To wonder how ordinary people afford to live in such expensive places?

[Sienna290]

I have been job hunting and I saw a position based in Kent. I am not planning to apply for it but just out of curiosity I went on Rightmove to see how much it would cost to live there.

I earn 52,000 and would have a deposit of 50 so I was looking at around quarter of a million for starters. This would buy me - a rundown terrace or a one bed / studio flat.

Do most people buy in couples? Or is this just how it is in expensive towns and cities - ordinary people don’t live there!

I am amazed at the salaries people talk about. Over 50l a year for what kind of jobs? Lawyers, surgeons, etc I understand. High end tech and financing too but most other jobs are below 35k

Are you just looking at starting salaries? The average London salary is £36k and that includes low paid jobs such as retail, the service industry, etc. www.payscale.com/research/UK/Location=London-England%3A-London/Salary

Most people in established careers in London will be earning £50k or more. Employers have to offer higher salaries to offset the higher cost of living, for example I earn £50k here as a teacher, but I wouldn't be earning that much up north!

I think the official median salary in London is 40k. I was a teacher too and earned over 40k in my very early 30’s. DH PA doesn’t even have A-levels and earns more than that. Full time nannies get about 40k. In finance or law that could be a graduate salary that people earn in their early 20’s.

Inhertiance from parents usual cause and it will do this as time goes on with more properties being bought and passed onot children.

I think less properties will be inherited as people live longer and homes are sold to provide care home fees, we are going through that now as we are selling our former family home to pay for care which could be needed for another ten or even twenty years.

Yes £55k here.

In London that is a pittance for my profession.

@Lambikinis I bet you didn't have undergrad, post grad and professional courses debt to pay back though.

I couldn't start saving seriously until that was paid off.

Not a penny could I have saved on a low salary

NewYearsRevolution2020 between Crystal Palace and anerley. I’ve also seen many flats for 200k or less in Mitcham, Norwood junction, Croydon, Sydenham, woolwich, plumstead...

I live (renting) above a shop now and love it for the convenience. I personally want to be on a main road because I’m right next to the bus stop, shops, takeaways etc. I actively like having things on my doorstep. I don’t get the stigma to living above shops but if people on this thread are automatically ruling out anything that is, then no wonder they can’t afford anything they want to buy. I also looked at ex council flats when I was viewing properties. The only drawback is it can be harder to get a mortgage on places above shops and some ex council homes

I earn similar and being in south east had to wait to buy when I was in a couple

We did it as soon as we could

Still a tiny 2 bed terrace full renovation job through

I don’t get the stigma

Not necessarily stigma. The ambience is just far nicer on a quiet, tree-lined road.

Personally I prefer being closer to shops and bus routes but also budget-wise I’m not really in a position to prioritise ‘ambience’, neither are most people on this thread. I knew I couldn’t afford a period semi on a quiet tree lined road so I didn’t even look at them! I viewed properties within my budget and picked the best of the bunch. If people are automatically ruling out anything without the required ambience perhaps that’s where they’re going wrong?

Indeed. My first flat was 60s built, v unfashionable, grubby, painted tangerine, lime and sky blue. No CH and fitted kitchen with larder cupboard complete with silver fish.

The first surprise came when I lifted the greasy carpet ......... and found perfect parquet.

Once CH was in I painted the whole flat cream and white myself. Immediately made it nice to live in and increased the value.

Many friends went "ugh". They were renting similar dives. Then they went "ugh" boring all you do is work and decorate - there's more to life. There was far more clubbing, travel, fun jobs to their lives than mine in our 20s. Then we hit our 30's and all of a sudden "ugh" turned into "it's not fair, you don't know how lucky you are, there's no way we could afford a hiuse in London". Well they could have, if they'd compromised early.

Plenty of ordinary people do live in London and the SE. But many have been on the property ladder for 15 years + when property was more affordable. And although saving a sum like £50k is extremely difficult, it’s a small deposit in relative terms.

We live in SE London we bought a basement studio flat then moved up the chain to a tiny terrace then our current bigger house.
You have to start small and work your way up from the money you make in the sale and as your prospects improve.

£250,000 would buy you a doer upper here in Sennen, Cornwall with sea views but the average wage is about £15,000.

You would have to spend millions making it warm though

@FourTeaFallOut Your not wrong. Especially about London. My friend lives in a house worth over £2,000000 in Clapham in Clapham and a doctor has told him he really needs to move because his asthma is so bad and getting worse.
If you go to places like Clapham, Putney and Wandsworth it’s mummy central. The houses are ££££ and the air quality is appalling.

stamp duty makes moving up the ladder much harder these days.

We have joint income slightly higher than yours. We brought a run down ex council house and did it up, made a little bit on it, then we inherited and now we've got a nicer house. I think that lots of people round here (SE) buy jointly on high earnings, or have had family help or got on property ladder before housing was quite this expensive relative to income.

We didn't.

We moved up north and got a two bed with a garden and garage for 60k instead!

A lot of people comparing London prices to Kent for a reason - most of Kent is commuter belt for London jobs. I worked with a couple of people who commuted from Ashford on the high speed trains.

Lots of couples with children move to Kent for the schools/countryside and sell their London flats to buy a semi-detached house with garden in Kent (for about the same price). That drives the prices of all properties up, including flats.

@downlow Yeah I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned stamp duty as a barrier! We were originally going to buy a "starter home" for a few years and then buy somewhere nicer, until we realised that we'd have to pay £15k in stamp duty to move! So instead we pushed our budget to get a first home we'd be happy to stay in for 10 years and took full advantage of the first time buyer SD discount.

@dodgeballchamp I know those areas well - they are on my radar too.

Teaching in London starts on 30000 so retail at 35000 is very good (and perhaps where I have gone wrong).

I'm in a kent town where average property prices are nearly £700k.
Many of my friends are sahms with husbands earning multiple £100,000s per year plus bonuses and £2m plus houses.
They are 'normal' for around here, but the area attracts a lot of wealth.

Buying in couples or bank of mum and dad

NewYearsRevolution2020 you may need a slightly larger deposit if you’re on 30-35k. I got away with a 5% deposit in the initial mortgage in principle because I earn 45k so could borrow enough to make up the rest to 200k. Obviously this depends on your current outgoings and ability to save though, it took me several years to even save up 10k while living in house shares etc but I was self employed with lower earnings for much of that time