Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder where the money is coming from to buy houses?

616 replies

00100001 · 13/02/2022 22:35

So, if houses used to be (say) 4-5x average annual salary back in the olden days of the boomers.

And now house prices are 10 X average salary... Bit they're still being bought, and people want to buy...

Where is this money coming from?

Are boomer parents artificially inflating house prices by giving huge sums of money by releasing equity etc?

Who is buying the expensive houses??

OP posts:
Mirrorball2022 · 14/02/2022 05:27

Not always we bought 5 years ago with no help but a larger saved deposit. No financial help from anyone. It was less than our maximum budget/affordability.

Although prices have continued to rocket around here and we wouldn’t be able to afford this house or area now in what was a nice but still (just) affordable area for us 5 years ago.

FlexibleWorkingDenied · 14/02/2022 05:28

@Seashor

My son has just bought a house with his girlfriend. 70 thousand deposit. They worked their arses off, didn’t spend on false nails, hair, etc. They lived at home and they didn’t decide to have children and then bleat on about how the ‘Boomers’ had it so easy. They didn’t! They were also prepared to move to a cheaper area.
Oh good, if I give up the £30 I spend a month on nails I’ll be able to save up that £70,000 in a mere 195 years.
AutomaticMoon · 14/02/2022 05:29

@Wingedharpy In Lithuania it’s only £3400 for a fresh knee! My DP is only 35 and has visibly badly deformed ankles which are painful too, we’re thinking to go there as NHS is not helping him.

Seashor · 14/02/2022 05:38

Flexiable Well it all adds up!!!

Furbulousnous · 14/02/2022 06:29

@Seashor ‘ They lived at home ’

That’s getting help! Unless they’re both under 18??
Living ‘at home’ as an adult, presumably paying little or no rent, is a definite advantage and one many people don’t have as an option.

USaYwHatNow · 14/02/2022 06:30

My brother saved for 10 years from about the age of 16, pooled his money with this girlfriend. They then received top up money from the girlfriends parents and grandparents as a gift to go towards a deposit. They moved about 25 mins away from the city our parents live in to be able to afford to buy.

My husband and I utilised all the government help we could get by using government help to buy and the military help to buy to increase our deposit. We moved an hour away from my parents to be closer to work for both of us, and to make our money go further.

Billandben444 · 14/02/2022 06:32

My stepson and his wife have just bought a 2-bedroom flat for £85k on the Wirral. His salary is £23k and her part-time one is £10k. They both work in Liverpool and it's an easy commute for them. They saved up for the deposit while in rented accommodation (I think it took them 3 years) and have managed it without asking the family for financial help. It is still possible in certain parts of the UK.

MintJulia · 14/02/2022 06:34

The first time buyers I know don't buy houses, they buy one bed flats, wait a few years and then buy a house when their equity has grown a bit.

The initial deposit comes from years saving, taking packed lunches, not taking holidays, working in a pub at weekends etc.

The same as it has always been .....

Tilltheend99 · 14/02/2022 06:37

It’s the homes under the hammer people living off rental income and profits from flipping homes. All the cheap homes go into auction and are cash only so the only people buying them are the ones with small property empires whose wealth means they can afford cheap loans/mortgages. They ‘do the place up’ to as cheapo standards as possible they add what was previously a family home till the elderly occupants passed away to the rental market.

People who actually need to buy a first house are then stuck with over priced flats or houses that that have appreciated in value due to the scarcity or non rental houses and from having work done to them.

So the problem is all the cheap fixer uppers being removed from the market by people with more than one house and the lack of affordable family homes being built (expensive tower blocks are generally not affordable and much of the flats get sold to investors who keep them empty as they are only really shells for laundered money etc)

UserWithNoUserName · 14/02/2022 06:38

Living at home longer and longer to save
Inheritance
Lots of country is more affordable than SE/London bubble

Carbiesdreamhouse · 14/02/2022 06:39

I can only speak for us but the only way we could get on the ladder was to buy a small house and get lodgers in to fill the spare bed, and convert living room into another bedroom for a lodger. We lived with lodgerd for about 8 years and then finally had enough money to pay for it on our own. Luckily those 8 years were way before DC!

