To think these baby boomers are missing the point?

[Hundredacrewoods]

I grew up in an area where house prices have quadrupled since 2000. I consider this an intergenerational equity issue. Whenever the topic of house prices and 'millennials' comes up with my parents' generation, all I hear is how hard they worked and how much they sacrificed to get on the property ladder. AIBU to think that they're missing the point? No one is denying that they worked hard and sacrificed. The point is that if they worked just as hard today, and made the same sacrifices, it wouldn't be anywhere near enough.

Blink, they still have to save up 25,000 though! That’s a huge amount.

Yes it is - but as shown, easily achieved if not wasting money for 2 years.

You can't just choose one part of the decade you live in. Houses are expensive because interest rates are cheap, two people work and the majority of people are highly educated - and that is why they are affordable to those same people.

Houses used to be cheaper, but only one person worked, interest rates were very high and food was very expensive.

People near the bottom of the income scale could never afford houses.

What if you cant get a graduate job that pays 2500 pcm? Even if you are a graduate, jobs are scarce.
25,000

Sorry...2500 pcm is more than most

Blink, you're right, a young couple with a good graduate income can still afford to buy a small house.

But in my dad's day, a young couple with only one person earning and the other a sahm could afford to buy a massive five bedroom house!

This is not possible any more because of the huge change in salary to house price ratio.

If grocery prices had increased at the same rate as house prices since 1971, then:

A 4-pint carton of milk would cost £10.45
A chicken would cost £51.18

england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/policy_and_research/policy_library/policy_library_folder/food_for_thought

In a town like Newbury the jobs are graduate jobs, and so each person will be earning minimum £25,000 – generally more. So monthly net income will be £3,200 after student loans.

Assuming that the people we are talking about are graduates and there are graduate jobs to be had.
You know there are non graduate jobs that need doing too right?

Shop staff, cleaners, waiters, nursery workers, TAs..........

Oh, and a newly qualified teacher will be on £22k.

See also www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/02/housing-market-gulf-salaries-house-prices

My son is on his own. It will take him forever to save another 10k. Then the price will go up again. He is trying but losing hope. His phone is 30 a month and he pays us keep of 100 a month for his room/ food etc he goes buy his own food at times. He keeps smiling but it’s not easy on your own. Have to stay positive though.!

If there were no problem with today's house prices in comparison to those of the past, why would sites like 'Priced Out' (campaign for affordable house prices) exist?

www.pricedout.org.uk/crisis

A chicken would cost £51.18

But how long could you feed the family on that mythical chicken?

Simon, snap! I thought that too. Chickens feature a lot on mumsnet!

We were restricted in how much we could borrow, if I remember it was three times main salary and once second income. The property as an investment thing hadn't really taken off and there were no mortgages for people who wanted to buy properties to rent out, and if I recall no mortgages at all on second homes, all of which helped keep prices low, however we did suffer boom and bust when people bought with 100%mortgages and then the market crashed so a huge number of people were in negative equity. Yes we worked hard but perhaps weren't being stiffed like today

As well as the massive inequality the other thing that pisses me off about these stupid house prices is the change to the places I love. Once London was home to lots of artists, teachers, nurses and social workers as well as the rich. Now it's only the very rich that can afford to buy there.

Flats that were affordable when my parents lived there are now homes to rock stars, celebrities and billionaires. That was already the case when I moved there 20 years ago, but now the roads that were affordable to my generation are also only affordable to millionaires.

It’s all so sad. That’s all I can say. There are going to be millions of people protesting about Trump’s visit I read today ( if, or when that happens ) They can take to the streets about him but not about this inequality? I despair sometimes !

But in my dad's day, a young couple with only one person earning and the other a sahm could afford to buy a massive five bedroom house!

Yes, and we are not in those times - and life was bloody awful in almost every other respect. To have this situation, most women would have to accept they have no chance to work - so that household income reflected that. You can't just choose to have one part of it - it's all tied in. House prices will always match to the lifestyle of the day.

I'd love to blame Tony Blair for pushing so many people to be graduates - but to be fair its a global theme.

