Millennials in the house - what will entice you to save up for a house?

[AteRiri]

I read that millennials are all about experiences and not accumulating/owning things.

I'm curious...how can you be enticed to save up for a house?

ate At this point it should be clear that this isn't a marketing issue. I'm just a millennial and I've grafted extremely hard to get ahead. DH is just out of the millennial generation and has done bloody well for himself.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that student debt is killing ambition and ability to do normal things like buy a home before starting a family and save for ones retirement. Also there is a huge issue with chasing after the service sector. Manufacturing is what builds wealth.

We had a mortgage advisor come round about 9 months ago. Two professional wages, steady income etc etc. All very promising. But we need a minimum deposit of 24k to buy an ex council home that's in need of gutting some work. Twenty Four Grand. We're SE but in a town that always gets a mention for being shit on here.

The question isn't what would help people to save, it's how can we help them to buy?

What would help us to buy? The Government Help to buy scheme when they loan you the equity being available on a older house not just ridiculously expensive new builds. (300k+ for a small terrace with no parking) or being able to buy the affordable houses that were built for local people less than a mile away. We registered - all bought off plan by an investor who then immediately (they'd not even finished being built yet) whack a 20k premium on them and used the list of interested parties to try and sell them on. Of course, the 20k increase and the fact they were no longer eligible for the first time buyer loan meant that no one registered could afford them.

Everyone I know is desperate to own their own place, only people who do have inherited or lived at home for significant periods rent free. The rest of us are saving but it feels like a very long way off.

The big problems is the lack of 95% mortgages. 5% has always been affordable if you have two full time wages saving up over say 4 years. on the £325k house my son bought (at very end of a London tube line last year) 5% is £16,250 which £8125 for each in a couple - not impossible to save over 4 years - it's about £2k per person per year. As soon as you are required to pay 10% deposit it becomes very very much harder for people without any family help.

Enjoy experiences until someone dies and leaves you enough cash for a deposit.

Or, enjoy experiences and being shafted by the private rental market until you die.

HTH

The problem with the availability of higher mortgages (and I believe 95% ones still exist anyway?) is that it gives people access to more funds they can then use to bid up prices with.

Cassie there isn't a universally agreed definition of millennial, but nobody thinks it's late 20s to late 30s. The earliest I've ever seen millennial start is 1981 births, and there's no definition that excludes people born in the early years of the 90s, which you are when you say late 20s to late 30s. If someone was born in 1995, they're most definitely a millennial. If someone was born in 1978, they're not.

No idea how viable this is, but I'd personally like to see 95% or higher mortgages in places where there is a local need to do up housing and regenerate - i.e. not on new-builds in London where it'll just push up prices further. There are probably issues with this that I can't think of at the moment.

I live & grew up in commuter belt. Only one friend has bought a property (out of about 20). All our parents have good sized family homes. Personally, we could have saved to own a 1 bed flat but not had DC. We chose DC. Luckily my DH has a secure job with free family (4 bed) housing. So we don't rent & have none of the usual issues. We hope to buy eventually (by retirement) but it's a long term ambition. Right now we prioritise me working v part time. Both of us view family time as more important that house ownership.

I am upper end of millennials and DH is gen X. He was able to buy a flat with a 10% deposit of £7 lent to him by his parents (paid back monthly) on the South Coast. This flat doubled in the time he lived there.

I bought just before the crash in 2007 (literally months before ) with a deposit from my parents. I couldn't have done without really. When we moved in I rented mine out for a decade nearly and then sold, it lost value but still had a little equity.

All our friends bar one set of school parents own, but most of them are well paid or from wealthy families.

As a PP mentioned, the government's Help to Buy schemes are very narrow in their availability. Most are for new build only, which are often expensive and not well built. The main beneficiaries of these schemes are the big businesses and investors and build and sell (and buy and resell) them. Most of these having ties to government in some way.

Work-wise, it is not all about the income - if you are on a zero hour contract or self employed, it is significantly harder to get a mortgage even if you are earning enough to cover repayments.

This article is interesting <a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.ceps.eu/system/files/ECRI%2520Commentary%2520No%252014%2520SB%2520Home%2520ownership%2520and%2520labour%2520markets%2520FINAL--.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwiLgfjD2d7TAhXJCMAKHbGJBKwQFggjMAI&usg=AFQjCNF8XYYGI81gRJTODJ3HFkW7WSOpTQ&sig2=MovVxqwkCV7jVicTFMQa2g" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.ceps.eu/system/files/ECRI%2520Commentary%2520No%252014%2520SB%2520Home%2520ownership%2520and%2520labour%2520markets%2520FINAL--.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwiLgfjD2d7TAhXJCMAKHbGJBKwQFggjMAI&usg=AFQjCNF8XYYGI81gRJTODJ3HFkW7WSOpTQ&sig2=MovVxqwkCV7jVicTFMQa2g

cassie what you are not getting is that your own social circle does not represent the average Londoner or the average millennial. You are making judgements on a generation based on the behaviour of your own group of friends and acquaintances who are clearly part of the elite.

Very few millennials living in London live the kind of life you describe. Most London millennials do not have those choices. Their choice is more likely to be "food or heating" than "fancy penthouse or investment property."

It's a bit like Prince William complaining that everyone he knows spends all their dosh on polo ponies and crown polish.

