AIBU-Sick of the narrative that young people can’t buy homes?

[Henryhoover12]

I had a heated discussion with some friends who said it’s “impossible for young people to get on the property ladder these days”.If they do their parents either lent them the money, gifted them the money or they lived at home rent free to save up. It’s not just my friends a lot of people of this age go on about it.

As a young person myself I’m bloody sick of this narrative, anything can be done if your willing to make sacrifices and prioritise for your goals which most young people aren’t. I purchased my own 4 bedroom home at 22 (few months ago) WITHOUT any help from family and whilst paying rent on a flat WITHOUT help from my family to pay for.

I called out all my friends who are blaming how it’s going on their ability to stop online shopping for new outfits every event, going out for cocktails, getting hair/nails/tan done weekly, Taking flashy cars out on finance, etc. that if they stopped then they to could buy but I got told I was being extremely unreasonable and that it’s impossible, well is it or do they not just like to hear the truth.

Hehehe OP. Aren't you the clever one..

The house is 100% but you are married? Didn't realise that was possible in Wales.

Doh! Missed a word 100% yours

Yes because anyone can buy a house if they work hard enough (ie. get a NMW wage job fulltime) and live or move to a super cheap area & undesirable area. Thats a sacrifice most are unwilling to make, but its a choice.

In the super cheap & undesirable areas are there an abundance of jobs?

@LemonSwan

This is a thread where the OP is claiming that buying a house is easy if you just save a little and anyone can afford to buy a house if they work hard enough.

Yes because anyone can buy a house if they work hard enough (ie. get a NMW wage job fulltime) and live or move to a super cheap area & undesirable area. Thats a sacrifice most are unwilling to make, but its a choice.

So London should have no teachers, nurses, cleaners, shop workers, bar staff?
This is hardly going to happen because as many have said on the thread they would rather rent in London than buy in Skegness. Thats a personal choice etc. It is about priorities - some prioritise London life more than home buying but you then cant complain you haven't bought a home.

I was born in London, I grew up in an area which over the last 20 years became very 'naice' indeed - I am not owed an affordable home there regardless of my profession.

You do realise that if everyone made the choice to just up and leave London / the south, and move to Skegness, then Skegness property prices would go through the roof?

"Yes because anyone can buy a house if they work hard enough (ie. get a NMW wage job fulltime) and live or move to a super cheap area & undesirable area."

The reason why areas where property is cheap are undesirable is often because there are no jobs.

@LemonSwan

That’s easy to say when you’re buying in Wales. If you bought a house with a partner then that is relevant as you only needed half the deposit.

Comments like the above are just how house prices work though. I don't think anything could possibly change that.

I say that because a house is only worth what the average house purchaser in the area can afford - because their are a limited number of houses.

So if you live in an area with higher average incomes (ie. London) - then house prices will be higher. And vice versa.

Likewise a single person will always struggle to buy a similar priced house to a couple; unless they earn double the average for the area - because they will be competing against couples when bidding.

It might not be fair but its simple supply and demand economics; and we have to cut our cloth. So a single person should probably buy a one bed flat or studio rather than a house when starting out - or go for shared ownership; and if your profession is not high paid and you live in London - then you should probably leave for a cheaper area.

A house is only worth what what the average person can afford in smaller towns that people typically don't particular want to move to unless they have existing ties. Even then, external factors such as schemes to help first time buyers buy a share in a house more expensive than they could otherwise afford and low interest rates push prices up. London is entirely different due to its desirability to people outside of the area, including wealthy overseas investors.

Even assuming any of this is true (I've skipped the last couple of hundred posts; did we ever find out how the OP managed to go travelling at the height of a global pandemic?) I despair of this horrible, capitalist, "work hard and you'll succeed, poverty is a moral failing" mindset. Be a good little worker bee from the day you're old enough to tie your own shoelaces and make your bosses nice and rich, and if you're lucky - and by lucky I mean you don't become disabled or have a child with profound disabilities, you don't get dumped by your husband after having his children, you don't get made redundant and then struggle to find another job - you too can be rewarded with a four bedroom identikit box on an estate full of them.

It's all so fucking joyless.

