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 ***.

Sorry but some parts of Manchester are not safe or desirable areas to live. We moved here recently so are very familiar with the housing market here and all the areas which were recommended to us and which we considered living in (Altrincham, Hale, Bowdon, Didsbury, Chorlton Green) were around £700k+ for a 3-bed mid terrace. It isn’t affordable to live in the kind of nice, family area most people moving here would want to live.

The OP could live somewhere much nicer and more affordable in the South West or could consider commuter towns like Milton Keynes rather than the “affordable” areas of Manchester.

I'd argue that safe and desirable are subjective and changeable. I certainly don't think South Manchester is as safe as you're making out either. And your examples are largely Cheshire, not Manchester. Within the next 10 years my shithole area will likely be pretty desirable and my house might be worth 700k, earning me a ginormous profit when I downsize somewhere less urban. Hopefully my sons will have excellent jobs around here in the exact same jobs market as your children. As an anecdote, the desirable secondary school in my area that I tried everything to get my kids into is now the least desirable 5 years later, rife with bullying and anti social behaviours, high staff turnover, downturned results - the least desirable school that my kids got placed into without my input is now doing really well against all odds, and the local sixth form college where my son is hopefully heading is excellent and on a par, if not "better" than those in South Manchester.

This is already happening. However almost all R & d spending is in the south so the jobs in the north created are often not very economically productive ones.

The brightest people inevitably move south. Or at least the ones who can sustain it until they make enough to live decently in the south or who have the family support to do so (aka the many working class kids within the m25 who work in financial services jobs and live at home and save and will be able to afford flats and houses in zone 3 to zone 6).

Shoosh lass. Keep it ta thee sen! Im from huddersfield, its like someone clicked and dragged, and made a mini lake district.

They can run, but their assets can’t. If you have property in the UK, or you own shares in a company incorporated in the UK, or you have a UK bank account, those are British assets and should be taken into account for the purposes of the wealth tax. But I agree, there will be an almighty backlash from those who already have more than they could ever spend.

ETA I don’t doubt there are people claiming more from the state than they should, or even fraudulently claiming, but in recent years steps have been taken to address that, in particular cutting benefits. I think we need to look at the other side too. Yes, stamp out fraudulent benefit claims, but also look at the huge increase in wealth inequality and seek to act on that with the same vigour. Most of us have more in common with those on benefits than with those who have more than £10million worth of assets, and we are the ones who may well need the benefits safety net one day. We need to work together if we are to change anything for the better.

I’m not suggesting we aspire to that now - I was saying it wasn’t all rosy in the past! (I caveat with I’m a millennial and I own a house and bought my sofa and eat well 😂)

You’re from a village surrounding Huddersfield though, right? I don’t think anyone is calling Huddersfield town desirable nowadays (I say as someone with a HD postcode!)

The difference was housing was cheap and consumer goods expensive in the past. The reverse is true now. We furnished our flat with everything new for 10k (think that probably included replacing fridge and washing machine). Our deposit was 58k, transaction costs close to 10k (think stamp duty alone was £4600). I think if you can afford to buy you can afford the new furniture (esp from places like ikea muji made next etc). If you can save up 60k etc it probably wouldn't take you long to save up another 10k for furniture etc.

Are there jobs outside of Greater London?

🤯

Yes

Do people really think everyone moving out of London and the south east to the North is the solution. Why are people not shocked by what is happening to wealth inequality to the point of whole regions of people having to move away!

I currently live in the south with my family and job located here. And I rent and I hate it. I can't see it being easy for my children - I can't even act as guarantor for their potential future rented homes.
The advice to "move north" is not something that many can do due to being in a job/career in the south and caring for family members. It is an enormous wrench to leave everything and everyone you know behind and relocate. I've done it once and it was hard.
Moving north to buy also raises prices in those locations meaning that housing affordability rises.

There's no easy answer - none of us are "owed" anything but the future is not going to be better. The poor will return to living in one bed HMOs as they did 100 or so years ago.

