An entire generation locked out of property ownership

ukcarper

Percy1983 wrote: »

I would agree, my point is that go back a generation and generally if 2 people worked they could afford a house (usually with 1 still being part time), now you both have to work full time in more skilled jobs to have a chance.

In short the whole system has bumped up one on the jobs scale, now I have accepted this and upskilled to suit, but it does leave a whole chunk of a generation who can't afford there own home.

I think that is were you are going wrong you are only going back to the mid 90s when property was cheaper than it has ever been. I first bought in the 70s I was a fully qualified telecomms technician and my wife had a good clerical job in a major insurance company. I just about managed to buy and had to move 20 miles and commute to be able to. I would not have been able to buy if I was in a unskilled job.

ILW

ukcarper wrote: »

I think that is were you are going wrong you are only going back to the mid 90s when property was cheaper than it has ever been. I first bought in the 70s I was a fully qualified telecomms technician and my wife had a good clerical job in a major insurance company. I just about managed to buy and had to move 20 miles and commute to be able to. I would not have been able to buy if I was in a unskilled job.

I think part of the unrest is down to expectation. The current generation see the previous generation (which may well have been a bit of a blip) and look no further back. Go back 40 years or so and people in average jobs did not expect to own a house.

Percy1983

I will admit I am only going back 1 generation backwards from myself, yes it has been worse than it is now in historic terms, but as a race we are meant to push forward, not go backwards, at the very least maintain standards.

I will say a large part of my argument stems from the lack of control in the rental market, they way rules are right now I would never be able rent and be able to call it home as I could be kicked out on short notice at any time. With a whole generation having nowhere to call home society with crumble (you can already see very large cracks).

dianadors

Back in 1982 when I bought my first house, most working class people had to rent because wages wouldnt pay for a mortgage. My parents had never been able to afford to buy, and my friends that took full time low paid work like supermarket check out etc couldn't afford to buy then either. I didnt have the opportunity to go to Uni - my parents could not afford to let me stay on to do A levels (my dad was a coal miner and my mum a part time cleaner) so I had no choice but to leave school and get a job. My friends who I still consider lucky to have been able to go to uni bought homes about 4 years after I did, but were able to buy much more expensive homes in other parts of the country. When my 1st hubby and I bought our first home, we both supplemented our incomes with bits of other jobs. At the time, I was an accounts assistant in an admin type role and he was an Electircian Apprentice with a local council. I sold Avon, and did sewing for people to supplement my income to help us pay our way. Currently, my sisters pal has a 40 year mortgage on a house she is buying herself as she is single. She works in admin for a local council. My 2 godsons are both buying homes with their partners (both in their late 20's and have been living with their girlfriends but at parents house for a couple of years to enable them to save.) My daughter is at Uni but comes home at the weekends to work in a shopping mall as she has a job as supervisor in a large shop. Although she would love to do the "sudent thing" she knows that she is priveledged to go (another "first" for our family), and with what she earns, she is able to start saving for a deposit on a house for when she hopefully graduates and gets a job. All the younger ones that I currently work with have managed to get onto the property ladder by their own means - even the big spender will eventully weedle the deposit out of her parents! I don't know if it is because we are in South Yorkshire and property here is not as expensive as everywhere else, or that we are tight Yorkshire folk and save rather than spend. Not all of my generation were able to afford to buy their own homes, and not all of your generation will either.

mutter

ILW wrote: »

I get the impression that there is a certain amount of "job title inflation". Jobs that used to be considered quite good are now so run of the mill that any fool can do them........

A family member works in a branch of Waterstones (for the time being at least!) where every single staff member - including the part timers - either have a degree or are studying for one. And they only pay a fraction over the minimum wage for an ordinary Bookseller.

Make you wonder who sold us our books when only 4% of the population went to uni.

ukcarper

Percy1983 wrote: »

I will admit I am only going back 1 generation backwards from myself, yes it has been worse than it is now in historic terms, but as a race we are meant to push forward, not go backwards, at the very least maintain standards.

