147f32ab7b62d30e3641012

2bed House zone 4 £230k
m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/42347302?search_identifier=be53f2256147f32ab7b62d30e3641012

3 bed Tottenham zone 3 £250k
m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/property/tottenham/?include_retirement_homes=false&include_shared_ownership=false&include_sold=true&new_homes=exclude&price_max=250000&price_min=80000&q=Tottenham%2C%20London&radius=0.25&results_sort=newest_listings&search_source=home

1bed Tottenham £135k
m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/42271824?search_identifier=f95974a8a30323efa46e013ef2ae9c82

2 bed tottenham £235k
m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/42347362?search_identifier=f95974a8a30323efa46e013ef2ae9c82

2bed £200k
m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/42174343?search_identifier=f95974a8a30323efa46e013ef2ae9c82

These places are affordable for many of the people saying they can't afford 'anywhere'. The problem is that they aren't in the places they want to live. Working class kids like me won't stick their noses up at these types of places and we will buy them then sit back and listen to our middle class mates complaining about how they can't afford to buy in these areas in 2026 when the cool bars and coffee shops pop up and they are feature on Location Location.

ARGH ARGH ARGH why do people keep posting the cheapest properties they find and then claiming that they prove there is no problem with the housing market! Capricorn, almost all of your list are for sale by auction! That means that's a minimum price, not the price they'll go at; it also means that it's very hard for a non-cash buyer to buy them.

Capricorn76

3 of the houses you listed are up for auction and the price quoted is the guide price therefore could potentially go for more. Another is cash buyers only. So whilst "working class kids won't stick there nose up at then" those working class kids probably ain't going to be buying them.

Several of them also have tenants....

These places are affordable for many of the people saying they can't afford 'anywhere'. The problem is that they aren't in the places they want to live.

No the problem is that those properties are auction properties and the prices you quote are the minimum prices they will go for. There's a very large chance they will go for more.

Have you never seen homes under the hammer?

I know this varies but household but how much is board? How much does it cost to keep an adult child?

So all you home owners who get that it's damn near impossible to buy now, would you be willing to take a massive hit on your houses worth?

Yes, as long as it was across the board.

If all house prices dropped by 20%, the amount required to upsize would actually go down, and the starter houses would be cheaper. Everyone would win except for the owners of the most expensive houses and the owners of house portfolios who have bought them up purely to rent or sell for profit who dont want to see their on-paper asset worth fall.

Since the top end owners are also the people who have the power to cause or prevent house price drops, I dont expect to see it any time soon except under awful crash conditions.

ah, MN and its short memory/lack of recent historical knowledge.

late 1980s. Interest rates of 15%, house prices rocketing, very difficult to buy a property then. Some managed, some didn[t. There were no brickphones or sky subs to piss cash away on, but there were nights out and endless restaurant meals that you missed out on if you wanted to buy a place. And yes, you started out in a small flatshare.

and of course more council houses and fewer people. Oh yes, income tax at 30%. Which might have been why there were enough public resources to go round.

the playground jealousy on this thread of people who dare to be older would be funny if it wasn't tragic.

prefabs? Unbelievable.

I accepted your challenge and removed auctions from the search and found these in the same area.

Zone 3 1 bed £179k
m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/photos/42295352

1 bed £250k
m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/42163712?search_identifier=e27c6eb547a07beb6467c169a6c5c133

Zone 3 Wood Green 2 bed £240k
m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/41702957?search_identifier=e27c6eb547a07beb6467c169a6c5c133

2bed Edmonton £240k
m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/41531157?search_identifier=8db1b2ffb6117047650a9ae6d3fe74bf

Yeah because an asking price of £250k is totally affordable...

Yes, the length of time I've lived in my house is very much relevant to my attitude re potatoes. I'm fortunate enough to be in that position by virtue of my age. To those who have mentioned negative equity and pensions I totally understand your point of view, I was very much only thinking about my own circumstances. Also I wrote think because it's easy to be so sanguine when it's a hypothetical matter.