I bought my first flat - nowhere near London - aged 23 for £25k on a salary of £11.5k as an office administrator. That same flat now would cost £95k and I can guarantee you that office administrators in the area are not earning £44k these days, which would be the equivalent increase. And no, I didn't drive a 'flashy' car at the time or wear designer gear because they weren't what interested me, but I had enough left over each month to buy whatever food I wanted to eat, to eat out or go for a drink with friends occasionally, to buy clothes as and when I needed, or even - shoot me! - when I fancied something new, to go to the theatre or the cinema regularly, to build up a great collection of books and CDs and other things I loved. Because life is about more than being a unit on someone else's balance sheet, and when you're young is when you should be free to care about more than work-work-work, save-save-save without worrying that if you don't start saving from your first paper round, you'll miss the boat on ever getting a foot on the property ladder.

The fact that living in a decent property is seen as an investment rather than a basic human right is obscene, quite frankly.

You do realise that if everyone made the choice to just up and leave London / the south, and move to Skegness, then Skegness property prices would go through the roof?

They would sure, but people dont do they. Thats the point I am trying to make. I understand its probably more irritating to see why someone is not owed a home in an area they grew up if its not super desirable ie. Multi Million £ average now. But where do we draw the line. If those people deserve to purchase there and not have to move to a more affordable area then why shouldnt I be able to be given a home in my village of Chelsea footballers. I am under no delusion that I should be handed this due to some kind of heritage but then why do others think the same? Or do you think I should get my multi million £ property and not move out?

Housing was not my specific area but I do know that in the 1970’s the average house was x3 the average salary and now we are at almost x8 average salary for an average house.

It’s no revelation that people have different attitudes to saving and spending.

The house next door to me sold last year, over 20 years compared to when I bought mine the price went up 400%.

But every single one of my peer group had that option

Did they, though? You can’t possibility know the individual circumstances of everyone in your peer group.

@LemonSwan

You do realise that if everyone made the choice to just up and leave London / the south, and move to Skegness, then Skegness property prices would go through the roof?

They would sure, but people dont do they. Thats the point I am trying to make. I understand its probably more irritating to see why someone is not owed a home in an area they grew up if its not super desirable ie. Multi Million £ average now. But where do we draw the line. If those people deserve to purchase there and not have to move to a more affordable area then why shouldnt I be able to be given a home in my village of Chelsea footballers. I am under no delusion that I should be handed this due to some kind of heritage but then why do others think the same? Or do you think I should get my multi million £ property and not move out?

I agree with you to a point, in as much as you don't get an automatic right to a place based on an accident of birth. But, there's a bit of a difference in wanting to live somewhere like a rural village because you grew up there, and needing to live somewhere because its where you work, and the job you do is needed there. The first is individual preference, the second is societal need. For me the answer would be to ensure that there was access to decent quality social housing in all areas and for all those who wanted it. It seems pie in the sky these days, but there was a time before right to buy and the ban on local authorities building, when people got to choose between buying and opting for a council house. My own parents had a choice of renting from the council or buying a very similar house in the same street. Obviously there has been a huge shift in how social housing is seen, and everyone today seems obsessed with home ownership, but if living where you grew up mattered enough it would be an option.

@5128gap

100% agree right to buy was a disaster and we need more social housing. But then there is a large social housing estate in that area - but I can guarantee the people who would want to live there would outstrip the supply no matter how many were built.

Isn't that also the problem? That desirable places are only more desirable because of the amenities they have - ie. cafes, restaurants, shops, facilities etc. Our little village is unrecognisable from what it was 20 years ago. Because of the money that has come to the area my parents now have incredible amenities on their doorstep which weren't there before. I was sad to leave, I moved to a cheap midlands town. But then I feel like in a way I can hopefully contribute to this area - to bring my skills and my family and make a life here. Perhaps in 20-30 years this area will be like my parents village.

Where do you live OP? Sorry if this is abrupt, but you sound really ignorant to be honest. If you are in the north east it might be achievable, but where I live to buy a 2 bed house you would need to earn 74k a year and have a 24k deposit (at least). I'm sorry, but I think it's very rare to have that sort of money at 22, especially after studying until 21.