1AngelicFruitCake · 14/02/2022 06:42

We bought a house a few years ago well over what we could afford

We had inheritance from a grandparent and money from parents (biggest reason we could do it)

However, we had overpaid our mortgage by £15,000 on our first home by saving and going without as many ‘treats’ as our friends

We simultaneously saved any overtime, wage increases over a 10 year period saving £20,000

Without a doubt the family money was loud biggest factor but I think buying in our early 20s, buying a house that other friends wouldn’t have considered as not nice enough and for a few years after children living as a family of four in a house that was too small, all helped.

We definitely went for delayed gratification with our 10/15 years saving plan!

Tilltheend99 · 14/02/2022 06:43

@AutomaticMoon that sucks sorry but…

I have a Lithuanian friend who works in the NHS and she is always saying how terrible health care is over there and how apparently to get care of a good standard it is about giving bungs to the right people.

ToofFairy · 14/02/2022 06:44

Who is buying the expensive houses?

Where I live it isn't first time buyers buying the expensive houses. It's people moving up the property ladder. It is also possible to buy hoses at £100k and below. Mostly in the cheaper areas and more terraced houses, ex-council houses or flats.
Two of my friends wanted bigger new build houses as their first homes so used co-ownership schemes to get on the market.
We live in NI though, and houses are a lot cheaper than parts of GB.

rwalker · 14/02/2022 06:47

MY youngest has 2 jobs we take board off him and he's saving min £1000 a towards a deposit .

He's kept his outgoings to a complete minimum .

Before people start slag this post off as parents we don't help him and no avocado in our house .

OnceuponaRainbow18 · 14/02/2022 06:53

@Seashor

Good morning Kirsty

Iamthedom · 14/02/2022 06:53

My sons inherited half of my late parents house so around 200k
He is planning to upgrade his car and keep some money back and have around 150k deposit
That won’t buy much where we live
He can probably get 150 -160 mortgage as in a lowish paid job so with his deposit roughly 300k house or flat
2 bed 2 bathroom flats new build are going for 250 -300k
Houses 2 bed are upwards of 325
New build is probably better as although it’s a higher price he won’t get stuck in a bidding war and he will get white goods and flooring included
He wants 2 bed 2 bathroom so if he needs to at any point he can rent out a room which will most likely cover the cost of his mortgage

He could get more for his money if he moves further out to the surrounding cities but he would prefer to stay local

Gilly12345 · 14/02/2022 06:59

Inheritance from Grandparents that parents are passing on I think is happening a lot.

Coffeetree · 14/02/2022 07:02

"Lived at home" means lived cheaply or for free with you?

ArtichokeAardvark · 14/02/2022 07:02

Inherited money from grandparents on both mine and DH's side which we pooled for a deposit. Bought a 2 bed flat and rented out the second bedroom for years to help cover the cost of the mortgage until we were in a better position financially to pay it on our own. We're in London.

Coffeetree · 14/02/2022 07:05

Sorry, quote fail. When people say "living at home" to save money, they mean grown men and women living for free or very cheaply with their parents?

I mean, that's great if the parents can afford it and allow it, but don't act like that is an option available to everyone!

CurtainTroubles · 14/02/2022 07:06

This reply has been deleted

Withdrawn at the user's request

transformandriseup · 14/02/2022 07:08

No one I know down my way bought a home without financial help from relatives including myself. Those that didn't get the same level of help are renting and some single friends living at home with their parents in their 30's.

Living at home rent free while saving for a deposit is still help though as not all parents have the space for an adult couple. Mine did and I am very grateful but realise that others can't.

Coffeetree · 14/02/2022 07:09

@rwalker

MY youngest has 2 jobs we take board off him and he's saving min £1000 a towards a deposit .

He's kept his outgoings to a complete minimum .

Before people start slag this post off as parents we don't help him and no avocado in our house .

If you "take board off him" instead of him paying market rent, then that means he's an adult living rent-free.

It's great that you can do that for him, but don't say in the same post that you "don't help him". Ridiculous!

Pazuzu · 14/02/2022 07:14

Love how these threads tend not to mention the insane population growth over the last 40 years.

Demand rockets without the realistic possibility of supply matching this demand and prices will go up accordingly. There's no conspiracy, just economics.

Swipe left for the next trending thread