It is completely unsustainable for non-graduate jobs to pay so little that people can't be in the community as a whole. The only answer is to move out so these jobs are not done, and then the wages will rise in the local area - the issue in many cases is national pay scales that need to be scrapped, and local ones put in place.

However two people on NMW will earn around £30k per year, giving £2,300 per month. Again, on the same basis this will leave £700 pcm, so after 4-5 years will have a similar ability.

It really is about making these sacrifices and cutting your cloth accordingly. If the NMW couple lived a little away and even bought a £300 car then may be able to save £900 per month - but taking a ham sandwich to work for 4 years for lunch may not be a sacrifice people are willing to make. Making the choice to have children will make it very unlikely for many in today's world - but it';s a choice.

If your single and don't have friends to share/buy with - yes, your screwed!

Ds1 is screwed then as he is single. Lots of his friends are single and live with parents and unhappy. Nobody cares about them ( I do but I can’t do much to help financially, only support and provide a home) at least he has that I suppose.

I'm not a baby boomer and I have a house and I can tell you it was bloody hard but we (my partner and I) managed to do it - no fancy phones, no holidays and going out on the razz every weekend. We worked hard and saved every spare penny we had and it was doubly hard because we were renting at the time. I feel sorry for young people but I do feel like there is a sense of entitlement from a generation that appear to have whatever they want. My parents are baby boomers but they worked bloody hard for what they have and they deserve it. I went through a period in my 20s where I would fritter my money away on shit without a care in the world. I soon realised that would have to change if I ever wanted to get a foot on the property ladder.

When I was in my twenties I could have never afforded to buy a place on my own. I had to wait until I was married and we pooled our incomes. We didn't buy a massive 5 bedroomed house. We bought a small house that we could afford. I get so irritated by the south centric mumsnet. As I said earlier on here, you can still buy properties in this area for under 100k. Not flats. Houses. Young people are buying flats and houses all the time.

Blink66 £30k a year after tax and NI is about £1950, not £2300. After rent, bills, travel, food etc, there wouldn't be much left for savings.

Blink was basing a lot of calculations on two people saving up on around 25k a year. In Newbury with degrees/ graduate jobs.

There are a lot less stable relationships young too. So in the 70s it was normal to marry young hence you ended up with two incomes to save. Nowadays young people don't settle down as early, and it's harder to buy as a singleton.
I remember seeing a lot if my friends marry in their teens.

In her last post, she was basing figures on a couple on NMW so on a joint income of £30k.

VioletCharlotte

Not sure why you say that - two people earning NMW will earn 15K each before overtime, which is £2246 in total.

As a gen x who bought a flat for 3 times my very junior professional starting salary and no deposit as a 24 year old in the mid-90s, I know it was all about luck and timing for me. Definitely not about hard work and sacrifice. I did do a bit of house sharing and renting beforehand, true, but not for very long. I bought from a woman who'd owned the flat through the financial crises of the early 90s and seen it actually fall in value. By the time I sold it again 3 years later it had nearly tripled. Those are not good stats - starting salaries obviously hadn't tripled in those 3 years, and someone graduating even 3 years after me wdn't have been able to do the same. So I was incredibly fortunate, as were many of my friends, all now in our late 40s/early 50s and owning houses in London. My children won't be able to do that unless they have starting salaries of £100k, which is what they'd need to buy the flat I started with. No amount of avocado toast sacrifice is going to fill that gap. I wonder who the hell's going to buy our house when we want to downsize, if no-one can afford to buy their first home. And renting's a disgrace in this country. I have every sympathy for millenials, and I think it's a problem for all of us.

Rent - max £700, food could easily be £200 but allowing £400, and other bills £500 is £1,600, leaving £646 for saving - over £23k in 3 years.

It really does make a difference. If lunch is two bread loaves and a pack of ham, cost of lunch per day is £1 per person. If a £4 sandwich and £2 coffee is saved, per day for each of the couple then over 3 years thats a saving of £7,200.

Its would be very easy to take a holiday each year, eat out occasionally, spend money on lunch and decide to drink more than a couple of pints in a week and not have that £23k - but people on here are saying it makes no difference - it does.