58% of properties can be bought by "average income"

Cleaver

Graham_Devon wrote: »

No one's forcing you to, but your here

But this debate is pretty much identical every 6 or so weeks when it crops up. We may as well debate what the average weight of a man in the UK is and whether the average pair of trousers in the UK fits him. Of course, there's no real answer and it's all completely pointless even if you do find the answer as no one is 'average'.

Everyone knows that houses down south are pretty much unaffordable and that houses oop north are pretty much affordable. They could all do with coming down a bit though as they are all too expensive. Even Hamish knows this deep down I suspect. Sorted. Let's move right along.

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

I usually avoid the squabbling on these topics, but just for my own curiousity can someone describe the "average" house?

If its a 4 bed detached, then surely the "typical" buyer of one of these is a couple one twice the "average" wage??

I'd suggest the "average" single wage earner should be able to afford say a 2 bedroom house (else i'd definately agree things are getting silly)...

OR are we seriously suggesting that above average earner (say the dizzy heights of 40k!! :think:) should all be living in 6 bedroom 4 bathroom mansions because everything is so cheap?

misskool

HammerSmashedFace wrote: »

58% of properties can be bought by "average income"

Whether this is true or not, the average property should be able to be purchased with the average income, end of.

Why should this be the case? This has never been the case before.

Not saying people shouldn't aspire to home ownership but home ownership isn't really for everyone.

silvercar

misskool wrote: »

Why should this be the case? This has never been the case before.

Not saying people shouldn't aspire to home ownership but home ownership isn't really for everyone.

Agreed. Also people need to consider that they could afford to buy in a different area or they could afford to buy a FTB property but they now need to buy a family home.

Some people think the world has done them a great wrong because they can't buy the house they want in the location they want, whereas realisitically they could buy if they compromised on location or size.

Bit like years ago you would buy a home and gradually redecorate and replace the kitchen/ bathroom; now people want it all done immediately.

Graham_Devon

misskool wrote: »

Why should this be the case? This has never been the case before.

Not saying people shouldn't aspire to home ownership but home ownership isn't really for everyone.

He's talking about the average wage being able to afford the average house.

At that point, it's up to the person whether or not they want to buy.

But in my mind, if someone is earning the average wage, they should definately be able to, if they wish, go and buy the average house. Otherwise we are entering a whole new dimension of high house prices.

Cleaver

Graham_Devon wrote: »

But in my mind, if someone is earning the average wage, they should definately be able to, if they wish, go and buy the average house.

They can. As we've seen, the average couple earn about 50k between 'em, right? And isn't Swindon meant to be the most average place in the UK? Well, Mr and Mrs Average can go and buy this average house in Swindon for £160,000 (which I think is about the average price at the mo). A 3-bed semi - it doesn't get more average than that.



So there we go. Average people, buying an average house, at an average price, in an average place for a nice, standard, average 3 times income.

Of course, this isn't much good to someone in Kent. Or someone who works in Leeds. Or a couple who earn well above the average wage but have three kids and live in Cornwall where houses are stupid prices. Or someone who is single and earns double the national average but wants to live in Camden. And so on, and so on and so on.

But the point above still stands. The average house buyer (i.e.a couple) can buy an average house, in an average place at an affordable, average cost. This doesn't mean anything real to anyone, but it's true.

nickj_2

how can rising h/p's be descirbed as a recovery ?
over priced houses were part of the problem in the first place that got us into this mess , surley it is just adding more fuel to the fire . rising h/p's are only getting the people who borrowed too much in the first place and the banks out of the hole they have created . it is not solving the problem .
i paid 57k for my house 17 years ago , now they are going for around 200k - people who are prepared to pay this for so little , really need their bumps feeling by a shrink , i personally wouldn't pay more than 80k which is what they peaked at , before the last h.p crash .

the reason this topic keeps comig up is that your "average " man /woman on the street can see what is happening , but people who could make a difference are to scared of the consequences of a huge h/p crash

Cannon_Fodder

Wouldn't want that Swindon house, there's a bus-stop right outside - see Streetview - who knows who'd be on a double-decker looking into your bedroom as you hammer at the keyboard, tense-faced - they wouldn't know its just been another painful session on MSE...

abaxas

Cleaver wrote: »

They can. As we've seen, the average couple earn about 50k between 'em, right? And isn't Swindon meant to be the most average place in the UK? Well, Mr and Mrs Average can go and buy this average house in Swindon for £160,000 (which I think is about the average price at the mo). A 3-bed semi - it doesn't get more average than that.



So there we go. Average people, buying an average house, at an average price, in an average place for a nice, standard, average 3 times income.

Of course, this isn't much good to someone in Kent. Or someone who works in Leeds. Or a couple who earn well above the average wage but have three kids and live in Cornwall where houses are stupid prices. Or someone who is single and earns double the national average but wants to live in Camden. And so on, and so on and so on.

But the point above still stands. The average house buyer (i.e.a couple) can buy an average house, in an average place at an affordable, average cost. This doesn't mean anything real to anyone, but it's true.

Err orr (family fortunes noise)

You assume that average household income is 2x average salary. The average household income (according to the ons) is about 30k.

so 160/30= 5.334 x household income.

Cleaver

abaxas wrote: »

Err orr (family fortunes noise)

You assume that average household income is 2x average salary. The average household income (according to the ons) is about 30k.

so 160/30= 5.334 x household income.

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(ahem)

Phew.

Actually, are you sure it's not 5.332 x average income? I think you're looking at the Feb ONS report, whereas I have the March report. Makes a crucial difference.