' A chicken would cost £50'

[stopitandtidyupp]

Leisurely watching ' The big questions'
discussing is London only for the rich?

One woman said if house prices were a chicken then a chicken would now cost £50. Now she meant in London but I wonder about the rest of the country.

I live in the NE and I am struggling to get on the ladder.

I guess my AIBU to be annoyed at house prices and is there an answer?

'just move'

Okay. I'm actually looking to do that, because I'm separating from STBX and can't afford to pay the bills alone.

I've been having a huge stress all weekend because how do I pay for deposit on a new place, removals van costs, end of tenancy clean required as per the contract for our deposit, apply for benefits in new area if we do it soon as going from non-UC area to UC area, survive that 5 week wait...

With no option of staying with family because my abusive family didn't get the manual on 'what parents do'

I did try getting a job but having a crap employment history due to illness and then a surprise baby at 20 didn't help my chances so I'm studying instead. Aiming to buy a house in my 40s because that is more realistic than your sunshine and rainbows 'save with your parents, drop everything to move somewhere cheaper' theory.

I suppose another factor is that it's not always so simple to relocate, if you have family commitments or simply can't afford to do so. How do you find the money to up sticks if you're living hand to mouth where you are?

FWIW I live in a rural location where property prices are inflated due to its proximity to a university and a large teaching hospital. Private rent costs me £600 a month before bills, and I have a 1 year old DC. My circumstances are different because I chose university and a postgrad education & have yet to make that pay dividends.

if super yachts were marshmallows then ham would be a better investment.

steadtler that is so funny ! reminds me of this clip

Just move is an individualistic solution to a national problem.

If you feed a child and pay the bills until your child is 18, what happens when they turn 18 that makes it impossible to continue doing this?

Well for me the fact that I'll no longer receive CB, CTC & maintenance for DD (which is approximately £500 pm) is what will make it impossible for me to do this...

When ex-h & I bought our first house 20 years ago he was earning approximately £14,000 a year & the house cost £29,000, we got a £4,000 deposit from my parents & took a £25,000 mortgage.

The equivalent job he was in then now pays approximately £16,000 & the equivalent property is offers over £90,000.

"I think the point is that house prices have risen far higher than prices for other things (like a chicken), inflation generally and wages."

I can't believe anyone didn't understand the analogy, tbh!

This! Yet still some missing the point.

The UK is the only country I've been in where people seem utterly convinced that their own financial situation is anything but their own responsibility.
If there are no jobs in your area - look elsewhere.
There is always work to be done, it may not be nice work, it may not be fun work, it may not be the work that someone wants to do - but its work and it pays.

The exceptions are of course those who are either incapable for health reasons, or tied down supporting those who are.

But we're talking about young people, the majority of whom have the benefit of low responsibility and ties.
There is nothing stopping a young person upping sticks and moving to the nearest city for work.

So a £30k deposit age 22. That’s saving £5000 a year from age 16, assuming a £17k salary aged 16 (unlikely) therefore living on £12k a year. Not impossible but not easily done.

I have a vision of all these young people being like Dick Whittington in reverse trudging up to the North away from overpriced London and then finding that the property isn't all paved with gold after all, because the jobs pay wages that still have no relation to the cost of the non-gold-plated property up there.

Just move is too simplistic. There could be kids up rooted, schools changed and what if you rely on family for childcare?

On a mumsnet £50 chicken it would feed the household for the next ten years. The amount you save on shopping could be saved to allow the dc to buy a house in London by their 21st birthday.

NameChangeOhNameChange, there's still no word on what your deposit was and how you saved that deposit?

OP
Do you live in the north east already?

I wondered when childcare costs would be mentioned.

I've said it once and I'll say it again. Unless you are very wealthy, You need to buy BEFORE you have children because afterwards, you won't meet the affordability criteria.

Yes I do . I lived in SE for four years with my child but it was much worse down there for my quality of life.

The other issue is that today we also have a lot of extra expenses that would have previously been considered as luxuries or not available at all.

When we bought our first house on graduating from university we had food, council tax, gas, electricity, TV licence and car expenses.

Now we have mobile phone contracts, Sky/Virgin/Netflix etc subscriptions, internet etc that add to our monthly expenses leaving us with less disposable income.

The cheapest place on Rightmove within a 30 mile radius of Birmingham (picked somewhere very central) that isn't a retirement property; 25% shared ownership or a caravan park is £120,000.

3 beds for and under 100k www.primelocation.com/for-sale/property/birmingham/?beds_min=3&include_retirement_homes=false&include_shared_ownership=false&is_auction=false&price_max=100000&q=Birmingham%2C%20West%20Midlands&radius=30&search_source=home

But houses in the North East aren’t that expensive, obviously there are some expensive areas but you can easily get a nice family home in a good area for 110k.

It’s a totally different ball game to down south.

It is often impossible to just move but sometimes it is actually possible.
I’m 250 miles away from family. Had to start in a new town that was cheap as chips and work up from there. It isn’t suitable for everyone but it worked for me and I actually love where I live now- about 20 miles away from the town where I first purchased a house.

If anyone is thinking of moving for a better financial future and is able to do so then I would recommend it. Please note that I do understand that this isn’t always possible.

@Kismetjayn

Straight up you can hire a van much cheaper than a removal company, and I've actually moved house with several many trips in my own car before.
The after tenancy clean can be done by yourself.

As for a 5 week gap in benefits, my points are somewhat moot because I'm talking about people getting their finances in order before having to rely on the state, but you'll get that money back paid I assume?

Deposit - do you not have a deposit on your current property? Is there nothing at all you can do to save for one? Any additional work you can take on.

"Suprise baby" - just landed on your doorstep? Whilst this isn't helpful for your situation now, you can imagine how frustrating it is to hear unplanned pregnancy being used as an excuse for lack of finances in a country where contraception is free.

The thing is that people are so determined to blame everything on anything else, so determined to be stuck in their situation that they have every excuse under the sun as to why they can't help themselves that I'm going to guess that I'm going to be dismissed anyway; proof of which is that you falsely quoted me as saying get help from parents, which I categorically said I never had.

They are either guide prices (and will probably go for more) or in need of complete renovation for which you need a considerable extra amount of cash.

I think many people, not all, don't have a problem to afford a property. They have a problem to afford a property they really wanted. Which is shit, but if more people were willing to start with not so great property, do it slowly up and either stay or move on, there wouldn't be so many saying they "just caaaaan't" get on the ladder.
One starts at the first step of the ladder when climbing up, not 5th.

My friend is selling her house which is a two bedroom terraced house in an area that’s a twenty minute commute to the city centre for 70k.
It’s a really nice house that has been loved and kept up, you could move in without any work at all.

My other friend is selling his house in a lovely saught after satellite town for 20 grand less than he bought it for 7 years ago.
I know far more people struggling to sell than buy in the north east at the moment.

Nope they are not wrecks and they did go for that. Our first home sold for about £70k recently, central England. Not the best area, but lots of lovely families. Terraced house in good condition. Some places are still cheap. Of course the nicer the area, the higher the price.