Oh naff off specialsubject - in the 1987 the average house price was about up to 44,434 by Q3. 17% on say a 30k loan over 25 years is £431 a month and average salaries in the 80s was 18,426, so over £1,500 a month gross.

Actually. I think you're mum has a small point. I have Netflix and now TV (entertainment package) and Spotify. All of which I saw as 'small costs' I've just added up that if I didn't have those 3 things, I'd save myself £275 a year. May not be loads. But in 4 years that would be another grand towards a deposit. I've decided to cancel all of my subscriptions for those and each month, put away the money I would have spent on it.

The latest iphone and sky sports package + broadband over five years can cost £10,000.

Maybe an iphone and sky telly wont fund a deposit alone but I think there is a rationale to saying that it is a symptom of a debt rather than a savings culture.

I can't afford a house deposit so whats the point in saving I might as well have a holiday, a bigger TV, some new clothes, the latest phone, computer, ... or yes and I cant afford a new car but I can get finance for a lovely shiny expensive one. And of course the credit card can buy all the Christmas presents.

I already have a job its not fair to ask me to get a second one, why cant the government just top up my wages with some benefits. Its just not fair I got a degree in media studies so I wont take anything less than a graduate pay scale job but their are none.

The prices listed above are not unachievable for a couple on average London wages on a 25 year mortgage or for a single person on a longer term. The payments would be cheaper than rent.

£9k a year is way below the average wage. Most Londoners are earning £20k+ if they're over 25 and working full time. You'd literally have to be working 2 days a week in Macdonalds to be on £9k or being paid under NMW which is illegal.

Its just not fair I got a degree in media studies so I wont take anything less than a graduate pay scale job but their are none.

I see where you're coming from with this but an entire generation was sold a dream that never materialised. It was drummed into me and my peers at school and college that if you go to uni you will get a good job and a career out of it. It didn't matter what course you did, just by virtue of having a degree you were automatically more employable. Obviously we now know that it doesnt work that way anymore. My first class anthropology degree from a Russell group uni means diddly squat. So I returned to uni incurring more debt to retrain.
So while yes people need to wake up and not expect it all on a plate of can't really blame them when everyone told them it would be fine.

my standards, and by the standards of many young Brits, anyone who owns a house with a spare bedroom IS "rich", relatively-speaking.

My mum has 4 spare bedrooms and she is in poverty. She earns minimum wage.
Why does she have so many spare bedrooms then? Because she bought her council house when all her children lived at home and now she can't move because she can't find a buyer (not much buyers for a house on a council estate in her Northern area) and the people who did show an interest in buying it were investors who wanted to buy it at a price which would mean she can't afford to buy anything decent within a 10 mile radius.
So not everyone who has a spare bedroom is rich or even relatively rich.

And it's not really a very helpful attitude. Media studies degrees are notorious for being let's say, not that helpful, at enabling you to get a job. If you even refuse to look at what else is available you could easily lose out on opportunities.

Eh??? What Sky package and iPhone have you got that costs 2 grand a year???
I have a decent iPhone 6 with unlimited minutes, texts and 10gig of data (it's a business phone) and I pay £52 a month which is £624 a year. Then when I had the full sky bundle (it was cheaper than only getting the Internet I paid £30 a month for Internet, tv and phone.
I'm sure you CAN pay 2 grand a year on t if you deliberately looked for the most expensive package but sky drop their prices enormously if you chat to them and you'd have to be a mug to pay full price. If people really were paying 2 grand a year on sky then of course they should just stop it and buy a house but that's not happening.

Sorry that was in reply to this quote:
Its just not fair I got a degree in media studies so I wont take
anything less than a graduate pay scale job but their are none

Capricorn76 they are acutions. They will go for FAR FAR FAR higher than those prices.