How do people afford to buy a house!

[Itonlymakesyoustronger]

Is it me or is buying a house a massive struggle!

Without boasting I have managed to save 45k, to some it may seem nothing but to me its a huggee amount. But after calculating mine and my husbands wage we could only buy a house for £290k, where we lived that wont even get you a decent 2 bedroom house! I don't know how people do it! when I search right move a two bed house is 320-370k.

How do you afford to buy a house, what jobs do you do?

Moved out of London, saved enough for a deposit and bought a small cottage for the same mortgage as the London rent. Lived there 4 years - made zero money on it, but overpaid the mortgage and had sufficient equity for a bigger house in a better area (yet still further away) and have the same mortgage as that first London flat’s rent. Barmy.

@Thwackit

Well if you get several thousand each birthday and Christmas then it might add up to a deposit by your 20s.

Although that doesn't work for us who got a tenner in a card each year.

When we bought our house I earn 26k and so did dp, we had a 18k deposit, we bought a 3 bed semi in Wales for 158k, 7 years later and the house is now around 200-220k and I am part time due to having D's, we would probably need to move further west or north into Wales to afford a similar house now.

@JaninaDuszejko thanks to the cladding scandal and Covid flats have dropped in value where I live. Also the average age of FTB are higher - not many people are buying ‘starter flats’

Buy the small two bed. Ideally a house not a flat.

The combination of paying down capital (and overpay if you can) plus house price increases (however gradual) should mean that in due course you can buy a bigger property. Or if you buy a house (rather than a flat) then consider buying one with potential for a loft conversion/extension or a garden Room so that you have options in the future.

I moved to a much more cheaper area of the country, saved up less than you as house was 190k. I could never have afforded to live in the place I wanted sadly.

Inheritance and living up North. I thank my lucky stars I'm from up North, as previous poster said, prices down South would have made it very, very hard indeed.

A friend lived like a pauper for the best part of 10 years so she could save up a deposit. She rented a room in someone else's house at a reduced rate in exchange for babysitting, never bought new clothes, ran the most beaten up old car, had no holidays and got a Saturday job.

Then she got a couple of promotions in quick succession that took her salary to over £30k and was able to buy a one-bed flat that needed renovating. It's in the SE, but a relatively cheap area.

If it takes living like a pauper for 10 years it's not worth it.

Don't sell your youth for property.

As a boomer, younger people today assume I was handed a property on a plate.

Single, mid twenties I decided to start saving for a deposit so I moved from rented flat back to live with parents, sold my car, no holidays, little socialising, worked full time plus worked in a pub several nights a week, plus had a weekly antique stall on a Saturday.

The interest on my one bed flat mortgage started at 8%. Over time it rose to 15%, I couldn't afford my mortgage so lived and slept in my living room and rented out my bedroom.

So much for having it handed to me on a plate. Which, if any of those are you or your DH prepared to do?

You made the choice to have a child before buying a house which makes it far more difficult. As others have said, your 45k deposit is enough to buy a flat, albeit maybe not in the exact location you prefer or the property you particularly want. Can you or DH get a job wfh and one commute if you buy in a cheaper area?

"So much for having it handed to me on a plate"".

You were able to move home and save money. Not an option for many, many people.

Houses were cheaper, multiples of salaries needed for mortgages were less. Single people found it easier.

Stop ignoring the facts

The facts are, if you make different choices like having children before buying, it severely curtails your choices.

My single niece and nephew have both bought their own homes by dint of having good jobs and putting in extra effort. Neither have received money from their parents.

If you really want to be pissed off, you need to go back a bit further to my parents' generation. They bought their first house for £350.

"Extra effort"

Its shit like this that makes people dismiss boomers.

I live in the NE. Property is much cheaper here and our salaries are above the national average. We’d have to live in a box if we lived in London though.

I did what most other sensible people do saved a good deposit and moved to an affordable area. The type of house you describe can be picked up for around 130k in many parts of the country.

Most older generation bought small in areas that they could afford and then moved up from there to more desirable and bigger areas. Unfortunately many now days want the houses in desirable areas from the start.

Buy whatever you can afford wherever you can afford it and live there while you work hard and save hard. When you have a strong savings pot, see if you can trade up in either property and/or location.

My advice to all 20 somethings would be to save save save and buy as soon as you can, compromising on size, condition and location. Do it up, sell it on. Keep going until you (hopefully) find yourself somewhere you're happy and able to stay.

Above all, get going with property before kids. I don't know anyone who bought a family home as their first property.

In the same position with exactly the same deposit. Two years ago houses here would have been affordable for us. Now they are not.
As hard as we work I guess they will keep increasing faster and faster than we can keep up. Its so depressing. Luckily we have the right to live in Europe and might just move as buying in this country is impossible for those of without help.
I've had a look further north and they don't even seem much lower any more with remote working!

Time travel. Then the ladder. Buy something that needs doing up. Be prepared to suffer a bit and get your hands dirty. Get bunged a bit of money by parents. Borrow when it's dirt cheap.

It's really hard without any help.

A long time ago now, but when we were married we lived in London, couldn't afford anything in London, so moved out 20 miles, bought a small flat and commuted over an hour each way by bus. A struggle but got us started. Oh, and we were still a bit short, so we both got a pt job in the local pub to give us a bit if a top up.

Live in the north. It’s a lot cheaper

My first house was a shared ownership one. I had no help. Sold this then a few years later bought another house Quite a small one. Get something small and work up maybe? I have a bigger house as now got equity.

Bought one bed flat in cheapish area in South London in 1999 (aged 26)

Sold flat for 80k more than I paid for it in 2005

Bought bigger 3 bed maisonette that needed lots of work in 2005 for £192k.

Did it up, sold it in 2019 for 500k.

Had been overpaying for many years and armed with a £400k deposit, bought our current 4 bed house in 2019. Still had to take an eye watering mortgage, and the house was a wreck which will take us many years to do up, but it's big and within a 5 minute walk of my kids school, and 15 min walk from the secondary school we hope DS will be going to next year.

I think if I hadn't bought that pokey 1 bed when I did, in what was then a really unfashionable part of town, and has in the 20+years I have been here improved beyond all recognition, I would never have been able to afford this house. We aren't very high earners for London either..about 80k between us.

@JohnHuffam1812

"Extra effort"

Its shit like this that makes people dismiss boomers.

100%

I no longer listen to boomers on anything to do with housing, amongst a whole host of other shite they spout but we'll save that for another thread. Housing is the one topic that I have ZERO time for with a boomer.

There is no need to listen to anyone my age. I, my children, my parents and my father's parents all bought before we had children - my grandfather was 49 when he had my father, my parents waited 10 years for children etc etc and since my parent's time we have all had 2 full time professional salaries in order to buy. That formula still works better today than buying on a single salary or only buying once you have children or having children too soon.

We have relatives in Yorkshire and NE England. Here is a house in Halifax 6 beds terraced £290k [[https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113601272#/?channel=RES_BUY]] and here is a 2 bedder for £60k www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/117424712#/?channel=RES_BUY.

Here is one in the SE in Chesham for £250k on a road where I viewed one for my son last Autumn. www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/111103466#/?channel=RES_BUY 10 min walk to the tube although I see it is now under offer which is not surprising as most houses that size there are about £300k+

Unless you inherit a chunk or buy in a very cheap area, you can't start off by buying a house. You need to buy a cheap property first and work your way up the ladder. If it wasn't possible, houses wouldn't keep selling.