Maxwell, we paid our first mortgage off after 12 years but then moved to a bigger house. I paid that off about 2 years ago so I think I paid a mortgage for a continuous period of 30 years. It rose ot £90k a year at once point interest only which was not fun but obviously I am very very lucky to earn what I do and I expect no sympathy for selling London home at a loss, massive interest rates and all the rest. Basically I have always taken a lot of risks and often they don't pay off but sometimes they do. Not everyone is able to take those risks even if they want to because of their own personal situations.
I know a bit about the property market at the bottom end in outer London and beyond as my son just bought last week. There is a shortage down here of property in the £100k - £300k range. It has got a bit better since the extra landlord 3% stamp duty change happened and brexit. Suddenly agents were prepared to send my son properties rather than never returning his calls for example. We definitely felt that change in attitude.
30 years ago we had to commute from \zone 5 London where I still live as we could not afford any further in. I am not saying things are easy now for those on average incomes of course.
I also agree that we can certainly debate the issues as well as looking at ways to help our children pick jobs which may mean they can afford to buy. it's always been an issue for London teachers. We bought even though we had a very cheap school flat (the only way to get teachers down here 30 years ago or one way was to offer school accommodation as the london weighting was pathetic in London when comparing prices of houses between North and South same as now). We could have lived pretty easily in that but stretched every penny to buy a small place in our 20s.
As people have said there is not a shortage of property across the whole UK just in some cities where there are jobs including London. I also agree about the NE - the places my parents and family lived the prices are very cheap even now but other areas are not; although even there we had to knock £100k off our parents house in order to sell it. That was very different from London. At the moment on the other side of the family the house in Yorkshire being sold is not worth anything like Londoners would expect for a lovely house.
£30k house in Halifax for example www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45525099.html and there are loads of them. Halifax is not awful by any means.
Down here an illustration fo a move my son's sellers sold in Chesham and moved to Aylesbury as it is cheaper there and so they could get their extra bed room for the children.
2 bed flat £145k Aylesbury www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56403418.html
The biggest issues are deposit in my view. The mortbage once you have them paying 2 or 3% on a repayment basis are less than many rents and very good low value even though it's 2% of a large sum.
So my example would be a couple needing £300k property - say 2 bed flat outer London might borrow 90% so need to find £15k each. In some jobs you might save up £15k over a few years. My daughter by working 6 days a week as trainee lawyer and hardly seeing day light for 2 years at least could save money - i fyou work 24/7 just about you don't spend your money. Not everyone can be a trainee lawyer. If you are say a postman on £22k and house share you will rpobably spend £600 a month on rent. If you are careful you can save money - plenty of my son's colleagues even send money back home to help families abroad. Not easy though at all. I am not saying it is.
Getting that deposit for a 90% loan is difficult. I have never bought in times of 100% or more mortgage so I am not sure how easy that was but it would always have been very risky and fairly foolish to borrow 100% and not available now.