Interest rates at historical lows, housing prices through the roof, wages stagnant and Brexit.

Brian65

Poor_Leno wrote: »

Well, unfortunately we live in a country which is very small ......

Thats what vested interests tell us. But look at the facts and work it out for yourself. You could start with google maps and see just how much land is undeveloped. Last time I looked it was only about 9%, Wheras in Germany where the population density is about the same as Britain - they have developed about 12% of the land - hence no housing crisis.
Interest rates at historical lows, housing prices through the roof, wages stagnant and Brexit - works very well for the great landowners in Britain. They want us out of the EU before an EU-wide tax treaty gets into Her Majesty's tax havens.
So their so-called free market government intervenes in the housing market to stoke up demand with taxpayer funded subsidies like Help to Buy, whilst restricting supply with the world's most onerous planning system - and placing planning decisions in the hands of selfish NIMBYS to ensure demand cannot be met.

fred990

Brian65 wrote: »

their so-called free market government intervenes in the housing market to stoke up demand with taxpayer subsidies like Help to Buy, whilst restricting supply with the world's most onerous planning system - and placing planning decisions in the hands of selfish NIMBYS to ensure demand cannot be met.

A politician on the radio last night was talking about taxpayer backed 25 year fixed low rate mortgages as the answer! Another prop for the state sponsored ponzi scheme....

Brian65

fred990 wrote: »

A politician on the radio last night was talking about taxpayer backed 25 year fixed low rate mortgages as the answer! Another prop for the state sponsored ponzi scheme....

Government intervention in the housing market has created the problem, not the solution. Now we can't solve the housing crisis (and the related housing benefit and homelessness crisis) without relaxing planning constraints to increase the supply and bring down house prices and rents. But then it won't be just the great landowners that suffer. The Government has borrowed such vast amounts of money o bail out the banks and fund taxpayer subsidies like 'help to buy', a normalisation in house prices would put a lot of people in negative equity, jeopardising the banks - and the long-suffering taxpayer who has borrowed all this money to lend out on overpriced houses.

ColdIron

When I bought my first property in 1989 deposits were not difficult to arrange but the interest rate on the mortgage ran between 9% and 12%. It was hard to service as were the endowment payments. I stopped going out and didn't have a holiday for 10 years

Today deposits are expensive but interest rates are at historic lows and easier to service than they ever have been. After wage and house price growth in 25 years time the interest payments will be almost incidental

Different times present different challenges. If you think that the older generation had it easy you're wrong

Brilley

..yes I remember the good old days of 14% mortgage interest rates when we purchased our first house...

Zanderman

Alistair31 wrote: »

If you are nearly 30 and have not yet purchased your first property then you’ve made some poor choices along the way, notwithstanding any exceptional circumstances.

Er, no.

Loads of people, nearly 30 and well over 30, haven't purchased their first property. They haven't necessarily made 'poor choices', many will just be in jobs or careers that don't pay enough to buy property.

And don't tell me that a lower paid job is a 'poor choice'. For some it might be but for many it's the job/career that's important - and if their chosen job/career pays relatively badly then that's life - but it's their positive choice, not a poor one.

Personally i've never, ever, earned more than £40k and only got close to that briefly. I'm a hell of a lot older than 30 and I DO have property but that's because i bought when prices were low, decades ago.

But if I started the same career over again now - salaries are still low in my field (a so-called 'professional' one) - I wouldn't be buying but it wouldn't be because of 'poor choice' it would be because I positively chose a fulfilling career.

Malthusian

What people have appeared to overlooked is that the OP wants to live in the middle of nowhere in Canada (on his own).

He should therefore really be on a Canadian forum asking for suggestions for nice places to live in Canada that have facilities within reasonable distance, not too much chance of being eaten by bears, broadband connection so he can still do whatever he earns £38kpa for, etc. And researching visa qualification.

Rather than wasting his time debating UK politics that he wants to be irrelevant to him.

CreditCardChris wrote: »

A home is in my opinion, the single most important asset a person requires, it's an absolute necessity for every person in the country.

Shelter is a necessity. Owning your own home is not. It's a middle-class luxury that has never been affordable for the majority throughout human history.

HCIMbtw

Quite amused by the sensitive boomers who got triggered by your thread!

I graduated in around 2010 following the economic recession and totally understand your sentiment, the job outlook was so bleak, started on a pittance paying all the rental and commuter costs.. but house ownership is still achievable.. even without a handout from a dead relative

I am from the north so have a slightly different view on things, but what we have seen over the past 10 years is completely disproportionate growth in house!prices between that £100k-£350k bracket, essentially the houses that are achievable!for a singleton or couple to buy on relatively modest wages.. in contrast those in the region of £400k plus have shifted relatively little

The biggest issue is the lack of parity in inflation, if wages were growing and driving the increase in prices there wouldn't be such disparity between the benefits of wealth>earnings.. but the world is not ideal and this is what we have, and those who have consolidated wealth while assets such as housing have inflated have benefited significantly!

You have a couple of options and a time machine isn't one of them.. 1. leave the country, im serious, salaries are quite garbage and there will be countries you will be better remunerated relative to the costs of living. 2. suck it up and take serious control of your finances and manage your spending.!
On 38k as a singleton, I'd be looking to save £15k a year no problem.. get a HTB ISA sorted, invest your savings, cut your spendings and graft out the deposit

The one thing that frustrates me a little as a millenial growing up in this period is how much financial pressure there is at the start of careers/adult lives when you are trying to get yourself established, namely the cost of buying car, cost of insurance, student debt circa £250pm, costs of saving/buying a house, costs of getting married, costs of kids, ...!when during this period putting money towards pension and later life savings would be so valuable!!

it all seems a bit muddled!

mollycat

I'm with the @Another Joe's response earlier in the thread; most of the OP's post is inaccurate, fuelled by a false sense of unfairness.

To say young people have it tougher now that at any time since WW2 is both laughable and insulting.

Whilst earning £38K as a 24 year old???

By any standard of empirical measurement or anecdotal evidence, life for a young person is far, far easier than previous decades...(see AJ's post), but in your head this is irrelevant because you can't afford to own property in the most in demand part of the UK..

I'd love to live in the SE; even after 40 years of productive labour I can't afford to; what entitlement to you have to do so?

If modern life prompts the type of angst in your OP goodness knows how you would cope in (say) the 1970's....real youth unemployment, houses without CH, poorer quality food, less sophisticated health care, rubbish public transport, less enlightened society....the list is almost endless.

Your making the mistake that people my age often seem to have a better time of it because we lived in a different era; it's because people my age have the fruits of all that effort and (hopefully) good decision making.

You too in your 50's and 60's will hopefully be sitting comfortably, (when people like me are long gone and people of your current age are pointing the finger at you asking why you have things they can't have )

The thing that hopefully won't hold you back is the attitude and misguided grudge of your OP; you actually have it better than previous generations, you should expoit that.

mollycat

Malthusian wrote: »

Shelter is a necessity. Owning your own home is not. It's a middle-class luxury that has never been affordable for the majority throughout human history.

Exactly this^^^^^.

The difficulty of owning one's own home in certain parts of the country is the metaphoric blindfold that stops some young people from seeing the huge advantage and privelage of living in a 21st Century 1st world country.

Growing up in the 70's I didn't know a single person who didn't live in a council house, and only met someone with a "bought house" in my twenties.

No one was unhappy with their "lot".

Owning a house was seen as a huge risk credit wise and a potential millstone round your neck.

Funny how attitudes have changed; people saying they should be entitled to take on £400K debt for a property the size of a shoebox