To feel there is no future for children unless they

[Honeyyourfamilar]

unless they start a business or are super academic or excel in their careers.

I grew up in a working class neighbourhood in London (zone 6 so maybe not London London) and so many of the parents were normal working class people who owned their own homes: postman, bus drivers, dinner ladies, mechanics. There was a couple who both worked in supermarkets and they owned their own home. In a few families only the bloke worked and that was enough to sustain the family - I am maybe showing my age.

These were people in their early 30s who were financially secure. Now those houses are worth £500k plus and there is no way someone working a low paid job could afford that.

Two people making £30k a year will get £240k mortgage, where is the other amount going to come from?

I think that young people don't have a future here anyone.

The only way someone who isn't earning a decent wage can afford to buy a house is if they get an inheritance or if their parents sell their £500k house, that they purchased for £30k, and downsize, and give a deposit to their kids.

The amount of families renting and dependent on housing benefit is just a disgrace. It also means people stay in horrible relationships because they cannot afford to leave.

This country is a ***.

A great deal of the North still has its share of much more affordable properties. They can be rented out as HMOs.

This is ds's plan so once he later moves to London the profit can pay his rent in a houseshare.

Meanwhile he is busy saving to buy a house for c 100k in the next year or so.

Not for everybody of course but ds is determined.

Starting a business is the worst idea right now 😂

Lol.

Though I did hear on LBC radio last night Sheffield lacks jobs.

At least the long term reliable partner isn't the domain of those who are highly educated or earn a high salary.

I would say having a partner is at least as important as your salary/ earning power when it comes to buying a home. People invest years of their life to get a good degree so they can earn good money to buy a home and have a comfortable life. So we should invest as much time to finding a good reliable partner from age 18. Tbh nothing makes as much a difference to your net worth as having a good reliable financially literate partner who helps with the kids (as a woman) and securing such a partner from a young age means you can accrue savings from a young age when you pool both incomes .

Tell him thanks, we can't wait for all the HMOs people are planning to create with our affordable housing 🙄
On our local Facebook pages everytime someone suggests they are thinking of creating a HMO they are ripped to shreds as they should be.
Maybe you could turn your street into HMOs, I doubt you wouldn't be too keen on that idea....

I agree with you long term partnership makes finances easy. I just was saying encouraging people to find it doesn’t mean they will. For many it’s actually easier to work on becoming highly educated / getting a good job as that is a lot easier to find.

Well I think your post suggested otherwise.

Surely the notion of every young women is in need of a husband or whatever the opening of Jane Austen is taking us back hundreds of years.

It really didn't.

That's a very London-centric view but moving out of London to buy a home is nothing new.

I've always earned about three times the average UK wage, yet I moved out of London in 1990 because I couldn't afford a two bed house with any outdoor space. Every single person I studied with has moved out.

Yet I have nieces and nephews who have recently bought homes in Truro, Devizes, Lincoln and Hexham.

Generation Z men struggle to get girlfriends as everything is online these days.

The notion of this generation being happily ensconced en masse is unrealistic.

Generation Z men and women struggle to find partners (and many in other generations).

Hence why I say great advice as finding a partner is, for many it’s actually incredibly difficult.

If I knew anybody in any of those locations and could find jobs in my field, they could be an option for buying!

No now it's every person is in need of a partner. My DH is on 75k now and honestly he still needs my income. The tax system also means that even people on 100k can feel stretched (not that i am anti tax) . Much better to be 2 people on 50k each.

Most jobs nowadays are not secure and you are much more financially resilient in a dual income setup or potential for a dual income setup (even most stay at home mums eventually return to work even if part time and there is a 12k tax free income threshold). They compared the net worth of married couples and singles

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau highlights this stark difference: married householders under 35 boast a median net worth 9.2 times higher than unmarried women and 3.1 times higher than unmarried men. The gap only accelerates when you grow older. It applies for men too as you can see as married men are way better off than single men.

It is probably quite similar in the uk too.

The whole ' everyone should be comfortably off alone' is only possible long term in Scandinavian countries where there is strong societal consensus for higher taxes and wealth redistribution. In Anglo countries where there is high resistance to higher taxes, what happens is high wealth inequality which drives up asset prices so average ( or people born without wealth) people have to pool incomes in order to compete. The most common way is marriage and IMHO the most comfortable way as you can't choose your family but you can choose your partner. Also I know of few people who want to buy a home with their sibling and live together forever. Or buy a home with their mum and live together forever as there might be problems down the line with inheritance.

If you couldn't afford a house in 1990 in London when it definitely was affordable then you must not have been earning that high an income. London wasn't this global city in 1990 it didn't have the same pull for many precisely because it had lots of dodgy parts, large swathes of London had not been gentrified so I don't think it has always been this way at all. The answer isn't for all southerners to move elsewhere, why should we! Equally, why are the government so passive about this issue, why is it being accepted as a fait accompli!

Everybody could benefit from a partner does not mean everybody will find one though.

Hence why so many do not include having a partner in their financial calculations (I also think with increasing numbers of singles society really needs think about moving from the idea that everybody in life will be part of a partnership. It’s not a realistic expectation.)

No I don't think it's acceptable for anyone to be forced to move away from their support network. But, how would you address property being cheaper in Mexborough than London?

@Goldenbear I worked out of if I had been a few years older & worked full time in my weekend/holiday retail job I could have bought London property in the late 90s/early 00s. In places like Hackney and I would be rich now.

No doubt about it. The recession in the 90s resulted in my parents lossing money when they sold in West London!

Northerners - please note that the "South" isn't just London.

By the time I finished uni in the mid 00s the landscape had completely changed.

Where's Mexborough?

I described the system in Denmark up thread, some variation on that so you need to be a resident for five years living in the city to buy a house. There is definitely ways to regulate against foreign investment portfolios buying up the properties for air BNBs or to rent out and just keep pricing people out. It is a massive problem where I live now on the south coast. All these lovely period flats and houses more inland bought up and sitting empty. I rented one with a friend for £550 in mid 00s, we had a spare room as well! If a Labour government can't do anything about this issue of billionaires buying everything up to the detriment of local residents, then it is a pretty poor show. I am a liberal voter and just think the inequality between the richest and poor is so vast that it is something everyone wants addressing. DH and I are high earners but it is still a struggle to move up he ladder but the teenagers have friends whose parents aren't and they are being priced out it is totally changing the character of the city just like it did in London!

There wouldn't be though if every young couple south of Watford (including the West Country) moved up there.

Born and bred in the Midlands but even here in the desirable parts, house prices have sky rocketed. Moving isn’t always the solution as often people are still outpriced from the safe/attractive areas due to the fact house prices increases are a national issue.

Also doesn’t it occur to anyone that if some of the southerners who I can’t afford to buy or live in London moved north, then it would create more jobs above Watford. The fabled led levelling up that is sold at every election in action. More people need more services etc. That said, no doubt house prices in the north would also
go up I guess.