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.

The trouble with affordable housing is that it needs to be high density in order to be affordable and people don’t want to live in high density housing.

Well Central Bank policy never gave me free money.
I was on £80 per month, my bus fare was £4 per week and I had a room in a shared flat for £60 per month. I had to take on other jobs just so I could eat and have lights

Central Bank policy might have helped some who had money in the bank but most people were in the same boat. Dirt poor and scrabbling for every penny you could get.

Also a shared flat now is nothing like the shared flats then. With rent control there were very few rental properties and the choice wasnt there. You felt lucky getting someone to rent to you even at an extortionate rent for a shit hole.
I know someone who spent his university years renting a cupboard. His feet used to stick out onto the landing when he slept

Can you imagine that now. Then it was normal

I totally agree with you op. This country is a joke when it comes to attempting buy a home. I'm currently looking to buy as well and in London and last night on Zoopla I see social housing houses being put on the market starting from 900k. I work in a senior position and my dh is a company director and we are priced out. Someone in that social housing has bought the property for 180k years ago when they had the right to buy and rented it until now and now is asking for 900k guide price. It's a joke honestly especially in London. All these prices are so inflated and is pushing us out from zone 2 where we are currently renting soon we have to probably just about afford closer to the M25 borders. It's really really unfair.

@Bythemillpond

Well Central Bank policy never gave me free money. I was on £80 per month, my bus fare was £4 per week and I had a room in a shared flat for £60 per month. I had to take on other jobs just so I could eat and have lights

Central Bank policy might have helped some who had money in the bank but most people were in the same boat. Dirt poor and scrabbling for every penny you could get.

Also a shared flat now is nothing like the shared flats then. With rent control there were very few rental properties and the choice wasnt there. You felt lucky getting someone to rent to you even at an extortionate rent for a shit hole.
I know someone who spent his university years renting a cupboard. His feet used to stick out onto the landing when he slept

Can you imagine that now. Then it was normal

Is this a pastiche of the 4 Yorkshiremen sketch? Excellent work.

Free Central Bank money?

To go with government increased house prices?

Yeah. Of course.

Sorry for my short rants yesterday - I just get mad when so-called "boomers" are blamed for all the financial difficulties faced by younger people. It incorrectly and unfairly stereotypes a whole generation, just like so-called millennials are referred to as "snowflakes" - equally insulting and risible.
It encourages a "divide and conquer" mentality, which helps no-one.
There are a myriad of reasons and opinions as to why housing, whether buying or renting, is such a problematic issue, and MumsNetters can't agree either.
And earlier eras also had problematic, but different issues.
I'm not qualified or clever enough to have a solution, but just take a look at these statistics:-
UK population 1961 - 52.6 million
UK population 2021 - 67.61 million
In 50 years, an increase of 15 million.
Surely the elephant in the room is that that there are TOO MANY PEOPLE......

Bythemilll, it does happen now. If you're on benefits, like if you're disabled, the only landlords who'll rent to you are the slum ones. When there's the no fault eviction clause, there's not much to protect vulnerable tenants.

The government has increased house prices, ChardonnaysPetDragon. Low interest rates, help to buy, and stamp duty holiday.

caringcarer

The thing is though people should be allowed to spend their own money on what they want to. Some people buy several cars. Others buy loads of shoes. Others buy too much food and much of it goes to waste. I prefer to spend my money on houses. There are so many houses on Rightmove but many people don't have a deposit saved. By buying a house I am not preventing a person without s deposit getting it because without a deposit they won't get a mortgage. I don't see how I am doing anything wrong. I have 6 btl houses. They are all rented out and housing many people. They are kept in good repair and I charge below market value and only increase tent by inflation every 2nd or 3rd year. If I were to sell them all tomorrow the houses would have appreciated and no one without a deposit would be able to buy any of them. I have bought 6 as an investment for me and DH and 1 house each for my 3 DC and 1 foster child who has lived with us since he was 5. Without private rental properties many, many more would be homeless. I also pay taxes on rental income which contributes to society also.

Can you really not see how this is contributing to the problem? BTL purchasers push prices up, which makes it more difficult for people to buy. And it takes another house out of circulation. More rental properties = fewer houses available to buy = higher prices. You'd have to be daft to think your actions don't play a part in this.

@Corrag

I think that's hugely over simplified and really wouldn't solve the problem even if BTL were (unwisely imo) to be banned.

Many people still would not be able to afford to buy, and for many, it's simply not what they want to do at some stages in their lives.
The country actually needs BTL properties - the less of them there are, the higher the rents that can be demanded. Having said that, landlords are heavily taxed now, so on top of paying the mortgage and repairs and maintenance, BTL is a much les attractive investment now than it used to be. I expect it will be harder and harder to find BTL to rent in the next few years, and it will therefore be even more expensive too

It was very deliberate Thatcherite policy in the eighties to sell off the council housing stock, so government weren't directly responsible for housing people. I can't envisage that any govenment now will want to re assume those responsibilities now. Rental in some form or another is here to stay, maybe changing from private landlords to corporate business- unlikely to improve standards or get repairs done more efficiently.
I do notice that many people looking to but for the first time, set their sights on a whole house. When I was young and first bought in the early eighties, people looked at small (often tiny!) flats or co bought a two bed flat with a friend (plenty of pitfalls in that, but it did provide them both with a home that was also a steeping stone to getting their own place later.

