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.

I feel very sorry for the generation after me - I'm in my fifties. IMO private individuals shouldn't be allowed to own more than one property. It's so unfair. Housing is a basic necessity, it shouldn't be an investment commodity. It's ridiculous that renting is so expensive.

The situation is exacerbated by interest rates being so low. If you're an older person with savings it makes sense to invest it in property.

The government is comprised of property owning landlords.

It's true that younger people do have some things easier. Some things are comparatively cheaper and the standard of living has improved for so many people; I assume this is where the nasty accusations of being an extravagant snowflake come from. But this is dwarfed by the sky high cost of property. It's awful. I'm sure it's no consolation but please know that there are older people like myself who recognise the unfairness.

I think if someone has a proven, faultless rent history of five years plus at a rate higher than morgage payments, they should be eligible for a 100% mortgage.

Something needs to be done to address the growing inequality regarding housing. I'm fortunate in that I bought 20 years ago when prices were relatively low, in a relatively cheap area. And an imminent inheritance will allow me to buy a bigger property outright. I know chance has played a large part and that many will never get that chance, through no fault of their own. I'm not sure what the answer is.

Seems to flats going up everywhere here. It's not just the selling off of council housing though, we have a larger population since 1979 and more need

The only answer is to stop people from owning 2nd/3rd/4th/5th homes. I include holiday homes in that. And foreign billionaire investors who buy whole blocks of property because of some weird loophole in our property tax law.

Agree we need more affordable housing, but "affordable" usually means rented/housing association and is deliberately built to look less nice. And then the liberal well meaning councils move their most troublesome families into nice new houses thinking the niceness will rub off. Hint: it doesn't.

We have a lot of empty properties in the UK and they should be brought back into habitation.

Any new development should have proper affordable housing, not just for rental to the awkward squad as I mention above. We need fewer large 4/5 bedroom houses and more 2/3 bedrooms. And more bungalows. Stop any more bungalows being turned into houses, too.

And there needs to be far more disincentives to have second homes, as well as carrots to encourage small families to move out of large houses. For example 50 somethings whose kids have flown the nest don't need 4 bed houses in school catchment areas.

Unless many more houses are built house prices will continue to rise. There are lots of new builds going up round my area but they are selling as soon as they're on the market so demand is still very high. Many people can afford them though as they are selling.

I find this so frustrating.

MIL lived in a council flat which she was then given the right to buy. She then rented this out and bought a big house with no deposit and on an interest only mortgage for £200k. This house is now worth around £600k and when she’s finished paying off her interest only mortgage, she will sell the rented out flat (which has also shot up in value) and pay off the house.

It makes me so angry as she’s so careless with money and has never been bothered about progressing in a career (to the extent that her children have had to lend her money multiple times). DP and I work so incredibly hard, both have very good jobs but are totally priced out of the area and haven’t got a hope of buying our first house here.

Right to buy should never have happened

It decimated council housing for future generations

There is. Report in link below below worth reading.

“The deregulation of financial markets that took place from the 1980s onwards, combined with the privatization of social housing, has transformed UK real estate from an ordinary good, insulated to some extent from consumer and financial markets, into a valuable financial asset. The financialization of real estate has had a largely negative impact on the UK’s housing market, the wider economy and indi- vidual communities; wealth inequality, financial instability, gentrification and homelessness have all increased as the role of the financial sector in UK property has increased.”

academic.oup.com/cdj/article/56/1/79/5942922?login=true

@Racoonworld

I agree it's hard to save up enough for a deposit if you're on your own and trying to buy in an expensive area. But did you not think that the prices might go up when you started saving? 50k in 10 years doesn't sound a huge rise.

I don't think OP is saying the houses are now £50k dearer than 10 years ago Just that help to buy is making houses dearer now

I doubt the stamp duty situation is helping, either.

Ignore me.

I know it looks like I haven't read the whole thread, but I wrote and posted ages ago but it's only just appeared

@FizzyPink

I find this so frustrating.

MIL lived in a council flat which she was then given the right to buy. She then rented this out and bought a big house with no deposit and on an interest only mortgage for £200k. This house is now worth around £600k and when she’s finished paying off her interest only mortgage, she will sell the rented out flat (which has also shot up in value) and pay off the house.