I will say a large part of my argument stems from the lack of control in the rental market, they way rules are right now I would never be able rent and be able to call it home as I could be kicked out on short notice at any time. With a whole generation having nowhere to call home society with crumble (you can already see very large cracks).

I agree it would be better if property was cheaper and it would be better if there was a better rental market. But don't kid yourself that the rental market was better in the 70s. If you looked in a local paper in the 70s you wouldn’t have seen any properties to rent and finding somewhere was almost impossible. I had two choices when I got married buy somewhere or live with one of our parents and hope to get a council house I chose to buy.

Percy1983

Well yes I wouldn't say rental as ever been a good thing, but as i say if you are going to say to many people you can't buy a home, we should at least be able to give them somewhere to rent securely.

Say in Germany people have less problem renting as they can sign 25 year deals etc, as I say my plan is to buy home, get married, have children. If I had to rent I would never have children as I wouldn't see it as secure enough.

ukcarper

Percy1983 wrote: »

Well yes I wouldn't say rental as ever been a good thing, but as i say if you are going to say to many people you can't buy a home, we should at least be able to give them somewhere to rent securely.

Say in Germany people have less problem renting as they can sign 25 year deals etc, as I say my plan is to buy home, get married, have children. If I had to rent I would never have children as I wouldn't see it as secure enough.

I agree but the problem is no big organisations seem prepared to put money into property in that way and although it would be a good thing I can’t see the rental market improving in the short term. I suppose as the dreaded Hamish says the only answer is to build more properties or better still try and distribute the work more evenly around the country but I don’t think that’s likely to happen either.

IveSeenTheLight

Percy1983 wrote: »

Say in Germany people have less problem renting as they can sign 25 year deals etc, as I say my plan is to buy home, get married, have children. If I had to rent I would never have children as I wouldn't see it as secure enough.

As a LL, I would not have a problem in providing longer security of tenure.

How many tenants would want to sign up to a 25 year deal?

Would said tenants be happy with RPI linked increases over said term?

IveSeenTheLight

dianadors wrote: »

Back in 1982 when I bought my first house, most working class people had to rent because wages wouldnt pay for a mortgage. My parents had never been able to afford to buy, and my friends that took full time low paid work like supermarket check out etc couldn't afford to buy then either. I didnt have the opportunity to go to Uni - my parents could not afford to let me stay on to do A levels (my dad was a coal miner and my mum a part time cleaner) so I had no choice but to leave school and get a job. My friends who I still consider lucky to have been able to go to uni bought homes about 4 years after I did, but were able to buy much more expensive homes in other parts of the country. When my 1st hubby and I bought our first home, we both supplemented our incomes with bits of other jobs. At the time, I was an accounts assistant in an admin type role and he was an Electircian Apprentice with a local council. I sold Avon, and did sewing for people to supplement my income to help us pay our way. Currently, my sisters pal has a 40 year mortgage on a house she is buying herself as she is single. She works in admin for a local council. My 2 godsons are both buying homes with their partners (both in their late 20's and have been living with their girlfriends but at parents house for a couple of years to enable them to save.) My daughter is at Uni but comes home at the weekends to work in a shopping mall as she has a job as supervisor in a large shop. Although she would love to do the "sudent thing" she knows that she is priveledged to go (another "first" for our family), and with what she earns, she is able to start saving for a deposit on a house for when she hopefully graduates and gets a job. All the younger ones that I currently work with have managed to get onto the property ladder by their own means - even the big spender will eventully weedle the deposit out of her parents! I don't know if it is because we are in South Yorkshire and property here is not as expensive as everywhere else, or that we are tight Yorkshire folk and save rather than spend. Not all of my generation were able to afford to buy their own homes, and not all of your generation will either.

Well said.
Worth quoting in it's entirety