Renting in your 40's and staring into the abyss

ukcarper

missyrichards wrote: »

I bought in 2003 and it was definitely easier back then. Our house is worth far more now to the point that it now would be unaffordable for us if we were first time buyers.

It does seem like people born after 1979 have had it harder and especially if they live in London and the South East. Actually I'm sure there is a book written about people born after 1979. ETA it's called Jilted Generation.

It does seem like the woman made what turned out to be some poor choices but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

With regard to buying a house I would agree with that, other things have improved. People entering work in the late 90s and early 00s had better job opportunities that people entering after the crash and at other times in the past.

As for the woman hindsight is a wonderful thing but the consequences of her actions were not that hard to foresee and trying to use her as typical does not help.

ukcarper

lisyloo wrote: »

So as a general ballpark seems like there is a dividing line around 35/36 year olds now.

Yea I agree might be a bit older considering the changes in lifestyle over the last 40 years.

I think the real damage has been done over the last year or so prices where I am have increased much more than I would have thought possible, but there is a marked lack of property for sale and anything decent is snapped up very quickly.

missyrichards

ukcarper wrote: »

As for the woman hindsight is a wonderful thing but the consequences of her actions were not that hard to foresee and trying to use her as typical does not help.

I didn't think that house prices would go up this much and I also was expecting a crash, I know we had the GFC but the prices where I live didn't go down that much.

If we were FTB's today we would have had to make a lot more compromises and probably have had to travel a lot further to work. Back in 2003 we had a fairly decent combined salary and we didn't struggle at all to buy (although I wouldn't have chosen to live where we live) but at least we were able to buy a house. It's a bit annoying to read how older people apparently had it so hard.

I would be more annoyed if I was a 20 something leaving uni with debt and having to live with very high private rents so it's difficult to save for a deposit or having to move back in with parents.

I don't know what the solution is but if I was a younger person I would be p***** off!:D

ukcarper

missyrichards wrote: »

I didn't think that house prices would go up this much and I also was expecting a crash, I know we had the GFC but the prices where I live didn't go down that much.

If we were FTB's today we would have had to make a lot more compromises and probably have had to travel a lot further to work. Back in 2003 we had a fairly decent combined salary and we didn't struggle at all to buy (although I wouldn't have chosen to live where we live) but at least we were able to buy a house. It's a bit annoying to read how older people apparently had it so hard.

I would be more annoyed if I was a 20 something leaving uni with debt and having to live with very high private rents so it's difficult to save for a deposit or having to move back in with parents.

I don't know what the solution is but if I was a younger person I would be p***** off!:D

I think renting, having children and then expecting to save has always been a bad idea I certainly would not have been able to buy if I had done that when I first bought.

I expect you would consider me old and I can appreciate it is very a very difficult time to buy especially in London and the south east. But some seem to think it was easy in the past ( which wasn't always the case ) and won't accept other things have improved.

When I first bought in 1972 in the area I bought price almost doubled in a year and earnings to house price ratio reached almost 5x compared to 5.5x now and I had greater restrictions on what I could borrow. I had to move 20 miles from where I worked and travel to buy so I get a bit fed up when people tell me how easy I had it.

I think student debt is a bit of a red herring I was paying 30% tax in the 70s . The major problem facing young people that I can see is the lack of good well paid jobs.

lisyloo

The major problem facing young people that I can see is the lack of good well paid jobs.

I would agree with this.
The propsects for graduates now are much worse, partly because there are so many graduates, but I think there's also fewer jobs with prospects.

Graham_Devon

ukcarper wrote: »

I think renting, having children and then expecting to save has always been a bad idea I certainly would not have been able to buy if I had done that when I first bought.

I expect you would consider me old and I can appreciate it is very a very difficult time to buy especially in London and the south east. But some seem to think it was easy in the past ( which wasn't always the case ) and won't accept other things have improved.

When I first bought in 1972 in the area I bought price almost doubled in a year and earnings to house price ratio reached almost 5x compared to 5.5x now and I had greater restrictions on what I could borrow. I had to move 20 miles from where I worked and travel to buy so I get a bit fed up when people tell me how easy I had it.

I think student debt is a bit of a red herring I was paying 30% tax in the 70s . The major problem facing young people that I can see is the lack of good well paid jobs.

People understand what you are saying, but you always seem to forget to mention wage inflation, which was huge at the same time as the other rises you talk of.

You didn't have it "easy". Just easier.

ukcarper

lisyloo wrote: »

I would agree with this.
The propsects for graduates now are much worse, partly because there are so many graduates, but I think there's also fewer jobs with prospects.

The choice of degrees people make don't help but even with a good degree prospects are not great. With all of Cameron's and Osborne's talk I can't see it improving anytime soon .

ukcarper

Graham_Devon wrote: »

People understand what you are saying, but you always seem to forget to mention wage inflation, which was huge at the same time as the other rises you talk of.

You didn't have it "easy". Just easier.

I would say not as hard wage inflation helped but not as much as you imagine as increasing interest rates reduced the effect and wages always lagged inflation. There have been times when I have spent in excess of 50% of my earnings on mortgage payments.

As I said earlier I think the increase in house prices in the south east has not been good and it would be much better if prices had stood still but I don't know the solution and unfortunately I don't think anybody else has.

missyrichards

ukcarper wrote: »

I expect you would consider me old and I can appreciate it is very a very difficult time to buy especially in London and the south east. But some seem to think it was easy in the past ( which wasn't always the case ) and won't accept other things have improved.

The major problem facing young people that I can see is the lack of good well paid jobs.

Graham_Devon wrote: »

You didn't have it "easy". Just easier.

I think that is what it boils down to, having a constant debate over what generation had it harder.

I can be honest and say I didn't have it hard when buying a first place and I would think most people of my age group (Gen X) had more advantages than millennials.

I agree about the lack of good jobs, is it because we are not creating the right type of jobs here or just that we have too many graduates now?

lisyloo

more automation, more DIY/self service, more graduates, more migrants, more offshoring