What are my options?

StumpyPumpy

Harper123 wrote: »

Don't get me wrong I think it's very unfair that someone earning the average £36,000 can't buy a one bed flat somewhere London without a massive deposit. If you earn an average salary and save a deposit you should be able to live near where you want to live.

However. I don't think it's unfair that someone that earns £11,000 less than the area average is unable to buy in that area

I do. Someone on average wage should be able to buy an average home, but the median house price in London is now over £500,000. Even those in the top couple of deciles will struggle to buy at that price as a first time buyer. Someone on slightly less than average should still have options, even if the places they could buy are nobody's idea of a "forever home".

Oh, and they don't earn £11k less than average: According to the ONS median gross annual wage for people working in inner London was £34,473 in December 2014 - I appreciate that this is 18 months out of date but as there really hasn't been any wage inflation for the last several years I think it will still be about right.

However, salaries in Inner London are more complex than a single figure. The biggest problem with these stats is that they are skewed high because of the City of London area where the median is £50,575 (with a high population of workers.). On the other end, if you work in Lewisham then the median is £23,716. So the OP could actually be earning more than the average for the area where they work and still not be anywhere close to being able to afford anything.

House prices are crazy, London prices are crazier still, and I don't think your comments are helpful to the OP. They could get several jobs and save up for many years and barring a house price crash (often predicted, never happened in London at least) they will end up in the same, if not worse position than now. The market is totally bias in favour of the rich "all ready haves" to the detriment of the general population and there is no motivation from the top to do anything about it. And I say that as an "all ready have" - I own my home outright in leafy Surrey and when I next move it will be away from the area so the current 10% price inflation in my area is all to my benefit.

SP

Harper123

StumpyPumpy wrote: »

I do. Someone on average wage should be able to buy an average home, but the median house price in London is now over £500,000. Even those in the top couple of deciles will struggle to buy at that price as a first time buyer. Someone on slightly less than average should still have options, even if the places they could buy are nobody's idea of a "forever home".

Oh, and they don't earn £11k less than average: According to the ONS median gross annual wage for people working in inner London was £34,473 in December 2014 - I appreciate that this is 18 months out of date but as there really hasn't been any wage inflation for the last several years I think it will still be about right.

However, salaries in Inner London are more complex than a single figure. The biggest problem with these stats is that they are skewed high because of the City of London area where the median is £50,575 (with a high population of workers.). On the other end, if you work in Lewisham then the median is £23,716. So the OP could actually be earning more than the average for the area where they work and still not be anywhere close to being able to afford anything.

House prices are crazy, London prices are crazier still, and I don't think your comments are helpful to the OP. They could get several jobs and save up for many years and barring a house price crash (often predicted, never happened in London at least) they will end up in the same, if not worse position than now. The market is totally bias in favour of the rich "all ready haves" to the detriment of the general population and there is no motivation from the top to do anything about it. And I say that as an "all ready have" - I own my home outright in leafy Surrey and when I next move it will be away from the area so the current 10% price inflation in my area is all to my benefit.

SP

Like I said, I think it's terrible that someone who earns an average wage can't buy an average property.

However, the OP doesn't earn an average wage for the area they work in (Waterloo).