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.

If you’ve been saving for ten years surely you’ve noticed the increases and you being priced out. You can move to a cheaper area and you could have done years ago.

I keep saying it's demand, because of a rise in population numbers and unless that's addressed house prices will keep rising.

But that's as Zeitgeist-y, as for example saying "let's build more and more and more" and fuck the environment and in fact fuck anyone who wants an inch of green space.

[quote caringcarer]@Kitchendisco21, if all btl LL sold their houses tomorrow there would be a massive crisis as councils would not have enough hotel accommodation to put them all in, do many more homeless and rough sleepers. How would that in any way help you buy a home?[/quote]
Does the house disappear when you sell it? 😂

Classic buy to let logic. There’s no-one thicker than a landlord in my experience.

[quote Stellaris22]**@korawick12345* we have one* child and been saving for ten plus years with no holidays or luxuries.

A 2/3 bed terraced house is hardly an unreasonable first time house, we aren't trying to get a 4/5 bed semi detached.[/quote]
Yes, but you have been saving on 1.5 salaries and you want a 2/3 bed house. Would you have been more likely to be able to afford a 1 bed flat if you were both working full time? I am guessing the answer is probably yes.

Surely we should also be asking why salaries are so low in relation to house prices in this country?

I have a friend who was a cancer research scientist, PHD, very good at his job. He was paid just over £30,000 per year and couldn't raise a family on it, so he gave up full time work to become a personal trainer, and makes around about the same money, after tax. He can also live somewhere cheaper though.

Some parts of this country are very cheap to buy in. I have negative equity of around 17% on the purchase price of a new build purchased 8 years ago. No buyers at all, even at the reduced price (Scotland).

Does the house disappear when you sell it? 😂

Classic buy to let logic. There’s no-one thicker than a landlord in my experience

By the same logic a house doesn't disappear when it's let. Someone lives in it. It's true that the landlord benefits from it, but then the employer who gets away with paying peanuts because of UC top ups benefits just the same. And all the middle class benefit from low paid services, suck as cleaners, builders, delivery drivers and so on. It's all the wonders of the low wage economy.

You cannot separate one from the other.

@emilyfrost no, we have lives here and being forced to move because we've been priced out is just nasty. If people save for ten years and can't afford to buy the blame does not lie with the person saving. So we should move because someone wealthier can live here? Just, on so many levels, no.

Properties where I am are nearly all buy to let. That is the problem.

The problem is chronic undersupply of decent social housing with buy-to-let landlords stepping in to fill the void. Also, the fetishising of property as an investment rather than a basic human necessity.

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

Does the house disappear when you sell it? 😂

Classic buy to let logic. There’s no-one thicker than a landlord in my experience

By the same logic a house doesn't disappear when it's let. Someone lives in it. It's true that the landlord benefits from it, but then the employer who gets away with paying peanuts because of UC top ups benefits just the same. And all the middle class benefit from low paid services, suck as cleaners, builders, delivery drivers and so on. It's all the wonders of the low wage economy.

You cannot separate one from the other.

I completely agree. I don’t see renting/houses for rent as a problem per se. It should be a choice.

What we instead have is a completely rigged system where existing capital holders can leverage their gains to accumulate more, whilst new entrants don’t participate in the same game, for all the reasons you mention + more.

[quote Stellaris22]@emilyfrost no, we have lives here and being forced to move because we've been priced out is just nasty. If people save for ten years and can't afford to buy the blame does not lie with the person saving. So we should move because someone wealthier can live here? Just, on so many levels, no.

Properties where I am are nearly all buy to let. That is the problem.[/quote]
BTL landlords are not the problem.

You are wanting to buy in an area you can’t afford. So you either move your lives somewhere you can afford to buy, or you continue to rent.

The fact is you’ve settled down and created roots where you can’t actually afford to live. You have to deal with that.

@missbunnyrabbit

My boyfriend is looking to buy in our town so I've become very knowledgeable I'm local house prices. In the last few months, they have increased by 30-50k, compared to similar houses sold last year. It's utter madness.

I'm so lucky that I bought my house 1.5 years ago...Im not sure I would have been able to buy now, if I'd waited!

I also found out today that my town is building a huuuuuuge housing development on the greenbelt south of the city. I was shocked. I loved that my town was surrounded my countryside....well not anymore.

To the woman who said earlier rhat she's bought several houses ... I hate you! You are part of the problem!!!

Having more than one house should be illegal. Renting should be from the council.

I think you are probably unaware of the irony in your own post. You say House prices have gone crazy yet complain about building more.

OP, have you looked at the new 95% LTV mortgages? A 5% deposit has meant I've been able to buy a house in a cheap area after 16 months of saving. If we needed 10% plus we wouldn't have been able to manage it before we aged out of an affordable mortgage term so the lower deposit needed has really been key.

