To think there is a serious problem with the housing market in this country

[Kitchendisco21]

I was just about to buy my first home having spent 10 years saving a deposit. Thanks to the stupid help to buy intervention, the houses I was able to buy are now 50k more expensive so I am completely priced out. I am so utterly sick of it.

And no, I can’t move elsewhere/ get somewhere smaller/eat fewer avocados! I have been saving for a decade.

Aibu to be so fed up. I read last week that 98% of keyworkers couldn’t buy a home in the uk now. When will people actually wake up & see what a major problem there is? I am so angry.

It's not sustainable

Endless building is even less sustainable.

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

It's not sustainable

Endless building is even less sustainable.

You don’t need endless building.

What we need is a different money system that isn’t based on central bank debt.

@Aabb57853379

It is the baby boomer middle class. They are fleecing all of us. Rampant price increases have created inequality and reward for no effort at all.

Oh, ffs! Grow up! Where is your actual evidence for this? So "baby boomers" have caused "rampant price increases". Describe how, please.

@Aabb57853379

It is all of the baby boomers who are fleecing entrants to the market. It is outrageous that some people, by the accident of their year of birth, should be rolling in free money while others need to save decades to be unable to afford even a basic home. It means that unless you inherit you can never buy anywhere decent.

You've made quite a few statements there. Now - back them up with hard evidence, please......

It’s not necessarily the boomers fault. Politicians and central bankers have assumed that boomers love their properties to go up in price. They think it makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside and they’ll vote for them and their implicit policies. As yet, they haven’t been proved otherwise - people celebrated housing as an asset for years. Only now the worm is really turning as you can’t fight demographics.

Anyway, young people have a f**k you and we’ve had it for the last decade. Proper decentralised Crypto will force a different type of monetary policy - one that doesn’t allow such ridiculous behaviour to continue.

Prices went up fourfold in less than 5 years over the late 90s / early 00s. They've never come back down, and wages have only increased by maybe half - double over the 20 years since then. That was the baby boomer era, really, the time when they were aged 30 - 60 and fairly firmly in charge of affairs. Surely no one is going to try and deny generational inequality?

@LindyLou2020

Aabb57853379
It is the baby boomer middle class. They are fleecing all of us. Rampant price increases have created inequality and reward for no effort at all.
Oh, ffs! Grow up!
Where is your actual evidence for this? So "baby boomers" have caused "rampant price increases".
Describe how, please.

++++

More than happy to describe exactly how.
In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s at a time when the boomers were buying there first houses there was an annual house build of 250to 300k houses per year. There were no objections to new housing being built and it was seen as a good thing to create homes for people.
Since the levels have decreased steadily to just over 100k per year by 2000 to 2010 though they have picked up recently to 170k by 2019.
Meantime the UK population has increased from 55 m in 1970 to 68 m in 2020.
So in summary we are building fewer houses for more people.
Why is this? This is due to ever tightening restrictions on where developers can build out of voter (boomer) voting pressure to stop new developments. Why bother building new houses when you already have one, besides the fewer houses built means the higher house prices will rise, they just don't care about young people.
Why f you don't believe me then next time your local paper runs a story about a protest against a new housing development - look at the photo of the protesters and I guarantee they will all be boomers except for one token mum and baby.
A new housing development always attracts howls of protests from those that already have their own home, there is never a thought for the young families that would like a home of their own.
So that in essence is why unaffordable housing is the fault of the boomers.

^ I would add the sale of council houses (to baby boomers) and the sudden encouragement of buy-to-let to that starting point. There really wasn't much of a private rental market prior to the 90s, outside of student lets. Buy to lets inflated demand and reduced supply, no wonder the house prices went up. It's in that period that we saw the change in attitude towards housing as commodity rather than the need for a home.

I really like the German continental Model you rent what you need and upsize to what you need when you have kids and downsize to something smaller at retirement. It's cheaper and fairer

I've had massive cashback from them when I was taking mime out so it covered some other fees. Worth a look. Good luck!

