AIBU to ask if you could afford the house you live in?

[IamnotH]

Just had house valued for remortgage and it's transpired that we could actually afford the house we live in!

Bought in 2016 for £185k. Borrowed an extra £50k for building work. House just valued at £380k.

This isn't a stealth boast- we're an average nuclear family, 2 kids, both worlds full time. Our house isn't massive (SE)- just a normal 3 bed. It actually means we're stuck here unless we move areas which we don't want to do.

AIBU to ask if you could afford the house you live in if you were to buy it now?

I don’t understand what you’re asking. Are you talking about whether incomes have kept up with house price rises? Or about how much of people’s mortgages they have paid off?

Surely it’s better to have a house worth MORE than you could afford if you were buying it now, that way you’ve gained from the value/equity increase?

@IamnotH

Just had house valued for remortgage and it's transpired that we could actually afford the house we live in!

Bought in 2016 for £185k. Borrowed an extra £50k for building work. House just valued at £380k.

This isn't a stealth boast- we're an average nuclear family, 2 kids, both worlds full time. Our house isn't massive (SE)- just a normal 3 bed. It actually means we're stuck here unless we move areas which we don't want to do.

AIBU to ask if you could afford the house you live in if you were to buy it now?

Yes.

Possibly.
We paid £195000 for it four years ago, now worth about £280,000

I can afford my mortgage payments comfortably but I wouldn't be able to buy my house now, as a multiple of my salary it is too expensive.

Yes, but we only moved in three years ago.
It's gained £80k in value and we could afford it, but we'd be living with significantly less savings. When we bought, we chose a house we could afford on only one salary if necessary DH's field isn't stable at the best of times and I was freelancing at the time so we bought a VERY conservatively priced house.
At times it feels too small, especially since our family has grown, but we will probably pay off early.

@IamnotH

I think this whole post isn't going to get anyone, anywhere.

Why did you post this? What on earth will these insights do for you today? Will they help you feel motivated to work harder/smarter or change careers? Are you just keen to have a nose at how house prices have appreciated versus people's salaries?

My house has appreciated in value. Yet my financial circumstances have also hugely improved for reasons I have no need to disclose here and which I think would rightly be shot down as some sort of stealth boast.

You know, a bit like your post.

Nope. Paid 390K for it less than 2 years ago. Worth 570K now. Market has exploded here recently with most places going for 100K plus over asking. Totally ridiculous and almost impossible to enter the market as a ftb.

If we were buying our house today we couldnt afford it because house prices have gone up more than our wages.

It's a daft question. We live in a family home but as hypothetical first time buyers? No idea.

Yes. We bought it for £115k 12 year ago and just sold for £140k . Mine and DHs wages have gone up in that time so yes

No.

My OH just bought a house for us both with inheritance money for £450,000. I teach part time so not a chance. I might possibly be able to rent a room if he wanted a lodger.

Bought in 2011 and it's worth a bit more now but not loads more, under 50k more anyway so yeah I could still afford it. We have about 60/65% percent equity so could buy bigger if we wanted to.

No. My house has more than doubled in value and my wages wouldn't be enough to meet the income requirements now. Even though my wages have gone up significantly.

I think it's an interesting conversation and I don't know why people are being snippy. I often say that DD wouldn't be able to live in our road.

Housing is a commodity rather than a utility now and it's bad for everyone. It gives the illusion of being good for home owners but unless you own several, it really isn't.

Eh? I could understand this if you had realised you couldn't afford your house if you tried to buy it today, but what's the point of telling people you could?

Ours has nearly doubled in price in 15 years so if we were going to buy it now we couldn't afford it.
It's really nothing special at all!
House prices are ridiculous where we live.

[quote Ginuwine]@IamnotH

I think this whole post isn't going to get anyone, anywhere.

Why did you post this? What on earth will these insights do for you today? Will they help you feel motivated to work harder/smarter or change careers? Are you just keen to have a nose at how house prices have appreciated versus people's salaries?

My house has appreciated in value. Yet my financial circumstances have also hugely improved for reasons I have no need to disclose here and which I think would rightly be shot down as some sort of stealth boast.

You know, a bit like your post.[/quote]
Not really a stealth boast to say we couldn't afford to buy our own home in the open market is it?!

It's just a thread, like many others, because I was pondering.

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion

Eh? I could understand this if you had realised you couldn't afford your house if you tried to buy it today, but what's the point of telling people you could?

Ah! It's a typo in my OP. I definitely COULDN'T afford it now.

Sorry if you thought I was boasting - I wasn't!

No couldn’t afford our house now if we had to buy it. Our wages have increased but the house has nearly doubled in price!

It’s ridiculous though as our mortgage is so low and half what someone would pay to rent! Shame how it’s all happened really- the next generation don’t stand a chance!

I think the problem is tHat your OP says you could afford your house. I think you mean couldn’t.

No. We live in a mixed housing estate (we are HA) where properties similar to ours cost between £135-150k, we could afford the repayments but not the initial deposit.

I’m also just outside SE

We first bought in 2002. It sold for just over twice as much in 2018. We couldn't have afforded to have bought it then. However we could, as things stand, afford a property locally, just not our current house. Not because it is very expensive, (it is just below average house value) we are just not very well off.

In your initial post do you mean to say you couldn’t afford it now? Otherwise you’re just saying I could afford it then and can still afford it now.

(Are providers even willing to lend on houses that have ‘gone up’ by that much in 5 years?)

I'm the opposite - we bought a new build flat in London 5 years ago and it's the same price now as it was then. It's hard not to be jealous of friends who've made tens or hundreds of thousands in that time window doing nothing, just sitting on a property. I do find it bizarre that capital gains on a first home aren't taxed, considering you do literally nothing to earn them.

Paid £85k in 2007. Now worth £95k.

So yes. Have had nearly £20k of payrises in that time, although actually DH is out of work so it evens out.