@safeornotsafe

The government has increased house prices, ChardonnaysPetDragon. Low interest rates, help to buy, and stamp duty holiday.

Please don’t argue with Chardonnay. They have a masters degree so know everything.

Risking a flaming but here goes anyway....did anyone think maybe we should stop voting for political parties (like the tories) that prioritize the needs of homeowners over others?

Not saying Labour or other parties are necessarily going to be better, but they might be...or at least, could they be worse?

The government had used some economic tools, they cannot dictate house prices.

Now, what about that free central back money? Where do I get that?

People suggesting that there should be laws against owning more than one property

There are no laws against having multiple; children, pets, cars, property etc

Every week there is a discussion about property

Central bank, even.

Anyway, how do I claim that?

All these prices are so inflated and is pushing us out from zone 2 where we are currently renting soon we have to probably just about afford closer to the M25 borders. It's really really unfair

My heart breaks for you. How awful to have to live outside Zone 2, however will you cope?

Ruining the fun with facts.... Many landlord insurances and mortgages do not allow rental to benefits claimants. Perhaps ask Shelter to campaign against this, perhaps even to offer their own insurance and mortgages...?

No one is getting evicted at the moment, notice period for section 21 is six months and that is start of legal applications, not evictions. Two years to the bailiff even when evictions are allowed. Hence many landlords are selling up as tenants leave. Local authority housing is exempt from some standards, notably the electrical safety check.

You get what you vote for.

Mass council building needed-
Houses of a sensible size (a bedroom that can fit 2 x single beds or a double. Wardrobes, Chest of drawers and bedside chest and still walk in the room.)
Parking for expected number of vehicles.
Gardens suitable for expected habitants
Bungalows
Single person flats/maisonettes
Rent capped to three quarters of local social rent. HB scrapped- shouldnt be needed.
Affordable housing actually that. Rent/buy on NLW without help is affordable not a 360k house needing a huge wage.

This last year should have shown that income is precarious and safe, clean homes are not a luxury but a basic right. It should also have shown that rabbit hutchs with no gardens are not fit for peoples wellbeing. Cramped housing has never worked, always leads to problems.

Most people cannot afford to buy on their own full stop, I don't think the narrative that 'key workers' are any more worthy or have more of a right to home ownership is fair; it should be made more accessible to all. At the moment for various reasons there is a real shortage of housing for sale and rent which is making it a seller's/landlords market, but I do think this will change, but not to the extent that makes it realistic for most people. I'm not sure what the solution is though really, some posters seem to have good ideas.

Many landlord insurances and mortgages do not allow rental to benefits claimants

They do now, that was outlawed some time ago.

Shelter won a case and I think it's now illegal to discriminate against benefits but enforcing it won't be easy. Landlords will just say the place has been let to someone else. I don't know who people could've voted for because Labour continued right to buy and encouraged buy to let. When I was ill and started having to spend my savings on rent, it was very hard to watch as friends used the tax I'd paid when working to get a right to buy very cheap home. Whilst I was living in slum private rents.

@LindyLou2020

Sorry for my short rants yesterday - I just get mad when so-called "boomers" are blamed for all the financial difficulties faced by younger people. It incorrectly and unfairly stereotypes a whole generation, just like so-called millennials are referred to as "snowflakes" - equally insulting and risible. It encourages a "divide and conquer" mentality, which helps no-one. There are a myriad of reasons and opinions as to why housing, whether buying or renting, is such a problematic issue, and MumsNetters can't agree either. And earlier eras also had problematic, but different issues. I'm not qualified or clever enough to have a solution, but just take a look at these statistics:- UK population 1961 - 52.6 million UK population 2021 - 67.61 million In 50 years, an increase of 15 million. Surely the elephant in the room is that that there are TOO MANY PEOPLE......

Sorry - I'm not clever enough at Maths either - 60 years, not 50 🙄

We need rent control.

TulisaIsBrill
If you think it was that bad try living it. I take it you weren’t an adult in the 70s otherwise you wouldn’t be comparing real life to a comedy sketch.

safeornotsafe
I was referring to the guy with his feet out on the landing.
And years ago there were very few landlords who could maintain their properties because of the rent control so most rentals were awful. Also if a landlord wanted you out then you were out. It would never get to the point of court or notice periods as a few men would be sent round to throw your possessions into the street and you along with them.

We need rent control

Because that really worked out last time.

I'm afraid some insurances and mortgages do still ban benefits tenants. Not mine, before the shrieking starts. In some ways someone on some benefits is preferable as the income may be more stable. But the fact that rent payment is now optional will not help perceptions, and yes landlords can (at the moment) choose their tenants.

And of course you have council's exempt from any standards, such as Croydon.