First time buyers with budgets over £1 million

[Zimmertel]

How common is this in London?

Dd says that due to the price of property in central and inner London, a number of her work
colleagues are first time buyers looking at properties over £1mil. She’s looking at flats around £600k, which is the average house price there.

Her best friend is in finance, aged 26, earning near £200k a year before tax. The best friend’s partner is 28 and earns about the same if not more. They just bought a two bed in Zone 1 for £1.3mil. Their first home.

How common is this in London?

Not that common but it always depends what circles you're in. Sounds like your daughter is friends with welathy and well paid people. 200k at that age is very uncommon, surely you know that. If you have that budget it's more common for people to commute in and get bigger properties. Flats in that price range are hard to sell.

It depends on the circles, over all, not that common but in certain circles very, my daughter and her partner are mid twenties and looking to buy their first home, in the midlands, 700 k plus budget. They could go higher.

Like the PP I would say depends on the circles you move in. I would say not uncommon in my experience. I’m 33, so slightly older that your examples but lots of my friends in Law/Finance have had plenty of funds to rent in their 20s and save up for a first time property of a £1m+ house. The idea of a starter home/flat to accrue equity doesn’t really exist anymore so lots of my more financially aware friends have skipped over that phase.
Sadly I know several FTBs of London houses in the £1m+ range that have financed large purchases due to inheritance from grandparents/parents wills.

I am late 30s work on finance in London and certainly do not earn £200k

know lots of people in finance and very very few earn that much and certain none in their 20s

@KylieWasHere I was thinking the same thing tbh! Sounds like a gross exaggeration to me. I may be wrong but that was unheard of in my financial circles at 26.

I think the top 1% in the UK earn over £150k so it's definitely not very common and especially at that age.

When you say £200k in Finance, do you mean investment banking?

I have a lot of friends in finance - i.e. big 4/accounting and 10k at 30 is doable but not 200k at 26.

Don't have any close friends in investment banking though.

I couldn’t afford to buy a house for £600k and me and my DH are both teachers and in our 40’s.

your daughter sounds very rich indeed to me, let alone her friends 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don't know about finance but that would certainly be an achievable salary for a corporate lawyer in their late 20s at a US firm in London. There will be thousands of people earning this much at a similar age, so hardly unheard of but very much not what the average person earns.

Very high salaries, very high house prices.

A city lawyer in London with a husband in banking and many friends in finance - 200k at 26 is very very rare. Only thing I can think is they are a trader or otherwise in a front office role in investment banking - but still v rare

150k - 200k+ in mid to late 30s is far more common though

I would still say the 1m starter home is quite a rarity if they are buying in their 20s - probably 550-800k is more likely

but then the 2nd home as a 1m home is far more common in my experience

Very few teachers if any could ever do this without help or huge equity increases. Teaching is not very highly paid,

corp or commercial law, investment banking are very different animals.

Wtf with the husband thing? You know not everyone is straight right? I’m sure you meant a partner and didn’t mean to cancel people.

Maybe at a us law firm that’s true - although qualification salaries are more likely to be 150k-160k and most people would qualify at 23-25 years old

and law firms rarely give huge bonuses to newly qualified/junior associates

I think PP was describing her own situation as authority for what she went on to say, not the OP's daughter's friend's situation.

I'm thinking of the US firms paying £150k to NQs, add a couple of years' payrises to get to late 20s, add a 5% bonus...you can get to £200k quite easily. But agree it's not the norm even for lawyers.

This is what people need to remember. Of course £200,000 salaries at 26 are not common in London! daft question.

I'm late 50s and have lived in London for nearly 40s years and only know one person who earns at around that level or higher and they are mid 50s and a venture capitalist.

Mind you, most of my friends are not lawyers, bankers or IT bods. Thank God!

@Thestagshead I assumed that poster was talking about her own situation to make the point that even moving in the most high earning circles those sums are rare at that age.

I'm in my 60s and buying a house for £350k after being a homeowner for many years. It's the best I can do (don't get me wrong, I'm bloody grateful) so I can't get my head round having £1m to spend in my 20s.

I think first homes over £1m in London are becoming more common, house prices are crazy. We are looking at the moment and £1m gets you a 3 bed terrace!

I'm working in Finance in London at a mid-level role and certainly not earning that amount at my late 30s. I think that would what the top management in my company be earning. A close friend in the same industry bought a house that value after working about 15 years in his early 40s, but he had zero savings at the beginning and no family support.

Also someone in their 30s and working in finance and that salary really isn't normal at all, especially not at 26.

The only friends I know who are buying houses over a million are on their third /fourth house and / or have inheritance or cashed in shares etc.

Not unusual. I asked my estate agent who is buying flats at 1m+ and he said quite a few FTBs with wealthy parents. A young couple have bought a 1.5m flat in my building. It was fully refurbed when they bought it. They’ve ripped out everything and have redone it. Plenty of young City types have bought flats on my road in a lovely postcode of C London.

I know several FTBs who have bought for over £1m, although usually in 30s, not 20s.

Given what sub-£1m gets you in most of London, makes sense to stretch / wait. I kind of wish I had.

In 20s? No way, unless family money towards the deposit.

Even on a 200k wage (also v rare in 20s, let alone two of them) saving enough for a deposit that wouldn’t make a mortgage on £1m crippling takes a bit of time, and you can assume they aren’t earning the £200k from the minute they turn 20.

In your 30s if you’ve set your mind to it, possible, but I think most people would buy something cheaper first.

As with all London buys, what you get from parents to start you off is the big difference.

Very common where we live in sw london