To think the current housing boom as totally distorted reality

[Worthygirl]

I am priced out of the housing market. I earn 40k and have a 20k deposit and that is nowhere near enough to buy a house where I live. Granted I live in the SE (and yes I am looking to move etc but that’s another post and kids in school etc currently make it tricky)
But it’s the norm here to buy a 700k house that’s a semi or even a terrace in some areas. It’s normal here to have made £250k plus on your house. I feel like I live in an alternate reality where normal people earning normal incomes no longer exist.
The house prices here have made people who work part time massive fortunes and I feel like a child looking into a sweet shop but unable to remotely take part.
I always thought 40k was a good salary and 20k was a good deposit. Say 4x 40 is 160 which would be me maxed out mortgage wise. Down here it’s literally nothing.
Aibu to feel like house prices have distorted reality?
And yes, i know I can move to a cheaper area but that’s not my point in this post.

The price of land is so high now a single plot here 200k, this in Wales. The cost of building materials has gone through the roof. Volume is the way builders work if they are big boys.

One builder has pushed through 60 houses on one field and is hoping to build another 160 in a field up the way. There were over a thousand objections it is on a flood plain so it went to appeal. The appeal was last September the results should have been in by now, the silence is deafening. So we anticipate it going through. Amongst the objections were the gp surgery, the local primary school, both full to busting already.

I guess the issue with trading up to a family home over 20 years is that you will be too old to have the family by the time you get the home as the days of first time buyers being early 20's are long gone (generally, I know there will be some). So people have children while renting as they have no realistic options if they want a family.

I think its horrible that couples have to make the decision of house or children. Seems something so wrong when those who don't risk fertility issues by postponing having a family are stuck outside the home ownership game.

yeah were a bit the same, we make a decent salary, its gone up massively the past few years, but are looking to slow down a little as it has impacted our home life (not to mention marriage) a modest 3 bed in our area- east is around 300k.

the income we would actually be using to get a mortgage is £55k cos i dont think that bonuses or overtime would be taken into account, leaves us at £220k? an £80,000 deposit required, and thats before house prices rise.

the prices in this area have just about doubled in four years, and its not even nice.

A one bedroom flat is around £250,000 where I live, if you’re lucky enough to save for a deposit whilst renting and get a mortgage in the first place, I’m self employed and own my own business so that’s difficult enough. Even with a decent deposit we couldn’t borrow enough to live in our home town. Our friends in their 30’s who have managed to buy houses did so with large inheritance for deposits and have very well paying jobs. Unfortunately, I know a lot of couples who own 1 bed flats and now rent them out whilst renting houses now they have a child/children as they have either been unable to sell them, I’d imagine partly due to how difficult it is for young first time buyers to get a deposit and mortgage to move the market along and also the steep jump between a 1 bed flat to a 2 bed house is crazy.

@KanielOutis so do I, I sold my one bed flat on a new build estate three years ago for £175k... OP seems to have children so would need more space than that. There are some more affordable areas North of the county, and actually a lot are nicer/prettier than South of the county, commuter land. It depends if OP needs access to London regularly.
Parts of Kent are affordable too and I'm not necessarily suggesting Dartford/Erith, in the same way I wouldn't suggest Tilbury or Grays, I know someone who moved to new Romney and send to line it, they got a lovely big house for the price of the tiny two bed they sold in Cranham

Where's the OP gone?

Motoko
House hunting?

@Bluntness100

I might be exaggerating with ‘derelict’ but it most definitely is not Wimbledon.

Also there is a reason there are so few pictures.

Everything needs doing:

Every window and floor needs replacing, the roof needs replacing, there have been broken windows to the rear which have cayseclots of damage.

I’m not saying it’s not a good price for where it is, I’m saying that £825k is an insane price for a fairly normal family house that needs so much work.

Don’t you think the housing market is insane? My salary has increased 35% in 10 years. The property I live in has increased 175% - I couldn’t afford to buy it now without the equity I’ve built up.

I don't think that is a 'fairly normal family home' - it is a large, attractive period property with masses of potential. A bog standard modern 3/4 bed semi is 'fairly normal family home' - that is far more glamorous. .

You have my sympathy OP
Until government overhaul the grotesque buy-to-let epidemic that's sweeping this country, nothing will change...it will just get worse and WORSE!!

I truly truly despise the current housing shortage, fuelled by greedy landlords desire for more money.

But these people (I can think of much better words) will quite happily sleep soundly at night knowing full well their greed causes sadness and depression to others. They are no different from the conglomerates that turn a blind eye to the poverty of third world countries.

You see, money or the love for money knows no bounds. Nothing quenches the thirst for more money other than...more money.
And if that means people suffer, die and go without, then in their eyes so be it!

@TheNavigator

I must be ruined by where I live if this is ‘glamorous’ as, whilst I get its a desirable area, it feels like a ‘normal’ house to me.

It’s a nice house but it’s still a semi on a very busy road next to a tricky junction. There’s no driveway (although I’m sure you could put one in), the whole road has yellow lines.

Obviously I think it’s nice because I’ve been eying it up but I was truly stunned at the price given the sheer amount of work required.

It looks like pretty good value compared with this.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67934092.html

@Bluelady

Yup - I’d agree with you. I know those houses and they’re very close together and frankly quite unattractive.

Merry, where as I do think it's slightly over priced, I'd expect it to go for more about 775, Based on what similar properties are selling for with less work to be done. I certainly don't think it's ridiculously over priced.

House pricing is dictated by the market, the buyer, not the seller. Because it doesn't worth what anyone prices their house at, it simply matters what someone is willing to pay for it.

Do I think it's a normal family house? I think it's above average if I'm honest.

You don't need to sell to pay off the Help to Buy equity loan, FYI. We bought 5 years ago and just remortgaged to pay it off before starting to pay interest. The house had increased in value (significantly) so the 20% repaid was a few thousand higher than we borrowed, yes, but it also meant we remortgaged at 65% LTV and got an excellent rate. It worked really well for us and we didn't pay a new build premium as the house was the same price as other 4 beds in my town.

Merry the British love a period property and Arts and Crafts is having a major moment (Liberty print in H&M/Victorian house on TV). Maybe you didn't recognise the style but it is one of the most popular and will always command a premium.

A lot of people don't live in tacky modern boxes by choice but because they can't afford a house with any period character and charm. When we sold our lovely little stone cottage we knew we wouldn't be able to afford a period property if we wanted enough bedrooms for our children - and that was over 20 years ago! I think you are a bit naive about the British love for a period doer upper.

I think people are missing my point - I said I live a mile up the road - I ‘get’ the local housing market and I understand it’s a nice house, but it doesn’t stop it being mad.

Over three quarters of a million pounds for a relatively normal family house that is currently uninhabitable (even if the pictures don’t show the true state) with no nearby parking.

My husband and I have a household income in the top 15% of the country and could not afford this house under any circumstances. In fact we cannot afford any houses around a 3/4 mile radius of that one.

I think that’s crazy given our earnings. I’m not bitching, because I have a nice warm home I can afford and live in comfort; I’m happy with where I am.

I’m just saying the OP has a point.

Our housing market is v active. My neighbour sold his house in one day betwern xmas and new year. However two minutes away theyve made some new houses with less garden and smaller than our houses. Starting price..£750,000. Just one large room downstairs for kitchen and lounge. Makes me realise why our houses which are worth less than half that sell so quick. Its daft.