Nothing will entice me (I'm 28). I have 4 DCs and could never afford a deposit for the 4 bed house we'd need where we live. DC1 is disabled so moving isn't an option as we rely on family support.

We will buy with inheritance(s) when we are older. Not like we'll ever retire so mortgage length shouldn't be a problem

I think a lot of millenialls do want to save up for a house.
Many already own one (I do, but up North - would not be able to buy if I lived in London).
And yes, some (like any age group) are feckless and lazy etc.
Watch Spaced, or The Young Ones: Hilarious youngsters who can't get their shit together are not a new invention!

The "experiences over material possessions" thing is a very sensible one if you are living in a small flat/house (even if you own it), or if you have to move regularly.
People living in flat shares generally don't have room for collections of crystal glassware, oak tables, breadmakers or any of the other "things" that previous generations may have owned at that age.
Why should they accumulate that stuff?

Twenty somethings on a good income they are often already saving money as well as spending money on experiences (which don't have to be expensive, btw).
Twenty somethings on a low income are probably just about putting a roof over their heads, and are not all out living the high life. An "experience" to them might mean spending their money on fish and chips for tea once in a while - do you really begrudge them that?

Housing bubble needs to burst first...IMO we are due a huge crash sometime soon as prices are just unsustainable.

My grandmother used to ask me about buying a house..as her husband bought one young. She was aghast when I told her that even for a small flat, I would have to save every penny that I earned (meaning not even eat at all and stuff...) for ten years.

Exactly what Tabasco said - graduate jobs (I.e jobs that actually require a degree, not just graduates working in Starbucks or whatever because they can't find anything else) now can range from 13k admin positions, and include jobs like teachers, nurses, etc. The "traditional" graduate jobs with their corresponding good pay are a small minority of tho roles actual graduates go into.

Also yes to squishy re: spending on experiences making sense. Plus I think the influence technology has - 10/15 years ago you would have needed a desktop pc and all extras to go online, a camera to take photos, a radio/cd player to listen to music, alarm clock to get up in the morning,
Diary to make plans, and list friends numbers and addresses, notebook for notes, tv to watch, book to read when bored, multiple debit cards and loyalty cards to shop, etc etc. Now a tiny phone does all that for you...but you still get the people saying if those spoiled millennials just cancelled their ridiculous £30 p/m phone contracts they could easily save for a mortgage...

once, is your username a reference to a band called the longblondes?

I've noticed that you've linked to some American articles, which don't really reflect the situation in the UK. I'm American, living in the UK, and I've definitely noticed a difference in the attitude towards buying property.

I'm from the northeast, which is one of the more expensive areas in the US. The only people I know who bought in their 20s were people who knew they were going to stay in the same area they grew up in and planned not to move. If I lived in a rural area with more affordable housing that number might be higher. The U.S. is a big country. If you are focused on your career you really need the ability to pick up and move if an opportunity presents itself. Having a house you need to sell is just an inconvenience. So it makes more sense to wait to buy until you're married, with kids, and have chosen a place to settle down within a good school system. Since millennals are waiting longer to settle down, they're buying houses later.

For the UK I think the issue is more about affordability. Most of my British friends seem to be consumed with the thought of buying a property (or how much their property is worth), while I barely hear anyone at home talk about it. I don't even know which of my American friends owns or rents, other than those I was friends with when they were actually going through the process of buying.

The OP seems to have left the building...
Material for suitable Daily Fail article gathered?

I'm a millennial/gen x borderline. I own my own (crummy) home.

I lived in social housing and saved up as hard as I can to buy it.

Apparently I'm a millennial (born 1982, turned 18 in year 2000) and I have a mortgage but only because someone in our family and died and left us the money for a deposit. Before that we never dreamed of owning a house, it wasn't on the horizon.

When property seems out of reach and you are paying double the average local mortgage amount in rent it's hard to save. If you do have a bit of extra money come in it's hard not to think "I might as well spend it on a gig or holiday" because let's face it £500 isn't going to make a dent in a deposit these days.

I'm 19 and have been saving for a deposit for 2 years. I'm off to uni this summer but will still be working as much as possible in order to have a house and mortgage by the time I'm 25.

Both my parents are either council house - rent, or army brat - rent. I crave a secure place that I can do whatever the hell I want to it.

Security and stability entices me.

I read that millennials are all about experiences and not accumulating/owning things.

We millennials are largely about experiences because we struggle to afford houses, not because we don't aspire to own a house.

If your salary is £20k, you can borrow £100k, and a 1 bedroom flat is £160k, how long do you reckon it will take to save up £60k (gap between borrowing potential and cost of property), or 3 times your salary, whilst paying rent of £700 a month?

This is why people have given up.

Material for suitable Daily Fail article gathered?

LOL No. Still reading, just busy with life.

Good for you.

It's just puzzling as to why you've asked this question and how you've answered different points ?
Honestly, regardless of your intentions, it does come across as slightly suspect, listing a google search as a citation and your insistence on marketing techniques.
I think I'm just repeating what others have said though...

listing a google search as a citation

No, I listed the article I read, then another article, then the google search showing that there are a lot of articles about it. This was an answer to a poster who asked where I read that millennials prefer experiences over accumulating stuff.

I guess they'd be 'enticed' by higher salaries and lower house prices.