To think you shouldn't expect to buy a home on a single salary?

[Fivebedexecutivehome]

Genuinely interested in people's thoughts.

There's no doubt there's a shortage of appropriate housing in the UK, and that prices make home ownership for many people on average salaries.

But I find a lot of reporting about the topic weird- lots of interviews with people who seem to want to buy a property by themselves.

most recent one on BBC but not unique:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7209lk8x2wo

My husband and I managed to get on the housing ladder a few years ago, early/mid thirties, both full time with a combined income of about 75k at the time, had been saving for about a decade towards deposit, plus a couple of grand from each of our parents to get it over the line. Got in towards the bottom end of the market of the (south eastern) town we live in.

I recognise both of us are quite privileged in lots of ways - having a bit of family support and salaries in the 30ks and 40ks. But there's no way either of us would have been able to ever buy a property by ourselves. But there's 68 million people in this country, surely the expectation can't be that everyone wants to buy a property themselves? And surely that's never been the expectation previously?

I’m a single parent buying my own home - what are people meant to do if they don’t have a partner?

What utter nonsense.

Our first house was one we could have both bought on our own. I'm was 6 months post graduation in a new role and my partner was moving to a new job we wanted the freedom to not be tied to a job that wasn't right.
Our current house we could afford on one salary but we would still have needed both salaries on the application to afford it.
It depends on what housing you are looking at but I don't think it's unreasonable for single people wanting to be able to buy a home on their own.

I'm buying (albeit a tiny flat) on my own post divorce. The mortgage payments are just manageable but renting would have killed me!

I'm single as are two of my close friends. We're all homeowners on average salaries. It's not really a problem in the real world.

My son has bought one. 2 years ago.

Is he supposed to live in rented until he finds a gf.?

So if you are single you are second class?

I was single for ages and bought - to the detriment of a good pension..

I bought my ex out of our house even though the value had increased by 37%. I can think of at least 5 friends who have bought houses on their own. One has since moved a partner into their house a number of years after buying it, but the rest still live alone. I’m sure there’s more if I thought hard enough.

I think that it’s not unreasonable to think that somebody who works full time should be able to buy a home eventually . Location and size will obviously depend on salary but it is crazy that someone who has been paying £1200 per month on rent isn’t able to buy a property where the mortgage is say £1000 per month.

I think that there’s a lot of households where one person is paying the mortgage for dependents and that’s no different to a single person buying for themselves. In this case they probably need more bedrooms so can’t buy the cheaper properties like studio flat.

I think a working single person should be able to buy at least a modest one bed flat. I think work should pay enough to live on (not necessarily in luxurious style) and if it doesn't people are justified in asking what is the point.

I'm the sole owner of my flat (DH moved in, but doesn't own it). It was bought on one salary.

This.

My son is in the same position. No partner and none on the horizon, so should he just rent for evermore?
Many years ago, I bought as a single woman.

Where are the single earning households supposed to live ?

There are many reasons why there might only be one income coming in , single parents, carers, unemployment, disability, etc.

I am a single parent and own my house too.

I am not entirely sure where you expect them to live.

I appreciate people can rent but presumably the same issue around affordability exists for them.

Do you feel they all need be in flat shares forever.

I do think we need to ensure that planners build what's needed though. But I also think people have very odd views on what single people need space wise. Things like a washing machine, bath tub, oven etc take up the same room for a single person as 4.

Not everyone is in a couple (or wants to be). I am in a couple, but I bought my first property when I was single on my single salary - a one bed flat. You have a really weird take on things.

I know lots of single people who have bought a home of their own.

Nothing crazy but a combo of flats, semis, terraced houses. Me and DH bought a modest first home that either one of us could have afforded alone so we could overpay the mortgage.

None of my friends at the time were on particularly massive salaries. 30/40k is a perfectly reasonable amount of money to buy a home in most areas of the UK.

I bought a very small flat on a similar pay grade. I saved a deposit because I had lived with my parents for years, there’s no way I could have afforded to rent. I’d checked the rental prices for bedsits and there was no chance.

Blimey this is off the scale unreasonable!

Single people shouldn’t expect to be able to buy houses now?

Owning their own home shouldn't be attainable for single people on an average salary.

That's why there are schemes to help first time buyers, although some of them come with catches.

I still regret not buying a one bed flat at £200k with a £30k deposit as a single person through a scheme 10 years ago. That flat is now worth £600k+.

What are single people supposed to do then? Obviously their income is lower than a couple, but they should still be able to afford their own property. No-one wants to be house-sharing into middle age.

I know a couple of single women who bought their own small flat/house a few years ago in the south east, so it's not impossible by any means. I read the above story earlier today and thought it was a bit odd... on a 50k salary in the Midlands you'd be able to save for a deposit, and that person looks to be in their 30s or 40s so has had time to save. All that stuff about screaming and crying was bizarre too... 🙄

It should be a perfectly reasonable expectation that a single person is able to buy suitable housing.

I bought a London flat on a combined household income of 75k in 2019, I was 26. I married a Londoner whose mum let me live at her home for 3 years and I also married at 22 (straight out of university) so we were dual income from the start. We saved a lot of money despite the fact that we first started earning, we earned a lot less than 75k but were still saving money.

So it wasn't just being married, it was also marrying early enough that we didn't need to get asap to baby making and hence my salary wasn't swallowed up in childcare and we were also able to live at our parents' home as it was just the 2 of us.

Btw a couple with 2 young children might as well be a single income earner ( in mortgage terms and in the short run) as the second income is often swallowed up in childcare costs. yes this would change once the kids go to school but by then the goalposts might all have shifted in terms of mortgage interest rates, house prices, location of kids schools etc. So if single income earners can't buy homes, it may be that families with children can't buy homes too and homes become the exclusive domain of those who are DINKY or who in Xenia's words (long time mumsnetter) buy before they breed.

Very few people couple up this early nowadays, i think its luck of the draw. go look at the relationships section on mumsnet, lots of women can't find partners and its even worse for the men.

You'd still be saying that if you find yourself divorced, OP?