How are people affording housing

[MattBerningerstrophywife]

I live in a fairly low cost part of Scotland.
but recently I’ve been seeing rent for 2/3 bed flats between £800 to £1500 per month.

when the average salary is around £30k: how are people affording this?

I'm fully aware of the cost of living crisis, I just wondered if something had happened specifically in Scotland, like a huge influx of people, or the demolition of a large number of houses.

We have helped DS buy a one bedroom flat. It is not worth renting what's on offer. It is a dire situation for young people atm.

underpinning all of England’s housing crisis is a basic ideology - housing is treated first as an asset, a financial vehicle before it is treated as a home. England has deep roots going back to Norman (1066) on very specific relationship with land ownership, power and status. This may sound abstract but it is at the heart of our housing crisis. 50% of all English land is owned by just 25 families/ companies. Just this fact alone tells you how much land is restricted. Whether one owns or rents properties overseas (see - Finland) is immaterial as the key factor whether rent or own is there are long term , secure tenancies or mortgages in place allowing peace of mind, security in homes, and affordable payments for your home. We have a situation where homes are seen as assets - we have to own them to secure our place in the world literally and financially. secure homes are designated as a human right by UN. We need to change the ideology back to homes as a human right first, and this will unlock the social changes and policy changes to enable rental protections and controls, unlock and reduce the land value (which I genuinely think will never happen here but hey ho) and the investment and intervention of the state to increase housing stock that will see prices and rents drop due to increase stock vs demand. All of this will take time and there is no change without pain - considering majority of population do own homes (outside of major cities) it’s a difficult one politically to make the radical changes that are needed ….

Totally agreeEvie:- if I leave my current place, I won't pass affordability checks for anywhere else. I have been single by choice since my divorce ended - realistically, my only option would be to get into a relationship and accelerate it to a cohabiting point. I do not want a relationship and I would feel like a socially acceptable prostitute, but that's the reality of renting.

My partner broke up with me I've been given so many months to leave ! Ive been looking at one bed room flats i just cannot afford them even room shares are really expensive £650 to £1000 in my area i don't have a job so no income at the mo I'm caring for my mum as well as she has dementia the reality is i might be sleeping in my car if i cannot find anywhere affordable while I'm trying to get back on my feet im in my 50s as well !
A few friend's have said the same find a man and get in another relationship fast ! One thing i don't want to do is get into another relationship straight after this one its something i should not have to do just to get a roof over my head ! The way its going it looks like ill be homeless sleeping in a car soon!

Got a 95% mortgage on the absolute worst house in our town. Borrowed the deposit from family as our rent was going up and the landlord never made repairs. Spent every spare minute and penny making the house liveable for the last 3 years. Haven’t had a holiday in 8 years, we live month to month. I’m so glad we did it as the house we rented for £900 3 years ago is now on for £1400!

Mainly because most households have more than one person working. I’m surprised you asked the question.

I don’t see rents as high - and I am a renter - just reflecting market rates. It’s an average £900 a month for a one bedroom flat here in the north west, £2K in London. It’s all relative.

I live in London and people with one salary (not in a couple) flat share no matter their age. That is how they can afford it. When you live with a partner and getting 2 salaries it is just fine even for London.

This is me too. We are scraping by since a mortgage increase anyway but private rent on our house would be significantly more than my mortgage. I regularly think how lucky we were to get on the property ladder when we did - and it was largely luck that I met my now DH at 22 and bought our first flat at 23. We've made some sensible choices (e.g moving away from friends and "party central" to buy an ex council flat in a lesser desirable area) but timing and circumstances were always on our side. We made good choices because we had good options. I know how lucky we are for that.

I worry so much for my kids (and me, if they still live here in their 40s 😆)

An interesting thread. I note the pp who say they're glad they've got a mortgage and they're not renting, but I often think the opposite - I'm so glad I'm renting and I'm not tied to a mortgage.
I'm in rural East Midlands though, and prices are much better here, I doubt I could survive in London or the South-East.

My rent is below market average, I have a lovely place where I pay a small amount towards bills which is all affordable as there's no-one else bringing in money except me. I choose to rent because I can afford to live in places which I couldn't afford to buy, it doesn't take up all my capital and I'm not tied if I want to move on elsewhere (or even, heaven forbid, I pass away).

I agree that it is much, MUCH harder for younger people who have families and who need to live near to a town for school, transport, workplaces etc. I worry for the future of my adult children for the same reason.

Its a ridiculous situation. But to answer your question directly, the younger people I know who live independently started work at 18 and had three years extra earning and saving instead of uni, and live in mortgaged homes. Some as couples but others alone. Round here starter homes are £90k for a tiny flat, with houses starting at £150k.

Personally feel there should be a cap on rents. Its absolutely mad that you can rent a house £1k+ yet cant get a mortgage on a terrace which would cost you £800 a month in repayments!

We relocated to a much cheaper area to buy a place (London to Scottish sea town). When I was on 12k a year (about 8 years ago) and had about 10k savings I was told I could get a 100k mortgage so was gonna get a very cheap flat. Was excited. Then met DP who earns more. Combining wages was exciting. Plus I earn more now. But still we had to (significantly) relocate to buy the place we wanted. Our mortgage payments are about 1/3 of what the rent was. Landlords make me angry. And wealthy people buying multiple flats in Scottish cities as investments. Nothing new there but i hate it.

Where I live (SW but not a city) the rent is £800 for a 1 bed flat, and most jobs in the town are NMW.

My youngest son (30) has just moved out to live with his girlfriend. No way could he have afforded a place on his own.

