to think that when we are using every penny of our savings and maxing out our mortgage we should be able to buy a decent house in the City I was born and raised??

[slightlystressed]

Its not!
And Its not fair!

I know. It's shit isn't it?

Us neither - we rent a tiny flat. Only way to get something bigger is to move area entirely, away from all friends and family. Yet our local Tory candidate recently put a leaflet through our door which included a comment about what a worry it is that house prices might fall. I guess it is a worry if you're rich enough.

YANBU, I know just how you feel. It's not fair.

Yeah it's pants. I hate our rented flat that we moved to to 'save money' to buy. Needless to say we're still here 3 years later.

It's absolutely shit - we can't afford a garage in the area we live in - 2 perfectly decent salaries and a deposit too....

I'm fed up of renting a shit house and paying all my money every month to a landlord!!!!!

Yes it would be nice if we all could afford to buy whatever we wanted, wherever we wanted it. Til then, I guess we just have to make do with what we have and either move to another (cheaper) area, or find a way of earning more money. Tis life. No-one is entitled to have exactly the house they want in the area they want it, even if they happened to grow up there.

local connection doesn't confer entitlement to affordable housing

Isn't there a scheme in the Lake District where only locals are entitled to buy certain properties?

How do they define 'locals'? And in what way is that fair, in a free society?

YANBU, house prices are ridiculous. Come to Germany!

You're lucky - we can't afford to buy a house anywhere.

I don't know how local is defined. But think that if you grow up in a small community, but are priced out of the market by those who have second (vacant) homes, then there should be some sort of scheme so that locals can afford to live in the community where they grew up, if that's what they want, and to live near their family.

I think it is very different in Cumbria to living in a city. In Cumbria people cannot afford to live (either rent or buy) within travelling distance of their jobs, and cannot live within 30 miles of family. It puts the whole of Cumbrian culture at risk.

it is very rare for someone who is in employment in a city to not be able to find anywhere they can afford to rent within 30 miles of their job and/or family.

YANBU. One of the first MN threads I came across was "AIBU to think that I should be able to live on £150,000 pa?" and then the OP mentioned tithing and expenses to do with fresh flowers

Have you looked into part rent part buy, or a shared equity scheme?

www.rightmove.co.uk/first-time-buyers/shared-ownership.html

I know a couple who have just entered this sort of deal, it sounds quite good.

What about us poor Londoners? A poky 3 bed terrace in the area I grew up in cost nigh on a million quid. Whaddafackinliberdeeee. It used to be a right shit hole, too. Boo.

Im in Bath, which is really expensive, our budget is actually quite healthy if we moved to Bristol, but to get back into Bath we are going to have to make alot of compromises. Its annoying I almost wish I was 10 years older so I could have got on the property market before the boom!

slightlystressed whats wrong with Bristol? Its far friendlier than snobby old Barff

But Mrs Mattie, you can afford to rent a property within 30 miles of your place of work/elderly family members if you work in London.

haha I lived and worked in Bristol for a few years, really liked it, but all DPs work is based in Barff and its where I'm from!

Yes, it is totally unfair. For some reason when other items - cars, food, clothes, rents, gas etc. get cheaper it is seen as a good thing. But the feeling put out by this government is that house prices falling is a complete disaster. It is NOT. The only people put out are current homeowners. But where does that leave the thousands of renters, younger people, our own children?

Please also remember that many of these homeowners are in negative equity, in terrible debt through house ownership and many also have the toxic interest only mortgages. Believe it or not you are in a very good position at the moment and I bet in time you will be in a fantastic position.

The sooner house prices are in proportion to wages the better. I believe this will happen.

We could only afford to do shared ownership, so we are only buying 30% of our house. It is a tiny house, but after renting crappy flats for years where we always had a shit landlord and problems with the flat, this is far better. There is no way we could afford to buy outright with only DH working for shite wages.