To think that house buying is the norm in my world?

[Friendly1234]

NC’d for this, I was reading an article this morning about how ppl are finding it hard to get on the property ladder these days and I realized that literally every single one of my friends and family have been buying houses with relative ease for the past 10 years (I’m in my early 30’s!) so from what I can see it’s the norm to buy (and build houses) at around 24-26!! I wouldn’t say my friend have particularly high powered jobs either, most are nurses, teachers and have apprenticeships. A few even work in retail!!

I am in the south and a basic one bed flat would cost around £150 to £160k. The cheapest two bed house around £250K in a not so good but perfectly liveable part of the nearest town.
My 21 year old is saving now, puts the max he can in a help to buy isa every month and another lump sum into a savings account. He hopes to have a decent deposit by the time he is 25. In the mean time he lives at home and just pays me a small amount to cover the additional costs of having him here.
A Young man I work with who is around 25 always moans that he has to rent and will never be able to afford to buy but he is married with 2 young children and can’t see that his choices are what have put him in that position. He is hard working, great father and all round nice bloke would has bought into the myth that you can have it all rather than the truth that if you choose to have a family young on a average wage then you are not going to be in a position save and eventually buy.

*Maybe, instead of knowing you are right you could consider the possibility that OP is just different from you, has a different life experience and understands your issues about as much as you do hers.

TALK instead of maligning!

That might be why she posted...*

Tbf the op hasn’t really said much, other then she and her friends own there own homes, without help from others, bar one. So there’s not much TALK to be had really.

And

1. They don’t want to buy

I think it depends massively on where you live. There are some parts of the country eg Colne, Lancs where you can still buy a decent house for less than £50,000.

@rubyroot I am certainly not boasting just stating that my norm is what I see and the article didn’t ring true for me, my family and friends. And I really think your comment is a low blow. I am a actually quite a nice person (not boasting)

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71972239.html

*Friendly1234

@rubyroot I am certainly not boasting just stating that my norm is what I see and the article didn’t ring true for me, my family and friends.*
do you think that it’s difficult for some people to get on the property ladder due to often factors out of their control?

I'm in London and a lot of my friends own their home but we are all in the 35-50 age bracket now - so most of us benefited from buying our first flats when prices were still lower and selling for a good profit to then move to a house... If we were starting out now, it would be a completely different situation.

I've been looking into different areas a lot recently considering moving out of London and yes, obviously there are many areas where you can get a 3 bed semi for well under £200,000 or a little flat for much, much less. But that won't help many first time buyers if there are no jobs in their sector in the area and their friends and family live several hours away...

All of my friends own too, I'm 38 with 2 toddlers and live in a fairly expensive city. However I recognise that my friends don't represent a random cross section of society. They're people from my course at university, people I've met at work, people that already live in the pretty expensive area where I live.

As a northerner, doesnt surprise me. If you can live at home on less than it would cost to rent privately, partner early and get full time even NMW work, there are many areas where it is doable enough. Now clearly not everyone has the two or three of these things that are needed, but they're hardly uncommon either. It's not necessarily the case that cheaper means really crap job market either. There are places where you can buy a sub 150k property, hell a sub 100k property, within reach of decent sized job markets. They're not going to be in areas a lot of MN would like (though heaven knows their London equivalents would probably be recommended to people on here!) but they're there and people do it.

That said, your age makes a difference. You're not old enough to have bought pre boom, but people in their early 30s were adults in the 2009-10 period of lower prices. Lots of the societal cohort you're talking about bought then. It is harder for people a few years younger even in areas of cheaper housing.

I am certainly not boasting just stating that my norm is what I see and the article didn’t ring true for me, my family and friends
I understand what you are saying OP. My parents, aunts and uncles all own a house, my siblings all bought, my friends mostly bought, we live in the capital. None are overly rich but bought during the recession, or saved everything for years, when they bought most got 99% mortgage, Lots had a miserable time starting it, but it is not unique to own one in my circle.
I am the odd one out, I spent my 20s partying and buying clothes, not saving etc, I have some MH issues from a child.
I do regret I don't have a house to call my own, now you need a 10% deposit, average home is 300,000, I am 38 so I'll probably never buy one.

Yes, my friends (outside London) all bought houses in their late 20s. They all had hefty help from parents though; matching partners deposits, financial help, living at home for 5 years on a decent wage etc. But in many ways I feel better off - I went travelling. I’d have hated to be tied so young to a mortgage.

