How do you people afford to buy property in London?

[England101]

Im in my mid 30s and looking to buy a property, ideally in the outskirts on london. I have a deposit of 60K but (according to online calculators) can only borrow 155k. Ive began looking on the property for londoners website they have a shared ownership house on there for 725k!! full price and they asking for 290k for 40%!! Even with shared ownership how are normal people meant to buy property in/around london.

For me - luck, pure and simple. I bought a house in a very cheap area of the north in my very early 20s, purely because I didn't want to share a house anymore after a series of nightmare housemates. At that time, it was cheaper to buy than to rent in terms of monthly outgoings. I was warned at the time that it was a bad time to buy, as the market had been heading upwards for a while, and the wiser of my friends told me a crash was coming. It wasn't - the market skyrocketed, and the house almost tripled in value. That meant that when I wanted to relocate, I had a £60k deposit available that enabled me to buys a 2 bed flat in a not-very-desirable London borough. I rode out the property crash while I was there, the market recovered, and by the time I met DH we had enough equity between us to afford a house in a slightly nicer but further out bit of the same not-very-desirable borough.

It's all luck and timing. I claim no credit for any of it.

Bought a teeny 1 bed flat that was a former studio in zone 3!

I had a flat of my own, then met my partner who was buying one himself at the time. We moved in together and then eventually sold both to buy another bigger flat. After eight years living there, we had finally accrued enough equity along with a lump sum from a bonus to make an offer on a house that needed doing up from top to bottom. We were in our 40s when we bought the house!

Even 40 years ago, I started with a flat. Then 2 bed in zone 2; now probably a one bed in zone 4/5 - but London has grown outwards too. Even then I had some help with the deposit.

Our DC will have help.

I bought a one bedroom house in a Hertfordshire commuter town for £200k, and sucked up the long commute with costs. It’s about 300k for a two bed house in that area now, but some of the less desirable towns are cheaper.

If there is a chance your wage will increase in future, I’d get a one bed flat, build some more equity in it and then buy bigger further out once you earn more.

Do you have to be London based? That money would go so much further elsewhere.