But as I keep saying, the best way to deal with a rigged system is to find the loopholes and make the most of them. And the best loophole for the past decade has been crypto and tech stocks. If they are going to rig the prices of housing in crappy £, then don’t save in toilet paper Sterling to get one.

Sorry bjt this caught my eye. Manchester has population of 500k😁
10 Manchesters then. Incredible number. About 8% rise from now

ONS using 'Manchester' as 'Greater Manchester', which has a pop 2.5 million.

I bought in 2007 for £250k 4 bed semi. Now worth between £450k and £500k. Great? No. I want a slightly larger , nicer, 4 or 5 bed detached but they are now going for £850k so I can't move. With stamp duty it is unaffordable.

In any case they dont seem to have the houses in my area. The big family homes which go up for sale are all not worth the large sums asked. Youd need more money to refit them so they actually looked nice.

It seems to me that those selling out at the top end of the market want all of the profit and leave their buyer with loads of work.

I'm really annoyed I didn't buy one for £550k about 5 years ago but I was dealing with young children at the time.

@tanguero

Sorry bjt this caught my eye. Manchester has population of 500k😁 10 Manchesters then. Incredible number. About 8% rise from now

ONS using 'Manchester' as 'Greater Manchester', which has a pop 2.5 million.

Aaaaah. Got it!

@ChardonnaysPetDragon completely agree with you, people think the answer is to just could over every available inch of land but how is that fair to those of us who have chosen to live in rural villages due to the fact that they just aren’t suited to living in built up areas with everyone on top of each other?

I was brought up in a small village, moved to a large city for 6 months and had to move back home, living in a city really changed my mood, anxiety levels etc I hated every minute

@Stellaris22 I understand your frustration at being priced out of your area. However, I disagree that a 3 bed terrace is a starter home. Its what we live in and I've got one secondary age one primary aged and this is mine and dh's 2nd place. The first was a 1 bed flat....We will likely stay here until the kids leave home.

I agree OP.

Our lodger is 47 years old and does a role that is important in society (community mental health work) and can't afford to buy a house, nor to rent one on his own in Hampshire.

@ZenNudist

I bought in 2007 for £250k 4 bed semi. Now worth between £450k and £500k. Great? No. I want a slightly larger , nicer, 4 or 5 bed detached but they are now going for £850k so I can't move. With stamp duty it is unaffordable.

In any case they dont seem to have the houses in my area. The big family homes which go up for sale are all not worth the large sums asked. Youd need more money to refit them so they actually looked nice.

It seems to me that those selling out at the top end of the market want all of the profit and leave their buyer with loads of work.

I'm really annoyed I didn't buy one for £550k about 5 years ago but I was dealing with young children at the time.

Yes, same for us. Too much of a gap

As others have pointed out as well, they keep putting these huge developments up without thinking of the infrastructure or adding to it, over subscribed schools, not enough gps etc

@TulisaIsBrill

The answer is passive resistance. If you can, Don’t participate, or if you do - hardball.

• Don’t pay the asking prices, offer 33% of the price. First time buyer strike until they remove the props.

• stuff housing, instead, stuff you pension full using the tax relief available on that. Remember that pension contribs come off your income for the purposes of qualification for benefits. Great - get housing benefit, UC and let the government and central banks pay for the mess they’ve created.

• turn some of your cash into bitcoin as soon as possible. Crypto can’t be debased like crappy pounds.

buy other assets - good quality stocks etc. Housing is not by any stretch the best investment* - it shouldn’t be an investment in the first place, but it’s only ‘the best’ to some because they can use leverage (mortgage debt) to purchase it. Great when irs keep dropping _ but qE money has inflated (some) stocks and crypto far faster than bricks.

Everyone should ignore every bit of advice here except the last part. (And sure out some money in your pension, but not everything) It’s so bad I don’t know where to start.

[quote Kitchendisco21]@thebillyotea well given you know NOTHING of my circumstances, your comment is unbelievably ignorant and judgemental[/quote]
My comment is factual.

How do you think most of us managed to buy a property? It's rather greedy to expect to have everything if your income doesn't follow.

There's no way most of us could afford to save, work shorter hours to care for our children, pay for childcare and wraparound care, pay for suitable accommodation for a child, pay for all the extras a child need

and don't forget dependants are taken into account on your mortgage application.

If you are wealthy and can have big house and kids, lucky you.
If you are not, you are being very unreasonable to moan about the system when you made a choice. I am not sure I am the one who is ignorant here, am I.

I think your description.....ie. to house the projected population increase we will have to build the equivalent of a new city the size of Manchester, every two years, for the next twenty years, captures the drama of what we are facing better.

We need the government and councils to start making it REALLY REALLY unattractive to own an empty property.

Now that most companies have accepted the concept of WFH, even on a part-time basis, it should be a lot easier to avoid keeping your property empty, and holiday homes will hopefully become more of long weekends homes.