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?

Looking at UK stats

1914 15% of population were home owners
1938 32% of population were home owners
Building was increased after WW11 & Government policies have changed over time to encourage home ownership
1996 67% of population were home owners
2024 50% of population are home owners

I cannot easily find the info about buying as a single person (someone may be able to find this)

However, historically in the past some women did not work after marriage.

The username is clearly a joke, dear. We live in a small ex- council property- no-one on our incomes could afford a detached house in the South East

I'm sure once 'Emma' finds a rich husband he'll be fine ...

Again, we clearly don't have multiple bathrooms- can't afford them on our salaries!

Re: environmental impact… where do you think all these non-homeowners are living now?

This is tosh. I bought my first flat on my own, as did my best friend (she actually bought a whole house). I have had colleagues and family members who have also bought property on their own. I've had other property as a single person, until I met my husband and we bought together.

Well you're the one that a) posted with no nuance and b) targeted single people.

Obviously being single is not the issue. A single earner could earn 200K why would anybody prevent them from buying a house?

FWIW I agree with you,in that 'everyone owning homes' isn't a worthy goal
Everyone deserve a stable home, yes whether it's a lifetime tenancy with affordable rent or home ownership.

i mean, everyone could be a 'homeowner' of a pod sized, rabbit hutch flat, or they could have low rent houseshares or large flats with self contained units. How is ownership making it different especially as flats still require management charges.

We cannot build landed property for everyone we are a tiny island.

However your AIBU title is deliberately inflammatory and you just posted a silly article with not additional discussion
So YABVVU

I'm not saying it wouldn't be "right" - I'm not assigning any moral value at all.

In reality, in previous generations single people wouldn't generally own their own homes, no.

The population of the country has only increased since then. 52 mil people in 1960, not all owning their own homes! 68mil now. Where do such a lot of extra houses come from?

Houses used to be affordable on one average wage. They should be now.

With other people?

@Fivebedexecutivehome

So every unattached adult in Britain has to live in a house share?

Single people wouldn’t generally own their own homes in previous generations, but in previous generations it was very very likely that the man would go out to work, and the woman stay at home. So it’s still only one wage which purchased the house, and the wage had to feed/keep more people.

Seriously! Eff off with your smug attitude. Bar two of us, all my uni friends and me bought houses by ourselves. If you can’t be financially independent then you’re fucked if your marriage or relationship breaks down. I bought my first house when my salary was 34k and with a 10% deposit that I’d saved up over several years. The property cost 180k and there’s plenty of places in the country where you can still get houses and flats for that price. Just because you and your DH couldn’t manage it doesn’t mean you need to tar everyone with the same brush.

Family houses were more common in the 1960s. Many large houses have been converted into flats. A one bed flat is ideal for a single person. Thankfully, some of us have moved on from needing a man to support us.

I bought my first home on my home with no partner and no other additional help 6 years ago about 2 years after leaving uni.

Oh yeah and that was on a 26k salary in Essex

Of course you should be able to buy one on a single salary.

And one that meets your needs eg enough bedrooms for kids etc.

One of the downsides of second wave feminism (I am a feminist) and women going out to work en masse was the fact that household income increased and some costs (eg house prices) later increased to match the fact that household income was larger.

Housing needs a shake up in the UK (and I say that as a home owner)

Yes, but the value of that single salary in relation to food etc was different. You COULD feed /house/ clothe a family on one salary then. It's much more difficult now- that's why almost half of single parent families are below the poverty line in the UK.

But buying power was generally restricted to a single wage - married women weren't meant to work officially or have our wages counted - also there was a lot of social housing resulting in less competition for houses.
And the biggest... Postwar economy, reduced population, lots of space.

While house prices have spiralled out of control (true) and especially in London a lot are being used as financial instruments instead of living spaces.

It's impossible to keep building and building for an ever growing population.

If you say houses must be available for everyone you have to specify the conditions including population size, average wage, etc wtc

I also enjoy replies like this that assume mine is the smaller salary and I'm mooching off my husband

That would be the stuff of nightmares. Why are you just talking about single people buying houses, rather than flats?

'Bad mannered " to see a photo which is all too obviously of a man and to feel insulted by the BBCs pathetic gaslighting? Better bad mannered than a doormat. "Emma" my arse!

On my current income (single) I could get a whooping £65k mortgage!

Yeah, your experience of buying a home over twenty years ago is definitely relevant to the issues facing younger people today.

I grew up in the time when one working partner was the norm. We had a nice house, car and had holidays, mostly caravanning or renting cabins in the uk. My father's income was enough. We weren't rich but we could live. Now tow working parents are hard pushed to make ends meet. We've allowed ourselves to think working all hours and having zero family time is okay. It's not. We used to have weekends and evenings together, eat together and go on outings. Some families barely see each other while schools provide wrap around care to make this possible. It's not something we should think is normal. Let's get wages higher so people can actually have some quality of life back.

I also enjoy how smug you come across. YOU were the one saying it shouldn't be expected that a single person can buy their own property. I disagree. HTH.