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.

I’ve never met a 22 year old who writes/speaks like this 🤔

Would you consider your wage average?
If you’ve been to uni and travelling I’m not sure when you had time to save thousands of pounds for a house deposit.
I have a decent wage but after I’ve covered rent/bills/car finance (not because I’m flashy, but because I do 70 miles a day so needed something that would last and only had £100) I have £120 left at the end of the month to save, I would love to say it’s because of my PLT addiction but it’s because of my electricity and water bill addiction.

I call bullshit on this for several reasons, mostly because I don’t believe you have friends that listen to you gloat and are still friends with you.

So you worked since 16 and bought your first house at 22 (that's 6 years, not 7, but say you were nearly 23) so 7 years saving money, while also paying rent and bills etc. but surely only working part time if you were at uni? Don't think that quite adds up.

@StaplesCorner

I’ve never met a 22 year old who writes/speaks like this 🤔

I’ve rarely met a 22-year-old who knew what a hoover was, let alone had a preference for its brand.

There's huge geographical variations of course but you'd have to be pretty dumb to realise the lack of correlation between the growth in housing prices and cost of living vs wages in the last 20 years. But sure, avocados and Starbucks is the real reason. Disappointed that 25% of people think you're being reasonable.

I know that I'm sick of hearing the word 'narrative'. (Not to mention 'narcissistic') ...

It’s such a pointless and nonsense thread, I could buy a four bed house in Blackpool fine. As it happens the city in the South West I live in doesn’t have any houses for £200,000 at all.

I’d also assume you’ve used a help to buy scheme, I have zero desire to live in a new build estate. You couldn’t pay me. As it stands to buy a 4 bed ex council house in the roughest part of town for about £450,000.

Fair play to you OP. I bought a house young as well (19). Was 20 odd years ago but it was all mine, earnt through hard work and prioritising. It is much more difficult these days but still possible if compromise is possible. I sold mine to travel after about 9 years which I regret but that's just life.

Are you still deeply unhappy in your unbearable job OP?

I'm calling bollocks on this, the lowest price 4 bed property in my town on rightmove today is £875,000. Their online mortgage calculator for me buying alone with a 10 grand deposit would give me a mortgage of up to £310,000 as an individual, and I'm on a bloody good professional salary which is higher than the national average for someone my age. 22 year old could have saved all their birthday and pocket money, and worked full time since 16, and be nowhere close to buying even a flat here. You're being ridiculous.

Oh God you do sound so smug. You've bought a house in a cheap area & earn a fair bit above average. Yabu as you know this is a privileged position

I agree that you've got a good attitude to money which is standing you in good stead but sweeping statements about young people are not nice. I'm in my 40s & have been brought up with parents who aren't wealthy but never bought anything on credit & I've learned the value of that. Many of my peers weren't raised that way & have different attitudes. Other lucky things in my privileged life have helped me pay off my mortgage years ago & I wouldn't dream of saying that everyone could do it if they applied themselves more

Stupid goady post. Young people can sacrifice all the manicures and outfits they want and it won’t save enough to put down a 10% deposit.

So a 4 bed house where I live starts at 600,000.

How could any 20 yr old afford that?

So much does not add up with this. I'm also intrigued how you feel your pay compares to the local average. You claim you bought a £200k house at 22. That's a pretty big mortgage, depending on your deposit. So your pay either does not fit in with average pay for your area, or there is more to this than your claiming.

[quote Henryhoover12]@Broads93 oh bless you, must of forgotten to read my comments where I said I didn’t grow up in a life of luxury and that’s why I worked hard to get out of it. I haven’t been handed a penny from my parents and you know what I never expected it because they owed me nothing! They taught me the most valuable lesson that if I want anything in life I have to work for it and so I did[/quote]
It's could have not could of.

It's really about the level of sacrifice. When I bought my first property in 1989 I literally fed myself off vegetables from Croydon market for under £5 a week, socialised literally never, not even at the weekends, cut my own hair, jogged to and from work so I didn't need to join a gym or spend anything on tube fares, lived without a tv for the first six months so just read in the evenings on my own and did some painting decorating, had a second job typing for £12 per hour some weekends which was a godsend. It just sounds ridiculously boring now, and believe me it was, but that's what plenty of people did, I wasn't unusual.