OP you'll get support in what you're saying from one camp and be vilified by the other camp. My take is that reality is somewhat more nuanced.

I agree that many young people aren't willing to make sacrifices and sayings its too difficult can be a bit of a cop out. But then again, if you're in a city in the south, in the rent trap and circumstances restrict career profession, well, even ar' Mollie must see that things are stacked against you.

So yeah, kinda agree that maybe a sim only on a god forbid older iphone, and a bit of restraint on nights out etc. would help, but for some people, in some circumstances, even without smashed avocado for brunch its virtually impossible.

Of course you can purchase a house as a young person if you work hard, are able to save ( i.e. in that your salary is enough to cover your essential bills like phone, car insurance and keep/rent as a minimum) AND you live in an area where property prices don’t exceed 3xjoint salary plus an attainable deposit.
The point is that property prices in many areas have risen to such an extent that it isn’t possible to buy unless you are earning in excess of £100,000 p.a minimum.
When I bought my first property with my fiancé, we were earning £2,750 and £3,300 p.a respectively. With a small deposit of £2,000 we were able to purchase a studio flat for £26,500, with a mortgage of £24,500. Today, with entry-level jobs like we had, many people of 21 (our age at first purchase) are only earning between £17,000 and £25,000, but that same studio flat recently came up for sale at £325,000!
You need to do the maths, and to realise that not only have property prices increased far in excess of the scale of salaries, but that not everyone is prepared to move to a low-cost area of the Country (where the locals might be unfriendly and jobs hard to come by) just to get a house.
Most of my peers expect to have their children living with them well into adulthood for this reason, and we are allowed to despair at the hand that fate, and the intolerable greed of developers, landlords and employers, has dealt them, as it’s hard for both generations in this situation - hence the “impossible” sentiment!

Me and my partner bought a fairly nice house this year. We're in a our early twenties and saved up for a couple of years after leaving uni. We're both from working class families and had no financial help (apart from the cheap board - which I appreciate is a big help in itself) towards the house. We also got the house on the equivalent of two full time minimum wages. It was actually very easy but I appreciate we had the following advantages:

• We live up North
• We're a couple (honestly have no idea how a single person could do that)
• We paid a small amount of board to my parents and didn't rent whilst saving
• We have no financial dependants

It does annoy me when people buy into the narrative without looking into it - e.g. if people are in the same position of us and just assume they can't buy a house without even bothering trying (which a lot of people do!!) But if I was single/lived in a different part of the country I'm not sure if would be so easy.

@vavavoom123 if you were paying market rate it's likely you would have struggled to save fast enough to combat price increases.

You clearly have no idea about how much property costs in other areas. The nmw is the same in Wales as in London but property prices are massively different. The cheapest 2 bed property I can find in Ealing, a Borough 30 mins out of London is 250000. The equivalent property in Cardiff is 60000. 190 thousand pound difference.
That is why it is so damn hard

I know a 38 Yr old who lives at home. Single, lives in London and in employment but not enough to rent or buy alone. I would hate that.
Feel glad I was young at a time when it was a hell of a lot easier to buy.

@Henryhoover12

Honestly I had no help from my parents, they were never in a position to help me and so I was always raised with the mindset that if I want something I work for it. I agree it’s so much more difficult then before but if it’s all we ever know is it? we have only ever known house prices to be this much and so I always knew I had to work hard to get that and so I did.

Also I did make sacrifices but I never didn’t enjoy being young, I was at uni for three years and then I travelled for a bit. So it’s not like I stayed at home watching life go by to afford it

You went to uni for 3 years which means you qualified when you were 20/almost 21 at the very youngest then travelled and still earned enough fog s deposit by 22 AND rented? Ok then.

It amazes me that this thread is still going.
Why would anyone need to justify their individual circumstances to OP?
Lol

I absolutely agree with you.

Age 24 I bought an 8 year old 3 bed detached house - every penny was my own for the deposit. I was on £17k a year. I set myself goals and made sacrifices to get there but I did it in 4 years. For full transparency; I lived with parents but I paid £240 a month to live there, paid for my own food, toiletries etc.

If you were only £17k a year, then your max mortgage would have been around £76k. Where and when are you buying a three bedroom detached house for, what, £100k? £125k?