First time buyers in London

ModernSlave

So much negativity and aggression! I can only put it down to misplaced jealousy. Let's try and be a bit positive here.

Hi OP. Firstly, well done. At 26 I was living in London and not earning or saving anywhere near the amount you have. I still don't have that amount and I'm 30!

For those of you pouring scorn I'd like to point out that in the last 10 years of living in London my rent has varied between £400 and £1400pm (with a free rat thrown in with the £400 place).

There are many, many places outside London where even £400pm would buy you a flat to live in or a nice place to rent. But once you step into that magic circle of the M25 the situation changes.

You may earn what sounds like a lot - it is a lot! - but the cost of travel (my monthly travelcard is £150) and council tax (my council tax is £167 a month) all take their bite.

The average deposit for first time buyers in London is £120,000. I can't remember the exact figure but I think this is based on an average salary of £35,000. The average age is 37 so you have years of earning above the average in order to catch up.

I think the key thing you mentioned was outdoor space. Basically, in London a garden adds £30,000 - £50,000 to a flat. A 2 bed with a garden is the most desirable property around, lots of people want one!

Why don't you draw up a plan of action that includes visiting places you've never been once every couple of weekends? There are corners of London that will have what you're looking for, you just haven't been there yet.

Finally, remember that there is no boat, no final farewell of the mythical property ladder. And while it's nice to be able to ask parents for help, it's very, very nice to do things on your own.

Best of luck.

Running_Horse

googler wrote: »

That THUD you hear is my jaw hitting the desk..... £245k ?!?!? OMG, !!!!!!, etc.....

Arf. That living room looks like something from an old people's home. A quarter of a million pounds for a run down council flat? Those sophisticated folks in that there Lun'on most really know a thing or two, and really put us yokels to shame with their culture.

Let me save you 10 years and give you a fast forward. One day you will be begging me to sell you my home counties suburban house, mistakenly thinking you are buying the country dream.

Londonsu

We sold our Flat in Clapham in Feb, two bedrooms, Edwardian, ( so nice high ceilings) with a garden it was priced low for a quick sale at 250k and in fact we got a full price offer within 4 days of it being on the market, it was a beautiful flat but we wanted to move to the Isle of Wight. So it may be a case of you making friends with an EA to get first dibs on anything going in your price range

sazza42

I think the OP is in a brilliant position to buy somewhere in London - if he saves for another year or two I would have thought. It's an amazing place to live and worth every compromise you have to make to be able to afford it. He just need to adjust expectations a little....

I used to rent (just a room, not a whole flat - there's no way I could have afforded a whole flat!!) in Fulham but when I came to buy at the age of 34 I was under no illusions that I could afford anywhere within spitting distance of there or anywhere else considered 'nice' and bought a beautiful flat with a garden in Tottenham. Good garden flats are really hard to find in London. I was buying on my own and earning a good £50,000 less than the OP. By the way, this was only 5 years ago, not back in the dark ages. It can be done.

However, I recently sold the lovely flat in Tottenham and swapped it for a spacious 3 bedroom house in Chester.... Sums it up really - what is most important for you?

Stevenson

That's a goog money, look for a house in a cheaper section, or look for a chear house you might find something really nice. But the money are good so why you think you can't afford someting really nice, spead less, work harder and you'll succeed, I hope

Blacksheep1979

Mum_of_3 wrote: »

On £84k you should be able to save at least £35k in a year surely?!

Believe me £84k is not a low combined wage, not even for London. Stop whining and buy in a cheaper area and move to Fulham when you have increased either the capital or your wages, or save like there's no tomorrow (no going out, no new clothes etc) and buy somewhere in Fulham this time next year.

M_o_3

PS If my partner & I were on £84k I would think I'd won the lottery

84k is about £50k after tax, in London for a couple you're going to be talking of £1200 a month for a 1 bed (including bills) then £100 each for a monthly travelcard. Those two costs are ~ £17k for the year, straight away without food, holidays, clothes and other expenses you're below £35k.

But I agree, it's a good salary and you can get a 2 bed garden flat for £250k if you're not looking at zone 1/2

TrickyDicky

have you considered somewhere like woking?

25 mins on the train to waterloo
£250-£300k will get you a small 3 bed terrace or 3 bed flat within walking distance of the station, or 3-4bed semi if you dont mind cycling.

