Low salary can't afford to buy anywhere

Ditzy_Mitzy

MobileSaver said:

StandingInTheSun said:

RelievedSheff said:

No matter what the era or the price of houses, buying a first house has never been easy. Why should that change now?

The IFS estimate that if you were born in the 1980s you are, on average, half as well off as someone born in the 1960s was at the same stage of life.

"There are three types of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics."

The problem of course is that you can pretty much claim anything and prove it if you only look at a limited number of factors.

So the purely financial figures the IFS quote may well be accurate but what they don't take into account, for example, is the quality of life difference between those generations. As stated previously my first house bought in the late 80's had no central heating, no double glazing, no carpets, no cooker, oh and no parking; many FTBs today wouldn't dream of buying a property without those things but not surprisingly all of those things come at a higher cost!

The issue with such an argument, of course, is that it only holds water on the proviso that there are presently houses lacking various amenities being sold at a significant discount, and that first time buyers were actively choosing not to purchase them.  Unfortunately this simply isn't the case, at least in the South.  Everyone round here wants to be a developer, so there is almost greater demand for old wrecks than houses which are merely shabby.  Estate agents promise huge profits on turning them round, and price accordingly.  There is no real condition based discount any more, because too many people are willing to pay over the odds.  I remember looking at one, with a view to living in it.  It was cheaper than anything else on the road, but the price reduction based on condition to cost of repair ratio simply wasn't favourable.  That place wasn't just lacking niceties either; there were holes in the floors and ceilings, the kitchen had been destroyed, there were pipes poking out of holes at random, etc.  

newsgroupmonkey_

Harrybrown100121 said:

Many thanks for your help
I work in central london, I was looking for jobs in Manchester/ Birmingham. As I feel I may be able to buy a property there but worried now the government is investing in these areas and moving jobs out of london to these areas. How's much will this affect properties prices?
I got about 10,000 in savings. I need to save more but I have to pay my parents back as I bought a car.

Can't speak for Birmingham, but Central Manchester is potentially a ticking timebomb. Lots of new-build high-rise apartment blocks going up. People are looking for a more rural way of life now they can work remotely.

There's definitely a concern in the industry from what I hear...... certainly the prices for some of these apartments are much keener (and not rising) compared with other parts of the country.

Most of the areas AROUND Manchester though, are in the top 20 rising costs.

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-05-12/revealed-top-20-areas-in-country-which-have-seen-bumper-rise-in-house-prices

AdrianC

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

MobileSaver said:
As stated previously my first house bought in the late 80's had no central heating, no double glazing, no carpets, no cooker, oh and no parking; many FTBs today wouldn't dream of buying a property without those things but not surprisingly all of those things come at a higher cost!

The issue with such an argument, of course, is that it only holds water on the proviso that there are presently houses lacking various amenities being sold at a significant discount, and that first time buyers were actively choosing not to purchase them.  Unfortunately this simply isn't the case, at least in the South.  Everyone round here wants to be a developer, so there is almost greater demand for old wrecks than houses which are merely shabby.  Estate agents promise huge profits on turning them round, and price accordingly.  There is no real condition based discount any more, because too many people are willing to pay over the odds.  I remember looking at one, with a view to living in it.  It was cheaper than anything else on the road, but the price reduction based on condition to cost of repair ratio simply wasn't favourable.  That place wasn't just lacking niceties either; there were holes in the floors and ceilings, the kitchen had been destroyed, there were pipes poking out of holes at random, etc.  

Don't blame EAs for that - blame daytime TV.
People think it's a doddle to refurbish a house and make a profit because they've seen it on the telly, and they believe it.

EAs are merely doing the job their vendors are paying them for - getting as much as they can for the property... They can't do that unless there's somebody stood there waving the money at them...

Ditzy_Mitzy

AdrianC said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

MobileSaver said:
As stated previously my first house bought in the late 80's had no central heating, no double glazing, no carpets, no cooker, oh and no parking; many FTBs today wouldn't dream of buying a property without those things but not surprisingly all of those things come at a higher cost!

The issue with such an argument, of course, is that it only holds water on the proviso that there are presently houses lacking various amenities being sold at a significant discount, and that first time buyers were actively choosing not to purchase them.  Unfortunately this simply isn't the case, at least in the South.  Everyone round here wants to be a developer, so there is almost greater demand for old wrecks than houses which are merely shabby.  Estate agents promise huge profits on turning them round, and price accordingly.  There is no real condition based discount any more, because too many people are willing to pay over the odds.  I remember looking at one, with a view to living in it.  It was cheaper than anything else on the road, but the price reduction based on condition to cost of repair ratio simply wasn't favourable.  That place wasn't just lacking niceties either; there were holes in the floors and ceilings, the kitchen had been destroyed, there were pipes poking out of holes at random, etc.  