A lot depends on the child. My eldest is NOT a spender, she has her hobby (riding) but also rides other peoples horses for money - a good hourly rate, she saves everything bar a little bit of petrol in her car to go to and from work - she works in retail barely above min wage but also does overtime. She's always saved and despite forking out for a car (which she looks after doing running repairs eg brakes herself, it's low insurance cost and isn't interested in upgrading) she has a house deposit saved at 24 which would buy a home, her issue is the low wage. She does have a plan for that, gaining/having gained other qualifications which should land her a £30-40k job next year.
Her friend from school is qualifying as an accountant shortly and has just bought a 2 bed terrace in town nearby. Again, saved the deposit. Second-hand furniture other than bed.
Neither girl does foreign holidays. Or spends money on masses of clothes, make up, technology etc, going out is perhaps birthdays only. They're both savers. That's the difference IMHO. Most of their other friends are spenders. Or have expensive cars on PCP and high insurance as a result. Some even have credit card debt.

What actually happens to the people who "didn't work hard at school"?

Honestly it's a joke, I was earning 50k and couldn't get a 160k mortgage, need to be earning 100k+, back in the 90's you could of easily buy a house on 10k a year. Most of my friends only got a house because of handouts. Definitely in the handout generation. Many kids in the future will struggle unless they get a 100k plus job or create a business and make millions easier said then done. I am telling my children to aim for 100k plus jobs.

Wow!!!! This has made my blood boil……what do you think us poor Northerners do?

I’m a born and bred Londoner - I wish I was loaded. 🙄😉

No, there are no jobs in the north. We don’t have supermarkets, schools, hospitals, trains, dentists, universities, etc. Those of us who are lucky enough can work on the family farm or down in the mines. My family has a pit pony that we also to carry produce back from the market. One can only dream of running water and electricity up north. Of course there are no jobs or houses.

’The brightest people inevitably move south.’ 🧐

@TicklishMintDuck

Why are you all responding like this? All we hear is that many people have to come to London from the north for their careers and for jobs - its a well worn path over the years just because the capital (where so many of the jobs are) is in the south. Of course we know there are jobs in the north but everyone knows if they talked about normal noncareer jobs (postie, retail) we ‘d get a barrage of ‘don't take our jobs’. Its the same with the comments about housing and Londoners raising prices - well, we have to live somewhere too and if we are priced out because of everyone coming here ( including Northerners) then its just the way it is.

When @Honeyyourfamilar said ‘are there jobs there’ she meant jobs someone from outside could get - not jobs where you have to have ancestors in the local graveyard, have gone to school with the boss or have an aunty who works somewhere. We have that same provincialism in the south, too and no one realistically going to move from a job heavy south to somewhere there are not realistic prospects for them.

You all sound so petty and childish. As though now one person has said it, you all need to get your say in - like children in the playground.

Unfortunately I’ve heard this too many times. Parents at open days, always southerners, expressing astonishment that Liverpool has student accommodation in leafy suburbs. Colleagues in Manchester and Sheffield say the same.

I never had much cash in London where I lived for years on end.

People always think Londoners are loaded it is crazy! Some think that here still (midlands) lol.

As some one who lives in the south in a town house prices are just unobtainable for anyone not earning Mega bucks

mysekf and my partner earn 70k between us and can afford the rent but no down payment for a mortgage

im ok with renting but I guess by now at age 41 and having left home at 16 I have paid someone’s mortgage but hey ho

my Son has a life insurance payment from his dad in trust so he can at least buy when he needs or wants to

you need an insane deposit now to purchase a home in any part of the country

Is she living at home with you? If so she is able to save for this reason (not saying she isn’t sensible or smart)

many ppl don’t have the option to live with parents to save I know I didn’t

I left London for Manchester because I couldn’t get a job in London. Too competitive and too many people applying.

So please clarify, what does ‘are there jobs?’ actually mean then? None of my professionally qualified friends and colleagues have needed to move to London for work.