FTB expectations too high?

Pobby

Frankly I think it`s a load of old tosh about our age group having it harder. I was 24 when I bought my first house. 3 bed semi. Wage inflation and promotion made our mortgage seem like peanuts very quickly.

Loads of singleton friends bought as well. Can`t remember anyone buying a poxy studio flat.

It`s far tougher for you youngsters. I know it`s not a right to own a house but come on. Worked well for years before the rulers of the universe started mucking around with "creative" mortgages. Now look what`s happened. Idiots!

beingjdc

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

I wanted to clear up this falacy, however the CML has now made their statistics membership so unfortunately no link now but I have cleared this up before

According to the CML, the average FTB age is 29

Well, maybe it's fallen back in the slump, but here you go.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/jul/05/business.firsttimebuyers

34.

IveSeenTheLight

beingjdc wrote: »

Well, maybe it's fallen back in the slump, but here you go.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/jul/05/business.firsttimebuyers

34.

Your article is from 2005 and even then, if I remember the spreadsheet correctly, it peaked at about 32 in 2004.
I tend to take CML figures ahead of any jounalist article

I referenced here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=12908871&postcount=35

even better reference here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=13111875&postcount=98

and here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=16650165&postcount=121

One point is that there could be a difference between average age and median age.
Re-reading the posts, it appears the CML may have shown the median FTB age as 28.

the_ash_and_the_oak

Don't see what the problem is tbh - Lots of 1 bed and 2 bed flats to rent that are considerably cheaper - don't understand why anybody would buy theses

I understand when people want to start a family they may want to buy a house but why does anyone want to actually own a flat? Especially as renting one would mean a potential deposit for a house grows larger due to lesser outgoings

Also don't understand why people buy and sell houses so often. Is pretty expensive imo and a lot of upheaval.

IveSeenTheLight

the_ash_and_the_oak wrote: »

Don't see what the problem is tbh - Lots of 1 bed and 2 bed flats to rent that are considerably cheaper - don't understand why anybody would buy theses

I understand when people want to start a family they may want to buy a house but why does anyone want to actually own a flat? Especially as renting one would mean a potential deposit for a house grows larger due to lesser outgoings

Also don't understand why people buy and sell houses so often. Is pretty expensive imo and a lot of upheaval.

Because in some areas renting is more expensive than the mortgage interest

Becuase during house price increases, it is seen that you are keeping the gap to the 3 bed semi + closer to your affordable levels as your 1 / 2 bed flat is also increasing

Because it allows you a certain factor of freedom as to whether you want to decorate to your taste, put up sattelite dishes / flat screens on wall etc

because some students prefer to own their property letting out rooms to fellow students and thus effectively reducing their living costs while a student

SandC

I haven't read all the thread so excuse me if I'm repeating anyone else's thoughts.

Back in the 70s people buying houses for the first would tend to be couples. Single people rarely bought a property on their own. They would rent or live with parents until................ whenever. Pay for men was higher proportionately than it is now, so houses could be bought on that one salary only. You could only borrow so much and a second wage was either not taken into consideration at all, or only a small percentage of it was. People did not kit their homes out in new stuff. They would regularly live in one room for a couple of years. There was no such thing as interest free credit and remember, people didn't even get loans for cars.

I would not say that everyone should have their first home be a studio or one bed flat. In my area and many northern industrial towns there were very few flats around anyway. The first step was and still is (to an extent) a two bed terrace. When I was buying back in 1995 a one bed flat in a new compact block would cost more than a two bed terrace anyway. It is still the case in areas such as mine that there are thousands and thousands of terraced streets which were built with the workers in mind. The work back in those days of course being manufacturing and mining.

We can't expect FTBs to be the same as they were way back when. People just aren't getting married and cohabiting at such a young age. When they do they want to buy. The demand and lax lending habits is what made house prices out of the reach of the first time buyer of the 90s.

It's all a bit mad.

SandC

I'm just replacing my 15 year old fridge freezer. I bought that back in 1994 for about £180. That was about the cheapest I could find back then but it wasn't considered expensive. That was a bargain price. I was taking home about £650 per month then. The one I have bought is only costing me just under £250 and is a far superior model (what with techology and all, not saying it is superior to the build of the 50s and 60s which nothing seems to be - but if my 1994 one could last 15 years then this one can too).

My microwave I bought second hand over 10 years ago from a colleague. I paid him £65 for it. Can you imagine?

That was only back in the 90s, think of the cost of buying anything electrical in the 80s and 70s.

That's why people didn't do their homes up but took years to do so. The mortgage was one thing, the rest had to come later. Why do you think wedding presents were always household goods? It's cos you were setting up home and could't afford to buy things like a toaster or a set of plates.

IveSeenTheLight

Two very decent posts SandC.
It does highlight a little how people expect andinsist that everything should be available in their palm of their hand nowadays.

Looks like we are heading backwards to a time when credit was not so readily available and people had to save and appreciate more what they achieved.

Add to this increasing costs of countries where historically was defined as cheap lavour and you may well see products which are not as cheap relatively as they have been in recent years.

mbga9pgf

Well, I tell you what, bring back microwaves costing 500 quid and house prices at sensible multiples and I will swap you any day.

I earn nigh-on 50K, save 80% of take-home (for 4 years) and will still only be able to afford a 40% mortgage. in 1995, on a comparable wage saving a similar % takehome, I could have bought the house outright after 3 years. I work away a hell of a lot, usually 6 months a year in some craphole abroad. I dont own a flash car, have anything on credit, I havent even bought my wife anything to make the home more 'homely' since we moved into our current rented 3 years ago. We paid for our own wedding entirely, and told our guests not to bother with presents. So dont give me rubbish about 'you dont know what it was like in our day'. I know all about saving, believe you me. Its just that house prices are completely, utterly unaffordable.

Now tell me house prices today are reasonable.

SandC

I firmly believe places like DFS are only still open because of their policy of interest free credit spread over 4 years.

Nobody ever had everything is the point. If lending remains tight and stores like the above are forced to change their policies then maybe the housing will get down to a level of affordability again but people will have got into a habit of saving for what they want, or going down to the bank, in person and having a grilling to get a loan for something necessary. A grilling where the Manager or member of staff will go through their outgoings with a fine tooth comb to see if they can afford it not just go on credit ratings which although will highlight those who you shouldn't lend money to will also give poor ratings to someone like me who has no debts whatsover and never has.