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 ***.

“Move North” is only said by people who don’t know the North. I live in Manchester and a 3-bed mid-terrace in the area where I live is £700k. House prices are similar to the outer London zones. What you mean is move to a small town, which is wear the affordable housing is in the UK - small towns with no transport links which are difficult to commute from and therefore undesirable and impractical places for young families to live.

The best advice is to aim for a career that allows you to WFH. Having full flexibility regarding where to live without impacting your career is a huge win.

A 100k job commuting into London is very different from doing the same job while living somewhere like a pleasant market town up north. The difference in standard of living is immense.

@Veebee89 good point

I think Manchester is a different case though. It’s perfectly possible to buy somewhere and get work north of Luton. No need to go as far as Manchester. Anyone teaching would get work and that salary x 2 would get a house. However we do link salaries to qualifications. Others have to work their way up. Or learn a trade - always work for builders.

I earn great money but wouldn’t buy a house in London. Surely pet we’d to start small, buy a small flat! Or buy with a friend, not start with a house

@Maray1967

i know , it’s actually quite sad that a portion of our population doesn’t realise there’s life outside of the m25, and well paid jobs too! My dc is in Scotland, great pay and £450k gets acreage!

How dare you expect to be able to buy a modest home in the area you were raised and now work in! How fucking entitled!

I completely agree with pp that EVERYONE in/around London/the expensive southern areas (who isn't wealthy or have family wealth) should, no, MUST move up north.

"Ooh I've got sick/elderly/disabled relatives and neighbours that rely on me for support" Fuck 'em! We don't need family or community. It's every man/woman for themselves now, and quite rightly too!

There are definitely more than enough skilled jobs and houses for you all.

London and the surrounding areas don't need shop workers, bin men, warehouse workers, cleaners, admin staff, teachers, care assistants, nurses, social workers, etc.

All of those jobs can be done by MN who have darling husbands who earn "six figure" salaries, plus bonuses of course!

Well, we've bloody solved it ladies! Fantastic work!

The most expensive places in the North are the big cities you just suggested OP moves to.

I agree to an extent, I grew up in zone 5, so not far different. My parents had no inheritance and bought a standard semi detached house on an average wage (my mum was a SAHM, but later worked part time as a TA)
Now similar houses in the road we lived in when i was a kid, are 600k +

Obviously people can move away from London to buy cheaper houses. But London still needs retail workers, bar staff, cleaners, nursery workers, tfl staff and a host of workers who are typically on below average wages....and they need somewhere to live.

I once read a thread on here and more than one poster couldn't believe there were people living and working in London earning less than 35k....

It's a state of affairs caused by successive government policy pandering to NIMBYs and developers being quite keen to maintain supply squeezes to keep prices going up. Foreign ownership in central London is a dilemma, but I think limited to postcodes that have never been very affordable. Its status as an attractive asset is only due to supply constraints, albeit I can't help thinking our money laundering controls might have got a bit lax.

Setting aside the supply issues, the other thing that is obviously required is for the government to set out a coherent economic growth policy combined with strong training opportunities for people to get the skills required. Not spending time watering down the curriculum and talking about inclusion. The working people of tomorrow will need to learn how to maintain electronics, not do the driving themselves.

Gary's economics is neither the cause nor the solution and IMHO he's full of shit. Politics of envy always starts with other people's money and eventually it's your money.

Bugger me! Here I am drinking my first pint of the morning with my whippets snoozing at my feet thinking that I live in a 3 bed semi, five minutes bus ride from the city centre of an actual northern city.

Turns out after reading your reply, that I don't. That's a turn up for the books. What a lovely imaginary market town I've found myself in. Ah the fresh air, might hang my washing out and take the whippets for a walk.

Having children isn't a requirement. The world/this country isn't a place I would choose to bring up a child.

London is not the the whole of the UK, it’s just one city 🙄

There are 1432 3-bed properties in central Manchester under £400k, according to Rightmove.

818 3-bed properties under £300k in the same search area.

I "moved North" just over ten years ago.

Having children isn't a requirement.

Well birth rates are low so clearly people are aware of the above. Bet you aren't a fan of immigration though!

Can people stop encouraging Southerners to mlve up north, please? We would like to keep the prices reasonable!

It's all over the world. Capital cities are essential unaffordable everywhere, large cities followed already and now the smaller ones. It's been going on for decades, with masaive jump recently. This is one thing I don't moan about in UK because it's not just UK. It's the world issue.

Trades are earning a lot more than grad roles at the moment. It is set to increase as a lot of desk jobs get taken over by AI and trades become the jobs that can't be done by a well trained computer.
I say this as someone who works in AI and tech. I will be encouraging my kids to go into trades.

This isn't new though, it's why I had to move out of east London where I grew up, pre-gentrification back in 2010, to afford to even buy a flat. Come to Essex it's full of us.

Well.. they could afford it and the locals couldn’t what a daft comment!!! The UK relies on lots of foreign investment so please go and do some research

No, all the infrastructure, schools, medical facilities, shops, restaurants, airports, roads, public transport, housing and public entertainments are entirely self-sustaining and require no human input.

My grandparents didn't even rent - they had two rooms in lodgings, ie shared kitchen and bathroom. This was quite normal in the 1950s apparently - it wasn't some slum arrangement. They had two small children there for at least 3 years.

That said, this did enable them to save to buy a small bungalow (newbuild at the time), with a garden, on a nice road within a mile from a city centre.

London and SE are worst for house prices but even in bits of midlands and north there are many expensive areas.

However there are cheaper areas - we are in one but in last 10 years we've been here prices have risen - but there's still a few left.

It's not just a UK problem - large parts of Europe, Australia and even parts of the US.

House prices do go down as well as up but demand too high for that any time soon in UK.

My siblings are in stable housing but it's HA - expensive bit of midlands but the Tory council let large building program happen but had HA housing as part of it.

I agree it's not unique to the UK. Property prices are insane in parts of NZ as well, but young people are still buying houses. You are right, we need to get back to houses being homes rather than investment opportunities.

My 2 bed Victorian terrace house in Southampton is only worth around 220k ATM, so not at all out of anyone's reach.

I live in the north. A 3 bedroomed semi on my street less than 2 miles from a major city centre costs half that.