What chance does a twenty something year old have in the South? Anyone else in a similar boat?

lippy1923

I'm still in my "starter home" 8 years later lol. 2 bed semi which is fine for us at the moment. Saving for a 4 bed detached Instagram home as we speak. Forget the BMW depreciating metal box on the drive though

HPC_Ghuol_Hunter

I doff my hat to you, in fact to anyone, for all hard work and making life a success. It builds character. My point is that for whatever I wanted to achieve in life I realised that I had to cut the umbilical cord at 18, move many miles away, knuckle down and just get on with it. I wanted a degree and a successful career so I sacrificed being close to home, family, and friends to achieve my goals. If the OP is so set in owning a suitable home that he feels supplants his ego with success then he needs to make real genuine sacrifices himself. He could move many miles away from his home and family to achieve his own goals by buying or renting cheaper. Fact is he doesn’t because he is not prepared to sacrifice anything to achieve it. He wants everything on a plate. Sorry but life is not like that for 99.99% of the populous. And wrapping himself up in the cotton candy of his parents financial support will do nothing to build his independence or character.

PokerPlayer111

If it were me i'd move to somewhere cheaper if work can adjust. Can move some places near the coast and its cheaper with better air quality (win win). We sacrificed much and worked every hour possible until success with pretty much zero holidaying and many failures on the way.

buglawton

HPC_Ghuol_Hunter wrote: »

I doff my hat to you, in fact to anyone, for all hard work and making life a success. It builds character. My point is that for whatever I wanted to achieve in life I realised that I had to cut the umbilical cord at 18, move many miles away, knuckle down and just get on with it. I wanted a degree and a successful career so I sacrificed being close to home, family, and friends to achieve my goals. If the OP is so set in owning a suitable home that he feels supplants his ego with success then he needs to make real genuine sacrifices himself. He could move many miles away from his home and family to achieve his own goals by buying or renting cheaper. Fact is he doesn’t because he is not prepared to sacrifice anything to achieve it. He wants everything on a plate. Sorry but life is not like that for 99.99% of the populous. And wrapping himself up in the cotton candy of his parents financial support will do nothing to build his independence or character.

I started out like you and was very happy to make my own way from age 18. But that was in the 70s/80s. Now I have a 30 yo son at home and don't expect that to change in a hurry.

Everything has changed now that SE England is a globalisation laboratory regarding movement of international capital and migrant labour.

NinaSwiss

OP - I'm in my 30s but also faced similar challenges.
If you are set on living in the South East then you need to get on with saving hard and improving your earning potential. You are earning better than I was at 26 so not a bad start.

Nothing wrong with aiming high for your first property if you can put in the legwork to achieve it. If not then aim for something more realistic.

LydiaJ

Barny1979 wrote: »

Generations ago would have made do getting a starter home/a foot on the ladder, nowadays a number 20 somethings want to buy a 4 bed new build and wonder why they can't when they only earn £25k per year. It's the problem with the Instagram generation, needing to keep up with the Joneses and have a 4 bed detached and 2 68 plate BMWs on the drive.

While there's some truth in what you say, it's also worth noting that in a high interest & high inflation economy, you can get a "starter home" and within a few years its value has gone up and your mortgage has been inflated away by your rising salary, allowing you access to the next rung on the ladder. With low interest rates and low inflation, you have to stay in that starter home for many more years before the next rung is within reach.

HPC_Ghuol_Hunter

So what has the OP sacrificed to better his life and reach his life goal of homeownership? Nothing apart from denying his parents a life of their own. The whole country is now globalised. It is simply not good enough to say that only the SE England is. Quite frankly the OP needs to step up to the plate or shut up.

steampowered

You are in a much better situation than most people in the South East. As you are able to live with your parents you are able to save much more than a lot of young adults.

As you have realised, you simply cannot afford the kind of home you would like to have on your salary.

You have to compromise somewhere. Here are some options:

1) Increase your income. You could work to get promoted or take a second job.

2) Move to a cheaper part of the country.

3) Move to a 1-bed flat, accepting that it will not be ideal for your hobby.

4) Move to somewhere like Luton or Bedford. In reality Luton is absolutely fine - much of it is "up and coming" due to the transport links.

5) Continue living with your parents while you continue saving a deposit and advancing your career. Remember that the average age of a first time buyer in the UK is 30. Higher in London.

6) Buy a house jointly with someone else. This could be a girlfriend or it could just be a mate.

steampowered

HPC_Ghuol_Hunter wrote: »

I find it morally repugnant that a man in his mid to late 20’s would still be living under the roof and rules of his parents.

Nothing apart from denying his parents a life of their own.

This is a very short-sighted dinosaur attitude.

Living with parents until your mid to late 20s is the norm in most parts of the world. It was also the norm in the UK for young people to live with their parents until marriage until quite recently.

I quite like the European and Asian model of people living with their families for longer. It works both ways: when people get older, they are more likely to be supported by living with their families rather than going into a care home.

It is quickly becoming the norm once again in the UK, simply because it is much more difficult for young people to get on the housing ladder than it used to be.

Remember that the average age of a first time buyer in the UK is 30. Even with parental help.

LydiaJ

steampowered wrote: »

This is a very short-sighted dinosaur attitude.

Living with parents until your mid to late 20s is the norm in most parts of the world. It was also the norm in the UK for young people to live with their parents until marriage until quite recently.

I quite like the European and Asian model of people living with their families for longer. It works both ways: when people get older, they are more likely to be supported by living with their families rather than going into a care home.

It is quickly becoming the norm once again in the UK, simply because it is much more difficult for young people to get on the housing ladder than it used to be.

Remember that the average age of a first time buyer in the UK is 30. Even with parental help.

It's not just about house prices, it's also about the high cost of childcare.

I'm not sure the "old people live with family instead of in a care home" thing will be ever be a particularly big feature of society again, though. Old people who are still capable of looking after themselves, and who would be capable of living independently, may live with family, and so may those who just need a little support - the ones who otherwise might be in a sheltered flat or similar.

Those who really need the level of care you'd get in a *care home* won't be able to find that level of care with family unless there's an adult not working who'll be around all day to look after them. This may have worked in years gone by when most married women didn't work outside the home (or the middle class ones didn't, anyway) so the daughter or daughter-in-law was around looking after kids and could look after granny at the same time, perhaps with the older kids helping out both with the younger ones and with granny. Today's double earner households don't have someone around full time at home to help her on and off the commode (if physically disabled) or stop her wandering off down the street with two pairs of shoes and a toothbrush in a carrier bag (if suffering from dementia).