It makes me so angry as she’s so careless with money and has never been bothered about progressing in a career (to the extent that her children have had to lend her money multiple times). DP and I work so incredibly hard, both have very good jobs but are totally priced out of the area and haven’t got a hope of buying our first house here.

I remember working with people in the early 90s boasting about buying their council houses for very little in Essex/London borders then selling them on and we had bought on open market.

I would also like to see councils auditing their properties and coming down hard on sub letting which is illegal

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.

Councils need to build more council houses instead of selling off land to be developed by building companies. If the government invested the amount of money into housing that they did into HS2 it would probably have a much greater economic effect for people if they could finally get out of private renting.

too many people. over population plus too many second homers

unlss there is a drastic overhaul things can only get worse.

there are so many arguments to help or not migrants, but where will they live? and the second homers have ruined many places now.

ALso foreign buyers at the top end of the market and they don't actually live in the homes just keep them empty

all these reasons are making the situation unable to be stable.

It really does depend where you live. Most of my 20 something friends have bought, flats start at around £80k here

I think if someone has a proven, faultless rent history of five years plus at a rate higher than morgage payments, they should be eligible for a 100% mortgage.

On the surface that sounds fantastic but I think this would just continue to contribute to the problem.

Prices go up because there are too many buyers. If you make it easier for more people to become buyers, and give those buyers more money to spend, the price of what they are buying goes up.

This wouldn't work unless we built more houses. That is really the only answer. We need supply to meet demand.

@caringcarer sorry but your attitude is part of the issue. BTL landlords are not adding anything very much to society but stopping people like me from getting on the ladder. I can’t compete with someone who has multiple properties and more financial backing at their disposal.

For house prices to massively decrease, the construction trade would need a massive decrease in their wages, as the two are obviously directly linked.

If that happened, new houses simply would get built, thus pushing house prices up.

The best I think all can hope for is the market to stagnate, or drop around 5%....

But agree , 3 doors down, same house as us but not got an extension like we have(very large single story extension) and they've just sold for £95k more than they paid 2 5 years ago.... bonkers.

Yes councils should be creating more council rentables.

not building though there will no longer be any green spaces......which is not good for the planet or mental health or children.

compulsory purchase empty homes and use those for a start.

Btw I'm another poster who bought a complete dump in the worst area of the city and slowly did it up myself over a couple of years.

I then sold it for £30k over what I paid, and put that £30k into a shared ownership property in the area I wanted to be (my 25% share was £34k so avoided the shared ownership mortgages which seem like hell to get).

This is one way to potentially do it. Those years were hellish in many ways, but it worked out eventually and I'm where I want to be now. No idea how I will make the next move because although my property value has increased in line with everything else I would be buying, I'm only entitled to 25% of that increase.

We do have almost enough homes in the UK, but a great deal aren’t in the right area or are rarely used second homes.

I own the flat I live in, well, the mortgage company do, I was able to save by house sharing and then living in a small one bed flat.

The rental market in England is a disaster, there simply is not enough regulation in housing quality/maintenance. Rents are also very expensive, a one bed flat in our building was advertised for rent fairly recently, the monthly rent requested was significantly higher than the mortgage on my three bed with a balcony. I’m am also very much against the sale of council/HA owned properties, I am also against a home for life when the tenant could downsize from a three bed family home to a one bed, but for that to be effective we need more social housing and more properties with fewer bedrooms.

Bashing 2nd home owners is not justified either. We own a 2 bed flat, it was mine before we met and we've kept it, sometimes let it out, sometimes left it empty.
In the early stages of our relationship it was my safety net, then an income, plus we've moved a lot with husbands job, including overseas, so we always had a home in the UK.
When we retire we intend to live overseas travelling a lot, but our flat will be our UK permanent address. Helps with pension and healthcare issues etc.

We need to stop seeing houses as investment. .
stop 2nd homes
stop buy to let
stop foreign investment
build council homes
compulsory purchase of empty homes
stop helping out schemes....They only serve the rich
all rental to be run councils not private landlords
ban estate agents