To ask what you think a reasonable price for a small “starter” home is?

[TeenLifeMum]

We talk a lot about housing costs being too high but what would be affordable for young people wanting a 2 bed property in your mind? I’m intrigued by different perceptions and perspectives on this subject.

dh and I were very low paid (local newspaper journalists, graduates on terrible pay) when we purchased our first home. We did have 2 incomes but in 2005 I was on £11,500 and dh was on £10,500 when we bought our first home.

I can only talk about my area and I would say about £200k here in my bit of the north west. That would buy someone a two bed terrace in an OK part of the city - nowhere ‘mumsnetty nice’, but the area is only a few miles from the city centre and takes 15 minutes to get there by bus. These houses are very popular with young couples.

ETA to add that I think that £200k (below the average property price) is a reasonable price for a young couple. I can see why so many southerners move here.

If NMW is 25K, that is a take home of 1700 pre moth, 3400 for a couple.
1/3 of that is just over 1100 per month. At 5% interest, 1100 will cover the payments of 25 year repayment mortgage of about 190K. Assuming a 10% deposit, that is a house price of 210K

So 200 budget for a starter home ( what ever that might be ) isn't unreasonable

Minimum wage (beyond very early adulthood) is not what I associate with home ownership and being able to manage the associated costs and responsibilities.

Those on minimum wages should have the option of affordable, secure, msintained long term rentals.

Small houses are about 400k here and 2 bedroom flats that aren’t much smaller around 225k.

Starter homes here in our area of Cornwall are minimum of £250k for a 2 bed apartment. For a house, £300K plus. With jobs and wages being low and seasonal, most kids live with parents until 30 or move away and come back later in life.

190 k

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/167193938

3 bedrooms house in Elsecar, Barnsley. Sure it’s a doer-upper but Elsecar is a reasonably attractive place to live in South Yorkshire, close to many amenities and ideal for first time buyers in the area. Prices across South Yorkshire vary massively. £200k would get you a lovely house in a good area here. The difference across the country is immense.

It should be three times average salary.

I’m also interested in seeing where this is!

100k.

That depends where you live.
Exceedingly few studios round here. Very few 1-bed flats. Flats in general aren't particularly common. 2-bed terraces, however are ten a penny.
So I'd definitely say a 2 bed terrace is a starter home - in a cheap region.

I live in Lancashire and not far from us is a relatively new massive estate/“village” where the cheapest starter flats go for about £90K but a decent 2 bed flat in good nick is £120K. Cheapest I’ve seen locally is a studio flat for £50k in an OK area.
If I look further afield in Preston, there are tons of student flats up for sale, some for £5K but they are for auction. Cheapest student flat up for sale is £20K and the cheapest flat for sale is £50K but not in a good area at all.

We both earnt 3-4 times your salaries and our first flat was £220k, in 2006. Now worth approaching £500k and the local buyers are still lawyers and doctors but bank of mum&dad comes in to play a lot 😬

£80k 👀 wow! We live in a beautiful part of the UK but that means it’s rife with the rich, and their second homes which really drives up the price. It was hugely noticeable during Covid. I can’t see house prices evening out any time soon.

When I bought my first starter home my mortgage was £836 a month.

I brought home just under £900 a month and that was working 48+ hours a week and not taking any holiday or sick. I had to do the overtime to bring my money up as much as I could. Without the overtime my full time wages would have been £672 a month.

I was a single wage family with that mortgage for several years.

I don’t think we should pretend that was a good time or that it is easier now!

I think where I live I'd look to what I'd call the average "qualified" salary - like when you've been in a job 3-5 years and got past a training type period. Then I'd expect a house price to be:
mortgage of 3 x 2 earners at that wage.

• 10% deposit

So a qualified teacher on m4, london fringe, gets just under 40k.
2 earning that, 3 x combined wage, would be £240k. Assuming a 10% deposit, would afford a £270k property.

You can get a relatively new/nice condition 2 bed apartment for that in the nearest town (High Wycombe), but its going to be a smaller one where the kitchen & living room are one room, and probably further from the train station.

Our nearest city- probably £200-250k for a small 2 bed house- the lower end for a flat (170-200). Our nearest village- £450-700k.

I have a problem with that as a divorcee
It wasn’t me that fcuked up

Not sure there is a simple answer, house prices will vary alot depending on location.

South East England 2 bed new build flat was 225k in 2015. Bought on shared ownership so 45% of 225k = 100k mortgage. Have since 'staircased' so my share is 70% and its prob worth 290k = just over 200k.

Short of a miracle I can't see myself owning the other 30%, but I'm glad that I staircased.

1 bed would probably have been 180k-195k. Studio 160k-170k.

Anything up to 250k would be a great price imo. Most couples could afford it and those solos who earn more could too. I live in London though so that’s just impossible.

My first salary in journalism was 2018 and I was paid £17k a year in central London. Interesting to see how almost 15 years after you I was paid even less in relative terms.

Location definitely matters. We bought ours last year for £222k. 3 bed with one being a box room. It’s in a lovely quiet area. This was our first bought home from having rented a flat for 3 years, and is going to be our forever home. We were lucky to get it as the market is so bad where we are.
I suppose we’re a little bit different as although it’s our first home we’ve bought together and in that sense is a ‘starter’ home, it’s actually our forever home. It has everything we need and no reason to move, as we’re not planning to have kids.

Location? I bought my first flat for ~£189k in SE London back in 2009 after saving a deposit of £45k by renting for many years. I was mid 30s when I bought it. Sold it in 2015 for over £300k and it’s currently worth around £400k!! It’s a small 1-bed flat with small garden.
I now live in a commuter town where a very small 2-bed (1 bedroom 1 box room) house with no garden sells for around £600k, and add a third tiny box room (5ft by 6ft) adds another £100k to that.

What is the AIBU?

We've just sold out 4 bed detached for just under 250k. That's big family house territory (in catchment for outstanding schools).