It's absolutely ridiculous.

We need to sort out help for genuine first time buyers.

We need to put the breaks on buy to let landlords snapping up anyaffordable housing.

If you can prove you can afford rent that is the same as a mortgage repayment, that box should be ticked despite the value of the property.

Rent control needs to happen.

In Buckinghamshire I was shocked to see a Room to rent in a shared house for £750 a month!!! Shared bathroom and kitchen.

How depressing.

Rent control is the horror movie zombie of housing politics. People in different countries and different periods of history keep trying it, and it never works and makes housing crises worse. Yet people still keep trying! "No, you don't understand, true rent controls have never been tried yet!"

They are trying it in the Netherlands at the moment. Result: The big investors stop building new housing; meanwhile, the smaller landlords sell the houses and flats that they own, as they are losing money otherwise. In Argentina, they did the opposite and scrapped rent controls; the supply jumped and rents fell.

Rent control disincentives the building of housing, worsening supply issues and pushing rents higher. People also end up living in dangerous, dirty accommodation as landlords stop doing repairs or keeping places in good order.

Rent controls do far more harm than good, comprehensive review finds — Institute of Economic Affairs
Rents Fall and Supply Jumps As Argentina Scraps Price Controls - Business Insider

For the current generation of teens and twenties, although it won’t help everyone, there is significant home ownership in my ‘baby boomer’ generation which will in many cases result in inheritance. The forecast is over 1 trillion££. Much of that will pass down through families.

This.
We now live in a divided society where the 'haves' who earn who earn enough to own a home, and the 'have nots' are better off on Universal Credit because at least then, they can expect some help towards the rent.
It saddens me that social mobility seems to have been eliminated in the UK. When I bought my first home, a young hairdresser, admin assistant, tradesperson, etc., could afford a modest flat on (what would now be a basic living wage), on their own without having to share.
If I was young now with no family ties I'd leave this dump of a country. They'll tax us for breathing soon.

In Scotland the reason for rents rising so quickly is the poor legislation forced through by the SNP. They were warned rents would rise but as usualy they ignored all the adviced and barrelled on regardless. They have caused many houses to be taken out the rental market because of the onus they put onto landlords.

I have often wondered if it’d make more sense if you could get housing benefit for a mortgaged property in the form of a loan( I know you can already cover interest payments). That way rather than a private landlord profiting, you’d recoup the money plus interest once property was sold on, people could have stable homes, possibly be better off as often mortgage cheaper than renting.

🤣 agree, we’ll have middle aged kids living with us at this rate! our kids won’t be as lucky, it’s such a shame. My DD is only 8 but I’m trying so hard to get her to have a saving mentality (it’s not working🙄) because she’s going to be royally stuffed if this trend of outrageous pricing for accommodation continues.

I think the sensible choices that we’ve made are no longer there to the same degree. I lived in a mobile home when I was 21 to save for my first flat but there’s none left now, just expensive flats& houses. Luckily, I under housed myself because I’m risk adverse so I have no mortgage now. My house is tiny though but at least I have one. I couldn’t afford rent at all, I’d be homeless & it’s a scary thought.

It's not just about affording it, in a lot of places there are just not the houses available to rent!
My sister has been given notice after 10 years in her house as the landlord wants to move back in (or sell!) - at the moment on rightmove there are 2 x 3 bedroom houses,(out of a total of 5 properties in the town for rent) 1 for £2k a month and 1 for £1500 a month. She currently pays £750! plus there are so many people competing for the same property. There are no council/housing association houses available. My niece and nephew are teens so cant really share, they school, work etc is all in the town and its cornwall so not much nearby to move to anyway.
Really don't know what she can do as not in a financial position to try and buy

The prices in the UK are insane. But it's also about the regulations and culture. For example, in many countries in Europe, kids as young as 25 y.o. stay with their parents and with their help simply buy a piece of land and slowly build a house (it can take 2-3 years). Then they get married and move in to their new home by the time they're 30 - it's like their family/life-goal and renting is seen as a waste of money. I've never ever heard of anyone doing it in the UK. I can imagine it is very, very difficult for an individual here to simply buy a plot of land and build on it. Why is that?

Such an interesting thread! Just reflecting and there is such disparity btw London / South east and other regions across UK overall. In rural areas where there is just a lack of homes full stop - if it’s not happened already government needs to ban second home purchases. There are so many tools the state has at their disposal - for example compulsory purchase where the government force owners of land or properties to sell their asset to government. When we are in the crisis we are in now there is no option to balancing things that doesn’t include parts of society losing out. The parts of society that have carried the can for past 15 + years are the poorest but now it’s creeped up to middle classes. Essentially - if your family (parents) do not own property and you do not have a high enough income to own a property - you are at a huge disadvantage in London / south east. You will forever until things change be renting with LL having ability to move you in evey year or so. And paying higher costs than mortgages and then not having a secured asset to use to leverage your finances. The highest paying jobs are in London/ south east which again needs to change. The transport to connect regions is madness (£300 London to Manchester on the day vs £25 same distance in the day in Switzerland, Spain, France, Germany…) The only way for change is political and state intervention and change needs to happen rapidly to undo the total mess of last 40 years.

@Anna808 Yes but in Switzerland the average first time home buyer is in their 50s because the lower end of average cost of a house is £1m. A standard meal out there is easily £200. You can't withdraw less than £100 from a cash machine, which would screw so many people over in the UK.

It is very easy to plan ahead and buy cheaper train tickets, I travel first class from Manchester to London for 1/3 of that (unlimited snacks and drinks), and that's with my partner.