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 live outside Cardiff (around 11 miles) you can get a house between 120 - 140k. No work needed. It's not a deprived or depressing area either.

I bought my house for 120 in 2017 on a £28,000 salary and no family support for a deposit. I saved hard and went without things to save up for a deposit. Ironically my rent would be much more than my mortgage is - I personally think they should do something about rent to enable people to save more - my brother lives in London and pays almost £2000 per month for a tiny 1 bed flat - not much chance of saving up!

No, it is possible to buy your own home on a single salary, with no family support, no inheritance, no “help to buy ISA”, just your own salary. You just need a really good job and a lifelong healthy saving attitude.

I bought a 1 bed flat in 2018, zone 2 London, with no help (not that I was looking for it). I had 3 payslips from a new job where the Salary was 45K (previously it has been 35K), and I had savings of 70K. This was 5 years post graduation, and some of the savings pot had included income from my very first student jobs.

During uni days, I held down 3 jobs at a time, got a 2:1, financed my own masters, went on multiple trips abroad for concerts and events, stayed in really nice hotels (Dubai/ Vegas / etc).

it is possible (or was possible in 2018) to do all this on your own back - I won’t accept when people say you can’t.

But I recognise that with interest rates where they are, cost of living, sky high, etc we are living in a different world now.

That's a strange question. There are plenty of places where you can buy a house for £140k. The UK extends beyond the SE of England you know.

Christ, this reminds me of one of my colleagues, who reacted to my buying my house with much head-tilting and blinking because "only parents need the security of not renting". Single childless people don't have to worry about being evicted, we can live in the woods or something.

Seriously - it's no wonder women end up staying in crap relationships when being single is apparently some kind of second-rate citizen status.

But they are expected to pay rent, which is more than a mortgage a lot of time ?Maybe single people should just expect to be homeless 🙄

I bought my house alone. I bought my house 13 years ago while a single mother and working full time on quite a low salary. I was lucky I had enough saved for a deposit and I had to mortgage over 30 years to keep the monthly costs down but I've managed it.

My parents stayed at home until they married. But I guess that's less common now that so many young people move away from their home towns

Yes, they should, obviously something appropriate to their salary though. A single person on a low/medium salary shouldn't expect to be able to afford a detatched house. Should be able to buy a 1 bed property of some sort though (flat, apartment). Obviously housing costs vary enormously depending on location, so they might have to compromise there.

Getting on the ladder as early as possible is key really. Easier to move up the ladder than to try and jump on later.

aren't there numerous articles about how the property ladder is dead cos the increase in price in flats is far smaller than increase in prices for houses.

having said that i am glad i bought my flat as it enabled me to have my own place and have fixed mortgage payments for 5 years which enabled me to stay in London.

HRTFT but I think a lot of people are mis-interpreting OP - I think the point is that these days single people on part-time or min wage salaries living in central London are all over the media complaining that they can't afford to buy a three bed house. Expectations and demands have changed; not saying that's right or wrong, but in the "old days" people started off with a one-bed fixer-upper and moved up the ladder, whereas these days people seem to want to start near the top of the ladder. Kids want to move straight from university to buying a house, despite not having secure jobs or savings. Aspirations have changed and it's not necessarily for the better; with single people without children buying family homes, it's no wonder there's a housing shortage.

@usernamealreadytaken

what counts as a 'family home'

I have owned 2 homes, the first I was in for 5 years, the second I've been in for 30 years. The first was in a not very desirable area, the second by far the cheapest in a much nicer part of the city and very much a fixer upper.
Both Victorian terraces, the first 2 beds, the current 3. Both very modest houses but as more than one bedroom are both of those considered family houses?
Should you have to.wait till you have a family before you can have aspirations to live in more than a shoebox.
I've never lived in my current home alone, apart from a short period of about 6 months. I had a series of lodgers and then adopted my son. I couldn't have adopted without the extra bedroom.
I also see lots of people commenting that old people should downsize and free up family housing.
In making my own retirement plans I looked into the market for smaller properties/ flats.
Despite having 3 bedrooms my house isn't particularly big. Whilst it has increased in value over the last 30 years, it's still amongst the cheapest in my area - that included the fancy retirement village that was built very locally and the numerous designated 'over 55' places.
There is nothing for me to downsize to. So I will stay in my 3 bed 'family' house till I due or need a care home

Personally, I'd class 1 or 2 beds as a starter, although obviously big enough for many families. Three beds + are family homes, whether modest or not; they are big enough for the average family to have a bedroom for the parent(s), and for more than one child. Again, I think you're missing the point of the OP - single people buying 3 bed houses and living alone is not a great use of space - you personally admit that you've rarely lived in it alone, so it's not really aimed at you.

