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.

@sat124 - the £200k in crypto (total investment £1.5k), £600k in stocks - (£400k of which is in my pension - with a huge amount from tax relief) tends to disagree with you.

I stopped trusting that politicians and banks act altruistically when they announced help to buy. My wealth has accelerated ever since.

A lot of councils will lease your property off you for a fixed number of years and keep the house in good repair. They pay you a bit less than you'd get as a private landlord though, but it'd be worth it for no hassle and you'd help someone who is desperate for social housing too.

OP if you manage to save a few hundred a month, after 10 years you'd have about 25k?

YABU just from a factual perspective to say "the country" - there are still lots of places in the UK where it's perfectly do-able to buy a house. I'm 32 and the vast majority of people I know from school, work, friends, and uni have by now managed to buy, some are on their second or third houses. Real mix of jobs too, not all high fliers. My sister (admin on £17k) and partner (plumber on apprentice wages) bought last year aged 26 without parental help and many of their friends had already done the same. We don't even live in a particularly cheap area, there are places 30 minutes away much cheaper again.

So it is doable in "this country", it's just the prices in certainly the south east, and various other pockets around the UK are insane.

Again, only pointing this out as a fact, rather than agreeing with the ethos of it, I don't think it's fair that people born in expensive parts of the country would have to move a good distance away to get on the ladder, or that it's a good thing if they then move and push up prices in cheaper areas.

I refuse to believe that 98% of keyworkers now can't afford to buy a house and would like to know where you got that from? Firstly because "key workers" include people like surgeons, senior doctors, head teachers, senior police and council staff, etc, all of whom are paid significantly more than the average wage. Secondly because, as I've said, there are still huge areas of the UK that are affordable, where your "normal" teachers/PCs/nurses etc on c.30k could easily buy a house with a 10% deposit. Of course a cleaner on minimum wage might not be able to buy in London but those circumstances don't make up 98% of keyworkers!

Schemes like Help to Buy benefit developers and building companies more than buyers. They also do nothing for the relatively common High Deposit Low Income scenario.

They are a boost to the construction industry and thousands of jobs that it secures, along with the money that puts in to the economy.

@Kitchendisco21, not trying to make out my business is for social good. The aim is to make a profit for my family however what I do does not stop you in any way buying a house. Stop blaming others for your situation. I rented a home in my past. I saved and saved and went without other things like holidays to get a deposit together. I was not given my deposit.

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.

We need more affordable housing built that people want to live in.
It's fine building 50 3 bed houses but if they are all shoebox sized with no storage what is the point?
New estates all look awful because the developers want to cram as many houses in as possible.

They are a boost to the construction industry and thousands of jobs that it secures, along with the money that puts in to the economy.

Can we also look at what the construction industry costs, in benefit top ups, in immigration led population rise, in environmental damage?

It's fine building 50 3 bed houses but if they are all shoebox sized with no storage what is the point?

But

New estates all look awful because the developers want to cram as many houses in as possible.

With land values, and a shortage of land, what do you expect developers to do? They can’t build big houses with lots of space around them and then make them as affordable as people think they should be. There has to be a trade off. If that small, boxy new build helps someone get on the ladder, it’s fine as a starter home.

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.

Population is and will continue to be the biggest problem here.

The green spaces will continue to be concreted over til there's nothing left....and there still won't be enough homes for the ever increasing population.

Can we also look at what the construction industry costs, in benefit top ups, in immigration led population rise, in environmental damage?

We can talk about the real facts of the construction industry for sure, but none of those things you mention would be part of that discussion.

We need people for the construction industry, we import them, then demand for housing rises, we wail and import some more to build for the first builders we imported.

It's a vicious circle. Why do we perpetuate it?

Yes, according to ONS figures to house the projected 2040 population we will have to build another ten cities the size of Manchester. Why is no-one discussing this ?

We can talk about the real facts of the construction industry for sure, but none of those things you mention would be part of that discussion.

Why not? it doesn't suit you?

@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.

There's a well rounded argument

I agree the HTB scheme just inflated the price. We looked at one for ds but comparing a normal 2nd hand 2 bed flat with one on a new development in the same area there was a huge difference in price.

Where we are I don’t see the prices rising. In fact people are taking offers just to get moving.

A few families I know bought what they could afford and squeezed their families in so that they were paying less outgoings on things like mortgage instead of rent then started to move up to bigger properties. One family had 2 children who took the bedroom whilst mum and dad were on the bed settee

I know it shouldn’t have to come to that but it was the only way.
I wouldn’t touch a new build as they seem to be over priced anyway let alone one offering HTB

@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 could also.... work for it, and climb the property ladder slowly like most people, instead of wanting everything for no effort? Just a thought...

Supply problems are another myth. It’s the distribution of existing family homes (everyone knows of a 4 bed with one old person knocking around in it, with no incentive to downsize not least because the IHT bands now include a specific part for the family home), and new builds being shoeboxes not fit for purpose.

Surely there are two main factors driving up prices.

Inheritance - it used to be that few people owned their own houses and most rented or had council houses. Now more and more pepple are house-owners, and when they die, what happens to the house? It goes as inheritance to the children, who then have more available cash to buy for themselves, so driving up prices. Some people don't inherit much for various reasons of course, leading to great inequality.

Mortgage multiples - when DH and I bought 26 years ago we and everyone else could only borrow a maximum of 3 times one salary or 2.5 times joint. Now it's what, 5x? All this does is push up prices again.

[quote caringcarer]@Kitchendisco21, not trying to make out my business is for social good. The aim is to make a profit for my family however what I do does not stop you in any way buying a house. Stop blaming others for your situation. I rented a home in my past. I saved and saved and went without other things like holidays to get a deposit together. I was not given my deposit.[/quote]
You are hoarding a basic essential. BTL has driven up prices.

Don't pretend you don't know this. It's fine for you, as you have stated you're going to give a house to each of your kids (because you know the market is fucked and inaccessible, so you will enable them to get on the ladder) but don't pretend that you aren't part of the problem.

Of course you are. Own it. You have done what is best for you and that is understandable - but don't be so cowardly as to pretend you have not played your part in the huge mess that is housing.

A young couple without children on minimum wage jobs are going to be bringing home almost £2500 a month. Even if they rent a tiny flat for £700 a month there's still £1800 left and average bills and food cost nowhere near that. They could save 30k in 5 years easily. Maybe the baby boomers weren't interested in brand new cars, iphones and holidays, nor hoped for handouts from their parents

@ thebillyotea everything for no effort, exactly my point

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

We need people for the construction industry, we import them, then demand for housing rises, we wail and import some more to build for the first builders we imported.

It's a vicious circle. Why do we perpetuate it?

There are people training in the UK to do work in construction so why are they not employed- is it because it's cheaper to employ Eastern European's?

It’s the distribution of existing family homes (everyone knows of a 4 bed with one old person knocking around in it

communist regimes tried to address that, we all know how that worked out, a single person is perfectly entitled to buy, use and keep a 4, 5 or however big house they like.