Houses are affordable!

[Deleted User]

LdnFtB wrote: »

They bought a semi detached house which at the time was about 10 years old so had all the mod cons.

Any more straws you'd care to clutch at? Or can you accept that what my parents and grandparents were able to do - buy an average house on a single average salary in a city with jobs - is tough for our generation.

My mum and dad couldn't afford to buy a house in the area I currently live (Near St Albans/Watford) when they were in their mid-20s.. they did try because my dad had a job offer from Rolls Royce - they just couldn't afford the houses though (Good job since the factory closed a decade later). They ended up settling up North. We bought in our mid-20s (near the peak of house prices, just before the 2008 crash) and have moved once since. My house is now worth £150k more than theirs.

There, a nice anecdote to counter yours.

BucksLady

leslieknope wrote: »

perhaps i could move 200 miles north and abandon my entire network of family and friends, but why should i have to do that?[/QUOTE

Lots of people do - myself included. I graduated in 2007 and rather than face unemployment in the UK, I gained employment in Germany. I didn't earn mega bucks, but I gained experience in my chosen field and was then able to return to the UK where I found employment. I don't regret my decision one bit because I was able to learn a new language, experience a different culture and make new friends. I missed my family, but they were only a flight away.

leslieknope

BucksLady wrote: »

Lots of people do - myself included. I graduated in 2007 and rather than face unemployment in the UK, I gained employment in Germany. I didn't earn mega bucks, but I gained experience in my chosen field and was then able to return to the UK where I found employment. I don't regret my decision one bit because I was able to learn a new language, experience a different culture and make new friends. I missed my family, but they were only a flight away.

that's a lovely story but not relevant to the topic of housing. i am happy here, i just can't afford to own my own property. i'm not going to move away from a job i like and all the people i care about, just so i can buy a cheaper house in the north. and that shouldn't be the only option.

if a fantastic job offer came up, i would move elsewhere. but buying bricks and mortar is not going to be a sole reason to completely relocate.

BucksLady

leslieknope wrote: »

that's a lovely story but not relevant to the topic of housing..

It is relevant because without moving to Germany I would have been unemployed. However, the move allowed me to earn enough money to return to the UK and buy a property.

Red-Squirrel_2

BucksLady wrote: »

It is relevant because without moving to Germany I would have been unemployed. However, the move allowed me to earn enough money to return to the UK and buy a property.

But the question, why should you have to? You shouldn't have to, you should be able to live and work in the area you grew up in and where your community is, if that's what you want to do.

ukcarper

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

But the question, why should you have to? You shouldn't have to, you should be able to live and work in the area you grew up in and where your community is, if that's what you want to do.

What do you call the area you grew up in, I had to move 20 miles away to be able to afford a house, I think that is reasonable. I agree having to move to the other end of the country is unreasonable, but it’s a consequence of the country becoming very London and the Southeast centred.

sulphate

Here's a stark example of how house prices have increased according to wages and affordability.... my parents bought their 3 bedroom terrace house, in 1988 for £90k (and that was paying over the odds at the time). The last 2 comparable houses that have sold in their street in the last year or so, sold for £575k (in need of refurbishment) and £765k (immaculately presented). My parents house is more than liveable but not immaculate so I would guess it would be worth somewhere in between those two figures, maybe £650k, which is an increase of around 600%. I know that my parents maxed out their budget, but were able to afford repayments on their mortgage with just my dad working, I don't know his exact salary but he earnt an average wage.

The average wage in Cambridge is now £30k and online calculators suggest someone on that wage could afford a mortgage of around £150k. So to buy the same average sized family home that my parents did in 1987, they would need a deposit of £500k.

ukcarper

sulphate wrote: »

Here's a stark example of how house prices have increased according to wages and affordability.... my parents bought their 3 bedroom terrace house, in 1988 for £90k (and that was paying over the odds at the time). The last 2 comparable houses that have sold in their street in the last year or so, sold for £575k (in need of refurbishment) and £765k (immaculately presented). My parents house is more than liveable but not immaculate so I would guess it would be worth somewhere in between those two figures, maybe £650k, which is an increase of around 600%. I know that my parents maxed out their budget, but were able to afford repayments on their mortgage with just my dad working, I don't know his exact salary but he earnt an average wage.

The average wage in Cambridge is now £30k and online calculators suggest someone on that wage could afford a mortgage of around £150k. So to buy the same average sized family home that my parents did in 1987, they would need a deposit of £500k.

That’s a big jump national average has gone from £45k at beginning of 1988 to £212k now it jump to £62k by mid 1989. Houses like the one I bought fo £60k 1985 are now selling for £400k.

moneyistooshorttomention

Cakeguts wrote: »

The problem is that people who blame others for their problems tend not to see the opportunities because they aren't looking for them. There are people in this country who came here with nothing. So no bank of mum and dad no boomer parents. Nothing and yet they have managed to buy houses because they took the opportunities that were there. So how have they managed to do that?

Maybe legitimately. Maybe not.

Exactly the same as everyone else in other words.

Some people have it as a moral principle to provide "what they are paid for" and some don't and will try and "squeeze it" and give less than the customer pays for.

That applies acros society - regardless of origin/type of business/any other factor one cares to name.

Personally - I operate on a "fair price principle". It is not very often at all that I think "I've been undercharged". It is very frequent to think "I've not had my money's worth". But - on the (very occasional damn it) time that I think it is the case they seem to have under-charged - then I will pay them more (yep...and they probably think I'm being sorta "lunatic"...oh well...and I'm just being fair). Only darn well wishes it wasnt the case that it's more likely than not that I have paid for "normal quality" and found I got "bad quality" instead.....

Over-charging seems to be a societal problem still basically though unfortunately by and large - darn it......

I honestly do think some people operate on the principle that they are "harder" than the customer/etc and take advantage.

Planet_Switzerland

My parents bought their first property in their early 20s in the 70s for £11k. They have long forgot what their deposit was or what my dad earned at the time but they do remember roughly borrowing 3.5 x salary and my dads salary would have been average at best.


That same property is apparently now worth £198k which is roughly 3.5 x a salary of £56.5k. How many people in their early 20s earn that much?


Also, whilst £11k may have seemed a lot in the 70s, 25 years later a full time salary on the minimum wage wasn't much less than £11k. It's highly unlikely a full time salary on the minimum wage in 25 years time will be £198k.