The poster who contributed this (relating to a recommended mortgage provider) is smart, so she’ll know that you pay for everything you get when taking out a mortgage. No free lunches or free cash in financial services.

It's very much shutting the door after the horse has bolted but better than nothing if England finally caught up with NI, Wales, and Scotland. Right to Buy is still not banned in England.

.

For the people declaring that something has to be done: what do you think should happen?

1. If only fewer people wanted to own their own home! How can we make that happen? Er...

1. If only banks would lend more money to more people on the cheap so that there is even more money sloshing around looking for a home in the housing market! What could be the flaw in that plan? It wouldn’t, you know, make prices go up, would it?

1. If only interest rates would go up. Then people would save their money in cash instead of buying houses. Then supply would go up. Yes. Mortgage rates can stay low, though, so that buyers can afford more on a lower income. That would definitely work. Make the banks pay. Or the government. What could go wrong?

1. If only people would stop getting divorced or moving away from their parents’ houses and wanting to be independent. Then they wouldn’t be buying all the houses. Bastards.

1. If only everyone selling a house would reduce the price by 40%. So that those houses could be bought by people who currently can’t afford them. What could go wrong with that plan? Why wouldn’t anyone want to hand tens or hundreds of thousands to a stranger?

1. If only those buy to let landlord bastards were forced to sell their houses for half what they are worth. Yeah, that will show them. It couldn’t possibly reduce the number of available homes for people who want to rent, could it? No. Of course not.

@weareallpassengers

I agree..I think it should be illegal for house prices to go up.

You wouldn’t think like that if you owned a property (if you do you’re mad!).

Property is an investment. How else to you expect to be able to move up the ladder, once you’re on it of course?

I like the fact my home has increased in value by around £150,000 since I bought it. It means I can buy something bigger (though it’s plenty big enough), or release equity to buy land (which we have).

@weareallpassengers

I agree..I think it should be illegal for house prices to go up.

Property is an investment. How else to you expect to be able to move up the ladder, once you’re on it of course?

I like the fact my home has increased in value by around £150,000 since I bought it. It means I can buy something bigger (though it’s plenty big enough), or release equity to buy land (which we have).

“ I like the fact my home has increased in value by around £150,000 since I bought it. It means I can buy something bigger (though it’s plenty big enough), or release equity to buy land (which we have).”

Then you are pretty silly. That £150k increase on yours, probably means proportionality ‘something bigger’ went up £250k. I guess you just love being smarmy about your illusory gains?

So you think you’re better off in this situation yeah?

I like the fact my home has increased in value by around £150,000 since I bought it. It means I can buy something bigger (though it’s plenty big enough), or release equity to buy land (which we have).

House A : was 300k, now 450k
House B: was 500k, now 750k

So yeah, well done. You’ve gone from needing 200k to upsize to 400k. Genius.

Anyway have fun staying poor (indebted), whilst smart people actually invest in productive businesses and hard money without using leverage to do it.

Sorry that should have been 300k to upsize, but the point remains! Mums net is having issues tonight which means I fat fingered and couldn’t change it.

Me and OH dream of a garden for our girls. But its impossible to save. Rent is more than half our earnings. And with us both furloughed we have been living pay check to paycheck. I also dont want to miss out on life you know? I want to go out for a coffee here and there, have a few drinks at the pub here and there. I would only be able to save maybe £50-£100 pcm. Part of me thinks it's not worth it! I'll still never be able to afford anything.
Help to buy scares me, new builds scare me. I've heard so many horror stories. Me and OH actually applied for a council house this evening. We live in a 2 bed flat with our 2 girls and dream of having more space. I cant see us being able to move out any othe way. At the end of the day I'm thankful I have a roof over my head but it does seem so unfair, the average person on the average salary can afford the average house in our area. But we all pay un godly amounts of rent.