It’s not the norm to buy houses at 24-26. The average age of a first time buyer is 30 and a lot of them (I think the majority) have help from parents. I think you’re a bit naive and a lot of your friends have likely had quite a bit of help from parents. That may not necessarily be direct help but can include living at home for free or help with uni so you don’t build up debt. Also things were easier 10 years ago - mortgages were easier to get and prices were lower in many places.

Most people I worked with when I first trained in my profession had expensive city centre flats already despite being straight out of university. I wasn’t stupid enough to think they bought it themselves though- it was because they had parents who gave them money.

You live in a bubble op. You should get out more

To add now my rent is at least 500 a month more than any of their mortgage payments, my sister lives in a 5 bedroom show house, her mortgage is 1200, my rent is 1600 a month in a small 3 bedroom.

You live in a bubble op Yup! A bubble many other posters also inhabit. Big bubble out here in the boonies!

I also think that’s it’s a bit of a feminist issue. If a house is affordable on one wage that’s great. But being pregnant / having children with a mortgage and one wage is a whole different ball game.
So I think one factor is that you then need to make a stable relationship to have your children, as much a priority as the house. I know people assume that’s the “ best” way to have children but it’s not the only way and life does throw stuff out there.

When to have children and affordability is more of an issue for women A man in his 20’s can get a job save up for a deposit and have responsibilitiy for children when it suits him.

I'm mid-thirties, and in my bubble, pretty much everyone I know that is a similar age rents - with and without having had kids young, with or without having parents around.

It's just hasn't been one of our priorities and with all the complaints I see regularly about house issues, I find it quite nice that I don't have to deal with structural problems and my letting agency has usually been on the ball about it in the over ten years we've been here. My DH has only started to consider buying a house in the last year, which I support, but don't really see as appealing as he does.

I don't think others' prioritizing it are wrong or that bubbles, where this is common, aren't there, but I think there are a lot of reasons why far more people are either struggling to get on the housing ladder - which to me reads as people who would love to, but cant - may be more common that either those of us who just don't care about it or who were able to buy a home in early adulthood in this economic climate.

I never said that I said in my world home ownership is the norm, that is all!! I never called anyone feckless or lazy!!

Oh come on OP

Are you really trying to claim you started a thread because you really wanted to know if you were being unreasonable, to think buying a house in the norm in your world, when literally every single one of your friends and family have been buying or building their own homes for the past ten years?

Next you'll be asking if you're unreasonable to think breathing is normal amongst your family and friends...

I bet that people can still buy a house or a flat, they just need to choose a cheap house, in a bad neighbourhood in a cheap city.

Very helpful advice here for those who are happy to completely disregard the purpose of houses.

"I agree OP i bought my first flat 4 years ago on my own on a salary on £18k. Flat cost £100k."

My DD was applying for mortgages around the same time, she couldn't lend near that in £18k, so she had to look at new builds. She was applying for a promotion so waited. On £28k she could just about afford and easily get a £125k mortgage, in 2017.

OP, you are also lucky that ypuve found a Partner and can share costs. But all the 'jobs' you've stated are professional.

Out of interest are your Friends who work in retail, how much are their mortgages for, are they single, did they rent before buying?

The single people that i know, who've bought, didn't get help for a deposit. But over the years have had family help, in other ways.

It never ceases to wind me up when people say ‘you should just leave London if you can’t afford it’.

Lots of people DO leave London. I’d say a quarter of our friends left when they had families because they wanted to buy or to have a house rather than a tiny flat.

But lots of people can’t. A quick look at a major jobs website for my sector shows there are 287 job vacancies on London for my role. There are 43 in the whole of the rest of the UK.

"I bet that people can still buy a house or a flat, they just need to choose a cheap house, in a bad neighbourhood in a cheap city."

That only works for some occupations. Those cheap cities don't have stable, decently paid, employment.

Also cheap cities don't have good public transport, so car ownership isn't optional.

I'm in Liverpool, our bus service is becoming a joke and finshes by 11.20pm.

I totally agree with you OP

Every single person I know, single, couple or family who rent and moan they can't afford a deposit are the same people who have a summer holiday every year, new car, sky telly, pizza Fridays etc.

It's about compromise. Unless you are on minimum wage or a genuine low salary where your necessary outgoings meet your income there really is no reason you can't save.

My husband and I saved the deposit for our first shitty 1 bed flat for 2 years. We took packed lunches to work. Never went out at the weekend. No treats/takeaways etc. It was miserable but it was our only option.

@Ponoka7 I have one friend who is in retail (management) and single she bought a two bed Victorian terrace with fab high ceilings (it is the cutest little house I adore it 💕) I think she said it was 160k and another who works in debenhams (her other half does sports programs with secondary school kids(or something to that effect 😬) theirs is a 2 bed new build for 180ish