Hands off our homes

homelessskilledworker

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/24/homes-for-living-in



Today the average deposit on a home across the UK has reached £65,000. In London it is £100,000. We have reached the point in Britain where it is simply impossible for people to buy a home without significant help from their parents, grandparents or some other benefactor. For many others whose family do not own their home or who do not have a stash of assets, and in particular the nearly one in five who live in council or other social housing, the door may well now be firmly closed on the possibility of future home ownership.
This is not a result of the cuts. There has been a long-term decline in the affordability of housing, the legacy of many years of both Conservative and Labour majority governments. The average deposit needed on a home has risen tenfold since 1990, while incomes have risen only three times.

ruggedtoast

It makes me sick to see how our generations are being stitched up.

CLAPTON

so simon hughes writes a piece about how much the LIbDems are helping property buyers.

and of course in these tough times everyone should get as fair a deal as possible

so that solves it then.
golly good.

Carl31

65k? easily afforfable if you dont have i phones and drink cofee etc...

vivatifosi

Surely the Guardian is being misleading here. The article states that the average deposit has risen to £65,924 then talks about the deposit needed. The average deposit though would be by all house buyers. Buying our most recent home we took £88,000 in equity as a downpayment. It wasn't the deposit needed, it was just what we put forward. If the average house (Land Registry) is just under £163k, the average needed would be nowhere near £65k.

ukcarper

vivatifosi wrote: »

Surely the Guardian is being misleading here. The article states that the average deposit has risen to £65,924 then talks about the deposit needed. The average deposit though would be by all house buyers. Buying our most recent home we took £88,000 in equity as a downpayment. It wasn't the deposit needed, it was just what we put forward. If the average house (Land Registry) is just under £163k, the average needed would be nowhere near £65k.

Not only that house prices haven’t quadrupled since 1990 in fact they haven’t even tripled. Saying that they did drop in the early 90s and in fact are now just over 3x what they were at their lowest.

chewmylegoff

homelessskilledworker wrote: »

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/24/homes-for-living-in



Today the average deposit on a home across the UK has reached £65,000. In London it is £100,000. We have reached the point in Britain where it is simply impossible for people to buy a home without significant help from their parents, grandparents or some other benefactor. For many others whose family do not own their home or who do not have a stash of assets, and in particular the nearly one in five who live in council or other social housing, the door may well now be firmly closed on the possibility of future home ownership.
This is not a result of the cuts. There has been a long-term decline in the affordability of housing, the legacy of many years of both Conservative and Labour majority governments. The average deposit needed on a home has risen tenfold since 1990, while incomes have risen only three times.

Simon Hughes is more out of touch than David Cameron. The Guardian's article which he uses as his reference is over a year old (17 September 2011...).

chewmylegoff

vivatifosi wrote: »

Surely the Guardian is being misleading here. The article states that the average deposit has risen to £65,924 then talks about the deposit needed. The average deposit though would be by all house buyers. Buying our most recent home we took £88,000 in equity as a downpayment. It wasn't the deposit needed, it was just what we put forward. If the average house (Land Registry) is just under £163k, the average needed would be nowhere near £65k.

surely it is Simon Hughes who is being misleading, rather than the guardian. but i agree with the point. he suggests in the next sentence after mentioning £65,000 that it is impossible to buy without help from your parents - a clear reference back to the £65,000 figure.

in reality, you don't (or didn't a year ago when the article he references was published) need a £65,000 deposit to buy a house at all, that's just the average deposit taking into consideration all of the equity accumulated by people moving up (or down) the ladder (presumably limited to those who do so with a mortgage).

the average deposit tells you nothing about the minimum deposit required, which is clearly much less.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

According to the CML, the average FTB mortgage is currently £125,000, and the average deposit is currently 20%.

This makes the average FTB deposit £31,250, but only because deposit percentages have doubled since 2007 thanks to the mortgage famine.

If the banks were to revert to prudent, historically normal, and sensible lending, then average deposit requirements would fall to 10%, and 5% deposit mortgages would be readily available.

In which case a 10% deposit would be more like £15,000.

And a 5% deposit just £7,500.

Graham_Devon

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

According to the CML, the average FTB mortgage is currently £125,000, and the average deposit is currently 20%.

This makes the average FTB deposit £31,250, but only because deposit percentages have doubled since 2007 thanks to the mortgage famine.

If the banks were to revert to prudent, historically normal, and sensible lending, then average deposit requirements would fall to 10%, and 5% deposit mortgages would be readily available.

In which case a 10% deposit would be more like £15,000.

And a 5% deposit just £7,500.

Theres more than one way to skin a cat to reach the same conclusion. Lower house prices, more building. Would all achieve the same desire you put forward.

Loughton_Monkey

I am heartened by the information. We keep learning about lack of savings by the UK population.....

Good news! For UK people moving house, the average amount of personal equity they bring to the purchase is now £65,000!

Brilliant.

As Hamish says, though, and as is obvious to anyone other than Simon Hughes or G_D, the amount of money bought to the purchase by FTB only needs to be considerably less.

It's really a matter of glass half full, or glass half empty.

[Which one am I? In my case, the glass isn't big enough!]