Well give that two adults on a good above average salary struggle to buy where I am, i am very much inclined to say YABU and to question where you live.

You can do it in parts of wales, but try and do it in North Wales or around Llangollen and you will be hard pushed on an average local wage.

Having a go at your peers as if its the same everywhere or as if everyone earnt a good wage misses the point that the affordability has decreased.

If you look at average house price and divide by average annual local wage then you can calculate affordability. This is increasing making it harder for people to buy as they need to borrow more compared to their wage.

Interest rates are currently low. That looks set to change - thats not going to make it easier.

And for reference I bought my flat at 18 years old in north London-Top that then I’ll be impressed.

I came from nothing-and I mean nothing, my parents died and the estates were insolvent, their homes council property. I left an abusive home at 16 and lived in a mobile home (that I paid rent for) in a mates back garden.

You wanna know how I did that- I saved every penny because I couldn’t afford to spend it incase I ever needed to rent somewhere else or buy food-pure fear of the unknown would mean I was scared to part with any money I didn’t need too.
I also (and this is the BIG one) met my partner at just 17 years old (pure luck) and with TWO of us we bought at 18, sold it at 22, bought a house instead further out, that’s doubled in equity in the last 8 years. Doubled!!
I’m 35 years old, been with him for 16 years!!! We’re splitting up now, I have two kids, even though there is a lot of equity, I’m going to be worse off and not even be able to afford to buy a one bedroom flat with 2 kids- so it was all for nothing!! NOTHING!!

I would have been better spending all my money because at the age of 35 I’m starting all over again with 2 kids in tow now. It will be impossible (but I will tell god that I work hard though 🧐)

Stay smug op! It never lasts long.

Bored Tory SPAD?

No boozy 'work' parties to attend? Red Wall crumbling?

COME ON TO MUMSNET AND BE NOT-QUITE-CREDIBLE!! IT'S ALL FOOKIN MARVELLOUS OUT THERE IF YOU WORK HARD ENOUGH!!

It's fun, it's free, and it's more satisfying that a sad lonely tube ride home from Westminster with some left-over Tesco sausage rolls for supper.

@AmberLynn1536

Are you still deeply unhappy in your unbearable job OP?

Yeah. Shame both you and your DH hate your jobs but are trapped because of the mortgage, OP.

I was 22 when I bought my first two bed flat in London for 140k (10years ago) I went without a lot!! I didn't have much to begin with to be honest. Back then it was a 95% mortgage, so only laid down 7.5k deposit.

I made a good 130k on it when selling 4 years later.
I think the deposit is the hardest part. Not everyone can save like that or is strong minded to do so. Some people need educating with money and others just want to blow their money while they're "young"

It's a good job you're not spending money on cocktails.

They'd be wasted on you.

@Applesonthelawn - did you really get £12 an hour typing?

Thanks for all the input, some agree some don’t. Love and appreciate all the comments, does put things into perspective which is why I came in here. Have a lovely evening all

@ToykotoLosAngeles

www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailypost.co.uk/business/business-news/workers-north-wales-county-third-13883114.amp

So, say you live in parts of North Wales and want a £200k house. The average wage mentioned here is £21k before tax. Max borrowing of £100k. That's a mighty big deposit to save without help and while renting.

Guess one can just stop eating avocados and buying Starbucks tho.

£200,000 (actually £210,000 in Gwynedd, which had the lowest average pay) is the average though. Meaning half the houses sold are cheaper than that. From Rightmove "The majority of sales in Gwynedd during the last year were terraced properties, selling for an average price of £147,784."

First time buyers are going to be more likely to buy the cheaper end of the spectrum. Plus most people will be buying in pairs. I just put 2 x £21k salaries in the Nationwide mortgage calculator and got "We might be able to lend you up to £188,580." So no deposit needed at all.

Even for one person it offered up to £94,290, so on a, say £130k property that's a £35k deposit plus moving costs. Hard, but not impossible. And historically it's always been hard for one person to buy alone, that's not new.