GDB2222

I'll see if I can summarise some of the finer points in this thread:

1. £35k saved plus student loans paid off - bah that's nothing.
2. You should be saving £50k a year - even though that's more than your net salary.
3. You're a scoundrel for seeing whether one of the government schemes can assist you.
4. 'Arf. That living room looks like something from an old people's home.' Very on-topic, I'm sure.
5. 'Dont try to make out you are hard done by as you dont have children or an immigrant.' I don't have an immigrant, either.
6. 'Presumably then they were born in a different country and you have nine siblings? ' Another very on-topic comment.

Better stop now, before I alienate everybody who contributed so fulsomely.

Mum_of_3_3

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

84k is about £50k after tax, in London for a couple you're going to be talking of £1200 a month for a 1 bed (including bills) then £100 each for a monthly travelcard. Those two costs are ~ £17k for the year, straight away without food, holidays, clothes and other expenses you're below £35k.

But I agree, it's a good salary and you can get a 2 bed garden flat for £250k if you're not looking at zone 1/2

But what I think most Londoners don't realise is that around here an average wage here in Somerset is around £25k, so that's £42k net per couple (although I know lots of families that live on £30k or less pa). A 1-bed flat inc bills each month is £850 rent, plus travelling to work by car (no reliable public transport here) £200/month so that's £12,600 per year exc food and luxuries. You see although houses are cheaper here than London, the wages are proportionally lower and so we aren't in fact better off.

Add to this the fact that the average house price in Somerset is £200k, you can see that it's not just Londoners who are priced out of the market, it's most young people nationally.

M_o_3

PS If you split the £84k in half then it's roughly £62k pa before student loans and if I were that desperate to buy then I would forfeit holidays, new clothes etc.

cloudninety

TerryTibbs05 wrote: »

We are both young professionals (26 yrs old) and we earn a combined annual salary of £84k.

I am in my late twenties and also a professional, however I am in the unfortunate position of having (stupidly) chosen to be a health professional which results in my having a gross salary of 27K a year. Would be a bit more at 29K in an NHS hospital (if I could get a job in one). I realise that there are people who earn more than you do, but you still earn a good salary.

TerryTibbs05 wrote: »

... for people like me who almost earn too much but not enough to buy a first home in london.

You do earn enough for a home in London - certainly if you don't, then what hope is there for me??

princeofpounds wrote: »

You are always going to get negative comments on this thread from people who don't realise the gulf between London and elsewhere in terms of the cost of living and what you get for your money. It's fair opinion, let them have their say and don't bother to argue with them.

But I know that you can't get a decent 2 bed flat (probably the minimum for starting a family) in an ok zone 2 area for much less than 350k (and I use the term decent loosely)...

It just goes to show that if 80k isn't that special, if all it buys you is a basic 2 bed in an ok area. Though it's not bad, it allows you to save. If you index the wage to average house prices (provided by zoopla in this instance) then 80k in London is equal to approximately 28k wage in Manchester. People just don't realise this difference (although other costs of living like food are not so disproportionately unbalanced thankfully).

Again, not all of us who live in London have the opportunity to earn this much! And we also have the high living costs to pay, just out of much less money to start with.

princeofpounds wrote: »

As for these schemes, personally I don't think they should be available to anybody. Whatever form they take, they are a subsidy in disguise and the taxpayer shouldn't be helping you to buy your home (mind you, they shouldn't be helping a nurse or teacher or 10-child immigrant either! Or the developers who profit from this).

Why shouldn't nurses (and other allied health professionals), teachers etc. who are all highly skilled professionals working very hard (and often under tremendous pressure) but not paid much, be helped to own their own homes? Having said that, I am personally not a fan of these schemes and am aiming to buy a flat in London on my own. Currently saving for a deposit but it is slow going - I am aiming for 50K which is a high target but hopefully do-able in the not too distant future. I am hoping to buy a 2 bed flat so that I can have a lodger. This is all assuming that I will be able to get an approx 5x salary multiple (high, I know, hence the lodger) and that I can find a flat for about 180K by the time I have saved the 50K.

Also beginning to seriously think of changing careers so that I can improve my earning potential, though that won't be an option until 2012, I don't think. I feel that it is sad that I am feeling forced for economic reasons to leave a profession I love and which helps people improve their health. (Part of my reason for considering changing is that I will have to help my parents financially when they stop working because they have always been poorly paid and so have not been able to provide for a pension.)

So that's my story and I am sure that their are plenty of people who live in London and would love to buy a property but earn less than I do; just felt I wanted to share mine after reading the OP's post.