I feel I have to choose between staying with a man who beats and rapes me, killing myself, or slum housing (or possibly none at all). He took my money I was saving as deposit, left me disabled, and now I have no way out. I feel extra despair when government increase house prices. I wish I had the chance of safe home so I could recover and rebuild my life but I know it may not happen. I'd love to own my own home but I'd also be happy to live in social housing. It would be my safe space but it feels out of reach for me. My council won't even let you apply to their housing register unless facing homelessness but then they still try to stop you being on the list, trying to dismiss you to private rent. It's true what people in the thread say. Landlords don't want tenants on benefits so that means many disabled people. The only ones who do including the temporary accommodation ones are the slum ones. Often it's illegally dangerous housing but there's no other option when you're desperate. I could try another area but I'm only just surviving because of being where I know where there's family and where good medical support. I wish there was more social housing including for disabled people. The bedroom tax has taken away a lot of single person housing making it even harder for disabled people.

Am in the same position, almost ready to buy pre covid, now can't afford anything again. Its difficult, my rate of saving just cant keep up with the rise in house prices, am now 40 so worried if I dont do it soon I'll totally miss the boat.

I know so many people who made a boatload off of right to buy. Often mascarding as a single parent to get the house, then as soon as they were able, selling it. I know one family who was in Surrey at the time, who made something like 200k on the main home and 90k on a flat (both claiming to be single parents when actually together the whole time) and bought a detached 4 bed on a very expensive street in West Byfleet paying 600k cash after they sold both pocketing over 290k in free money. They aren't one in a million, I know about 10 people who sold soon after right to buy and have very privileged positions as a result, forgetting how they got there was a massive handout others didn't get.

I do think another issue is 2nd and 3rd homes and it's wreaked havoc in the southwest. Many buying small homes that would have gone to locals but through inflated prices were snapped up, renovated and now rent out for 2k + a week in the summer months. So many people wanting buy to let too. I think 2nd and 3rd home owners should have to pay 4-5x the council tax.

So many key workers can't get on the property ladder and it seems like we allow so many to get away with behaviour that will make it harder and harder.

I don’t know what more evidence the people on this thread who still believe ‘it’s always been hard’ or ‘property is an investment and higher prices are good’ need to get through through their thick skulls, to realise this rigged game has caused deep social problems that can only be rectified by an enormous cultural shift away from seeing shelter as a financialised asset.

The government - they made their stall pretty fking clear when in the depths of the pandemic - the one sacrosanct excuse that allowed people to travel anywhere legally was to view a house - because we’ve got to keep the housing market afloat because that is UK plc. And calling emergency meetings to discuss stamp duty! You couldn’t make it up.

It’s disgusting. Stuff them. All parties are the same too. I honestly believe it’s best to Opt out. Don’t take in debts and avoid tax in whatever way you can. Your pension, don’t work, whatever until there is a change that incentives social mobility.

And this is coming from a near millionaire! There actions over the last decade have made me reasonably well off, and I still would trade it all for a fairer more equitable country.

Believe me, it's not just happening in your country.

YANBU at all, its a terrible state so frustrating and you have worked so hard to save I seriously feel for you, seems the only way these days to have a place to call home is to get given money or to rent from council at lower price and have basically the same security for life. If your not lucky enough to have money given to you or be in the system it just feels like inflation just goes up and up while your saving and wages never seem to so your money is basically more or less worth the same as what you started with, such a joke -_- I have a hunch though that house prices are going to HAVE to come down at some point in the near future - I feel a 2008 all over again, value of housing market dropping and banks making profits when ppl start to be in negative equity and oweing them money. The value on some houses, especially the new builds is just ludicrous and genuinley not relative to the value, it stinks of market manipulation to me - the new build devleopmer monoploy and banks and mortgae lenders.... im waiting to see if the prices fall in the summer when eviction restrictions start to be lifted on 31st May and LL who havent been able to get rent from tenants either sell up and count their loses, or people who need a quick sale due to growing debts. Its just awful that someone has to loose for someone to win. So sick of it.