To think if you meet your partner young, it massively impacts your housing situation?

[BumblingAlonggg]

Just idly thinking of my friends who met partners at uni, or quite quickly after graduation. I can think of quite a few couples who met young, spent a couple of years seeing each other and moved in together between maybe 25 and 28.

In one case, two of my mates and their partners all living in a (large!) 1 bedroom flat in a pricey part of East London, they shared for a few years and were able to save very efficiently.

When I compare to myself, who didn't meet a partner until later and spent all my twenties and early thirties in house shares, it just feels like it is a massive advantage to meet the person you love young, in terms of stability and being able to save.

And it's really just down to chance when you meet somebody you fall in love with where those feelings are mutual, so not a lot you can do to hurry it along!

Anyone else think this too?

Well spotted! 😂

If I hadn’t met my partner and bought I would have bought with friends. I know quite a few people who’ve done this, much, much better than renting if your aim is to be a home owner.

Works well. I met my husband when I was 26 and he was 30. I owned a small terraced house and he owned an apartment. We both had good careers and no children.

I think not having children was a major factor - it is much easier to save when you are not supporting children.

Yes, agree with this. This is the crux of it.

I’ve read a lot of threads over the years and many of the posters who are doing well and aged about 50 did indeed meet their partner at quite a young age and then stay with them.

I agree to some extent OP but I think a related factor is the age - or more precisely the generation - of your partner. There has been a massive shift over the space of a few decades regarding how affordable houses are, relative to wages.

I’m early forties and it’s striking how the couples I know in the best financial positions, living in the most expensive houses, are those where the wife is my age and the husband is 5-10 years older. And where the husband bought a flat or small house in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Which then set them up to climb the housing ladder over the next few decades.

I’m married to someone also in early forties and despite having similar incomes to these couples we could never ‘catch up’ with them in terms of property.

Im on the fence with this one as I bought the house I now own with my ex husband in my early 20's but I have since bought him out and own the property myself. My partner did the same so we have two homes now between us which we plan to rent out and buy a place together instead although he practically lives in my home now as it is more convenient for us both. The only thing we do say is that we got together older (40's) with homes and kids already and no want to expand a family so we have essentially what younger people strive for so no real need or want to move in permanently together of that makes sense? I think younger people need to nest together for home owning and kid reasons but we had both before we met so we have taken things that bit slower I guess.

Or she may meet a like minded saver.
Or she may move to a cheaper area and thus have a 10% deposit already.