To think it’s not just First Time Buyers who have it tough?

[sunflowery]

Me and DH bought our first house just over 3 years ago. House prices in our area are quite high so we only had a 10% deposit and purchased a two bed ‘starter’ type home and were chuffed with ourselves for getting on the ladder in our mid twenties with below average salaries.

We missed the lifetime ISA and not paying stamp duty opportunities by less than a year.

We’d like to have DC and move in the next couple of months, but due to Brexit and Covid uncertainty and the predictions of a house price crash I worry we will be stuck here for the long haul.

Meanwhile my younger sister and her partner can now buy a house worth up to £450K with no stamp duty, and the government bonus, so they are looking at being able to get a bigger ‘family’ house straight away on similar salaries.

I’m happy for them, obviously, but AIBU to feel a little bit jealous that we just missed the FTB perks and now feel that actually young second steppers have it worse in terms of housing?

It’s true but you could say the same about so many generations , the baby boomers had it good . I bought in 2002 no problem but my younger sibling had the 2007-08 crash to contend with so has only just been able to buy now at aged nearly 40 .

The boomers definitely had it best for sure. Just think we are now worse off than if we had stayed at home longer and bought a year later !

Definitely true. We're expecting our second child this year and due to vivid we are putting off moving. Had planned to have our house on the market now. Our issue is that to move, we need to sell. Our house is a 2 bed upper cottage flat so is the type of place a first time buyer would buy. If there are no first time buyers then we won't be able to sell.

It's just up and down isnt it, we bought end of 2018 (3 bed semi) in a less popular area, friends kept waiting for the Brexit crash which never came and got priced out of a house and into a flat. But with the Covid impact it's likely that we will both lose out and a third set of friends will be able to get something bigger in the future. It doesnt matter really as long as we are all happy with our homes

Not having kids would help you ensure the current house is large enough. Jealousy isn't helpful, unless it motivates to achieve greater things, usually through hard work and some flexibility.

Not long ago there was a good article on the FT saying that first time buyers are now relatively old (>30) so they skip the first rung of the housing pyramid /ladder.

Try being a boomer who bought their house for three grand on one salary, with inflation wiping away the mortgage debt within a few years and leaving them with vast unearned housing wealth. Comparatively we've all been screwed.

We bought when interest rates were 15%. I had a full time job and a weekend job to afford the mortgage. DH was self employed and worked every day.

I wouldn’t call that having it particularly good.

@Moomin12345 that’s true but we do want a family!

I fear exactly that - we won’t be able to move up as there won’t be a market for starter homes anymore. Tbh if I don’t blame FTBers for skipping that step if they can but I do wish the policies could be a bit more fair. Eg one stamp duty free house per person or something.

@Foxyloxy1plus1
Every single time with the "we wuz paying 15%" line
Interest rates were 15% for a few months. Meanwhile inflation and wage rises were sky-high by modern standards, inflating away the mortgage debt.

"We missed the lifetime ISA and not paying stamp duty opportunities by less than a year."

But you would have been able to use the H2B ISAs, which are exactly the same 'reward' rate as the lifetime ones. So how have you lost out there?

Oh, here we go, divide and rule and slag off the boomers.

It is hard when you feel like you've missed out. But you can have a child in a 2 bed house, and then think of moving again in a few years maybe.

I think a lot of the problem is how long people have a big mortgage payment every month, because wages aren’t growing at a rate that would erode the size of that over time.

So you struggle to get on the ladder and then when you finally make it, it’s still a much bigger proportion of your income than at other points in the recent past.

It really wasn't easy for boomers to buy either back in the day!

@MadinMarch and yet so many managed to do it on one salary with a job that didn't require any professional qualifications

@Foxyloxy1plus1
Every single time with the "we wuz paying 15%" line

Ain’t that the truth.

I’d far rather be paying 15% interest rates on the 1985 average of £35k than 2% on today’s average of £220 k.

Well, it wasn’t £35k or anything like it and I also pointed out that I had two jobs and we couldn’t afford children until much later. We had two salaries, which I also pointed out, so three if you count the weekend one I had. My main job required professional qualifications, hard won.

My salary was pretty poor. We struggled, just like people do now. Why does it have to be a competition over who has/had it worst. Lots of people find it difficult. Lots don’t have what they would like. But if it makes you feel better....

Slightly in defense of boomers: my dad couldn't get a mortgage for a family home unless he would marry. The second they got married the company fired my mum because they were against married women working. So they lost her income just as their mortgage was arranged....

The prices I quoted are the national average. If you paid more for a posh location that’s only what richer people choose to do now. Having two jobs and waiting for kids is common - do you not know how much older the average first-time-mothers are now, either? Good on you for having pro qualifications, my parents had nothing higher than o level, my mother having none at all, and they are still better off than me at the same ages. What boomers struggled to buy, we struggle to rent. It really is that simple. Just admit it, because I at least am sick of boomers not having the faintest idea of modern reality.

YABU. Everyone has their own struggles.

You decided to buy a smaller house in a more expensive area. Unfortunately the more kids you have, the greater the need for room.

Well, it wasn’t £35k or anything like it
The last time the BoE rate was 15% was in 1981. The average house price back then was just £24k. If you paid more than £35k are you saying you managed to buy a much bigger house than the average back then? You must have been on easy street!

Surely the house value increase since you bought the house is worth more than the stamp duty you would have saved by waiting a few years, not to mention the rent you have saved. Also the help to buy ISA was invented in about 2015, so you didn't miss out there. I don't think it's as bad as you think.

What value increases ? Apparently it’s all crashed by 20% at least. It’s more like snakes and ladders than a housing ladder

I am in my 2 bed flat for the long haul. My flat costs £392k and the houses in my area are £800k. I would be having an only child and my child would have his or her own bedroom.

There are worst things- not being able to remortgage due to negative equity in 5 years time..if house prices drop by 50%, that's a real possibility.