To wonder how the next generation will buy a house

[macaronitoni]

Surely there needs to be a massive overhaul of the system. A new build home with two bedrooms on a new development nearby is £315k. Not London. Midlands. Who’s going to be buying that? Too small for a family with more than one DC but way out of budget for most first time buyers.

Without significant family help, how will today’s children and young people manage to buy a house? Something has to change!

inheritance needs to be taxed way more, and it will be. this will nullify it all thankfully. we were lucky to inherit a lot but I don't agree with it and it should be taxed well over 60% in future x

My first place cost 17k...3 beds...i took on a weekend job also to get deposit together and had a 20p can of soup for lunch at work, no holidays for over 4 years, interest rates were also high at 12%....current house cost 190k now worth about 900k...bank of mum and dad are pushing up the prices here, lots of young couples with young kids, one wage earner, all out spending in the cafes...must have a big income. Also have investment bankers paying cash for houses. london zone 3.

Nursery fees weren’t the insane amount they are now. On the other hand there were barely any available. Most kids of working mums went to childminders.

I’m buying one now. Mortgage. I’d rather pay that than rent. 10 years of work to save 10% on the house the rest we need to borrow.
This is the way it is, but it’s doable.

We already have one of the highest inheritance taxes in the developed economies. Many/most other countries have nil or nominal rates.

We live in the south east. 144k could get a small house in part of the area I live in, and certainly a good 2 bed flat in other parts of it (3 south coast towns which link together)

We bought our first home In 2016 and the only way we could do it was through significant financial help from our parents AND by living with them to save up. I was starting my career as a teacher and my husband had been in full time employment as an engineer for a couple of years by that point. We were discussing moving in together and renting a flat but his parents were against the idea and offered to let me move in with them to help us save. A year later, they gave £10K to put towards the 10 we had already saved for a deposit meaning we could buy our own place. 5 years later we were ready to move again and were looking to upsize to a bigger house ready to start a family and the only reason we could do it was because my DH’s grandmother passed away and left him some money which we could put towards the move. Without the financial backing of his family there is no way we would have been able to buy in 2016 and would likely have got stuck in the renting circle.

New build homes in our area are £350k+ for something smaller than we have now (a 3 bed 1960s build) and I can’t see how people are ever going to be able to get on the property ladder without significant financial aid… unless of course we all stop buying avocados and watching Netflix!

£315k is a lot for a 2 bed house, but new builds are overpriced. A 2 bed built in the 90s in the same area would probably be quite a bit cheaper.

I do think that part of the problem is that FTBs are trying to get straight on the ladder with a 3 or 4 bed family home. I know a 25 year old who recently bought their first 1 bed flat on a single salary, and a 22 year old couple that just bought their first 2 bed flat (2 incomes). In both cases, the only family help was living at home paying no/minimal rent until they were in a position to buy. However, the 30 year old couple that want to go straight into a family home still think it will take them 2 years to save up enough deposit.
It's a lot easier to save up a deposit for the next place when you already have a mortgage as all the mortgage payments are going towards building your equity.

PP comment was that people should skip the flat buying phase though. And jump straight to the house. However there are lots of places where a house is not for any FTB budget.

I am buying my next home and it's a sideway move for me (bought a 2 bed flat in north london 3.5 years ago) - bigger flat with 1 more bedroom in a better location like Highgate. This is cheaper than buying a house even in outer London.

Buying a flat is fine if you're buying at 21 but the average FTB is much older & many want dc fairly soon after buying which can make it harder to move due to childcare costs.

This is cheaper than buying a house even in outer London.

Not everywhere in London is uber expensive though.

Also in the last 5 years lots of areas in London has seen houses go up more in value than flats which makes it harder to bridge the gap.

YANBU
Inheritance

should taxed at 100% above 50k

Did you give up a large % of your inheritance and pay extra tax or give it to charity then? If not then that’s a bit hypocritical of you.

Why? I don’t see why there should be extra tax. It’s peoples own money so why shouldn’t they leave it to who they want to? Why shouldn’t people benefit from their relatives hard earned money and smart decisions?

Why shouldn’t people benefit from their relatives hard earned money and smart decisions?

It's not really that though is it. Because my parents bought in a crap, dangerous part of London that gentrified beyond belief doesn't mean they made smarter decisions vs someone who bought in another area where prices didn't go up the same %.

It perpetuates inequality.

I don't think it should be 100% on anything over 50k. Perhaps it should only be tax on the gain or every individual has a % they can inherit before they pay tax. As it stands 1m is incredibly generous.

I also think the care cap is unfair & it should be a % instead of a cash figure. You will have people losing most of their homes value to pay for care costs in one part of the country & others only losing 5%. I do understand the basic need to want to leave something to your family.

If there was a much higher tax rate on inheritance then most of us would just transfer money and put assets in children’s names much earlier to avoid it. I’d start doing that now for my DC in my thirties. It would be a bit pointless.

I personally think a wealth tax is needed even though it would "cost" me more. I want the NHS to survive.

I saw a flat earlier for sale which was nearly £300k! It was only a one bedroom flat! I live near Birmingham

those who inherit it have done no work for it

not when we got it. but I now volunteer 4 mornings a month in the local charity shop x

I wouldn't mind paying more tax if I knew it actually goes on these things.
As it stands, I feel robbed even on current tax

They won’t unless we start seriously taxing wealth.