As with so many property posts, I do think this is a little Southern-centric, as wages are reasonable and prices more affordable in areas outside of that bubble.

It was the norm where I grew up that one parent would stay at home and the other work and to own your own home. I’m from a working class background so the jobs weren’t professional wages but were decent enough to own their own home.

My partner had brought his house as a single person 8 years ago which came in useful when my fixed term contract after having my lo came to an end. Which was useful in having time to find a role. If a single person was to try and buy the same house with the same deposit % and wage (based on what the correct salary for that job is) they wouldn’t be able to afford it based on the increase in ‘value’.

It's not so much about price increases as building equity. Buy a cheap flat and overpay the mortgage and in 5-10 years you've got yourself a good footing to move up the ladder. The challenge is having the self discipline to prioritise saving for a deposit (and then overpaying the mortgage).

Even a single person on min wage should be able to get a mortgage for about 100k. Paying that off over 25 years would be about £550 a month and a total cost of £170k. But if they can over pay at £1000 a month they'll clear it in 10 years and a total cost of £124k. (All based on interest rate of 4.5%, which is about what's currently available, if a bit high for long term average)

I think the problem is that more that people want it all, and want it now, and don't want to sacrifice other luxuries to pay for it. Debt culture isn't helping either - students graduating with massive debts, often with worthless degrees that don't improve their career prospects particularly. And so many goods and services on finance and monthly (re)payment plans that debt and living hand to mouth each month is normalised.

The problem you would face is the lack of social housing.

It is unrealistic to expect private landlords to 'take a chance' on a low income family, when they have young professionals on decent money queuing up to rent.

My wife owns a flat which we rent out. The last time we advertised the property, we had 30+ requests to view the property within 8 hours of posting the advert. We ended up pulling the advert and immediately discarded all applications from people with an income of less than £60k.

I appreciate that those on low incomes might find that unfair, but we obviously want to rent to people who aren't going to struggle to pay the rent.

LOL, when we drive around, I see mega houses galore, many more than the abodes of the poorly paid folk. How people pay for these houses then????

Yeah, I agree. It’s unreasonable to expect individual private landlords, particularly those who only have the single property, to be running a social enterprise / charity.

The only pressure I feel is justified to put on all landlords is that the property they rent out is safe, and follows all regulation and best practice.

The “rouge landlord” villain is the one shoving people into garden shacks, damp / mouldy dwellings / etc - NOT the person who chooses secure rental income over the less secure income. It’s absolutely absurd that Mumsnetters society pour scorn on landlords for choosing more secure income, when the same hate won’t be targeted at someone who chooses a secure profession (like teaching) over less secure (like professional tiddlywinking). In a democratic non-communist society, law abiding people are free to make their living how they choose - stop grumbling and insisting on a slice of my pie!

No problem for us. We are a one-income household and we bought our house. Had no problems getting a mortgage. This was in 2019.

This is such a strange post. Obviously all that matters is the income a person or couple have available to buy a house. No lender cares if a borrower is one person or two, they are going to look at the income and other assets held.

I actually don’t know how the OP and her husband managed to buy on their joint salaries. They can’t have bought in London?

The person in the article could borrow enough to buy a 215k property.

With a 5% deposit lending is capped at 4.49x

They would need to save about 13k to cover deposit and fees

Or Skipton have 100% mortgages with track record of renting

Not the best example when this person could afford to buy if they can get a bit of savings together

Signed- a mortgage broker

You are wrong, this is what’s wrong with the housing market. How do you think people did it years ago when only one person worked? My FIL was able to buy a house in Brighton on only a post man’s wage, it’s worth 600k now, no was would anyone be able to do that now.

Being single shouldn’t exclude you from the property market.

I'm not in the UK, but we have the same housing issues here. I was able to buy a flat on a single income in the 1980s, why shouldn't I be able to do the same now? Why should single people have to rent for life? YABVU.

I bought a 2 bed flat in london zone 3 in 2019 on a joint income of 75k..