Don't blame EAs for that - blame daytime TV.
People think it's a doddle to refurbish a house and make a profit because they've seen it on the telly, and they believe it.

EAs are merely doing the job their vendors are paying them for - getting as much as they can for the property... They can't do that unless there's somebody stood there waving the money at them...

I'm very much aware of a certain programme that refuses to show the back of a certain presenter's head!  I'm speaking from experience in relation to outrageous claims made by agents in relation to the same thing.  

MobileSaver

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

MobileSaver said:

StandingInTheSun said:

The IFS estimate that if you were born in the 1980s you are, on average, half as well off as someone born in the 1960s was at the same stage of life.

So the purely financial figures the IFS quote may well be accurate but what they don't take into account, for example, is the quality of life difference between those generations. As stated previously my first house bought in the late 80's had no central heating, no double glazing, no carpets, no cooker, oh and no parking;

only holds water on the proviso that there are presently houses lacking various amenities being sold at a significant discount,

Well yes and no but the point you raise actually supports my argument.

When I was buying thirty years ago, "no central heating and no double glazing" were commonplace if not the norm whereas today such properties are much scarcer

Fundamentally the IFS report simply compares the price of "a home" in the 80's with the price of "a home" in the 00's without any indication that they are actually comparing apples with oranges; the average home today is of a much higher spec than when I first bought so it stands to reason that it will cost more.

It also has to be said that there are actually loads of properties around the country being sold at significant discounts but they are still sitting there unsold because many people these days are no longer prepared to buy in less-than-ideal locations or where there is too much work to do on the property (issues that I didn't have the luxury of entertaining when I was buying my first home.)

Tokmon

Harrybrown100121 said:

Many thanks for your help
I work in central london, I was looking for jobs in Manchester/ Birmingham. As I feel I may be able to buy a property there but worried now the government is investing in these areas and moving jobs out of london to these areas. How's much will this affect properties prices?
I got about 10,000 in savings. I need to save more but I have to pay my parents back as I bought a car.

So then it's entirely you fault you can't afford a house if your 33 and have been living with parents and only have £10k in savings (well less than that when you take away the money you owe for a car). You can't really expect to be able to buy a house if you have made no effort to save money when you could have been saving loads.

StandingInTheSun

Tokmon said:

Harrybrown100121 said:

Many thanks for your help
I work in central london, I was looking for jobs in Manchester/ Birmingham. As I feel I may be able to buy a property there but worried now the government is investing in these areas and moving jobs out of london to these areas. How's much will this affect properties prices?
I got about 10,000 in savings. I need to save more but I have to pay my parents back as I bought a car.

So then it's entirely you fault you can't afford a house if your 33 and have been living with parents and only have £10k in savings (well less than that when you take away the money you owe for a car). You can't really expect to be able to buy a house if you have made no effort to save money when you could have been saving loads.

Posts like this make me so angry.

You know nothing about how much money the OP makes.

You know nothing about the conditions under which they lived with their parents (did they pay rent?)

You know nothing about their daily costs of living outside of that or any other mitigating circumstances which could explain a £10k savings pot.

OP, if anyone ever dares to speak to you like that either on here or in person, pay them no heed at all. The last thing you need is to be guilt tripped for your savings by baby boomers who benefited from excellent saving interest rates and, of course, debt-free further education.

Tokmon

StandingInTheSun said:

Tokmon said:

Harrybrown100121 said:

Many thanks for your help
I work in central london, I was looking for jobs in Manchester/ Birmingham. As I feel I may be able to buy a property there but worried now the government is investing in these areas and moving jobs out of london to these areas. How's much will this affect properties prices?
I got about 10,000 in savings. I need to save more but I have to pay my parents back as I bought a car.

So then it's entirely you fault you can't afford a house if your 33 and have been living with parents and only have £10k in savings (well less than that when you take away the money you owe for a car). You can't really expect to be able to buy a house if you have made no effort to save money when you could have been saving loads.

Posts like this make me so angry.

You know nothing about how much money the OP makes.

You know nothing about the conditions under which they lived with their parents (did they pay rent?)

You know nothing about their daily costs of living outside of that or any other mitigating circumstances which could explain a £10k savings pot.

OP, if anyone ever dares to speak to you like that either on here or in person, pay them no heed at all. The last thing you need is to be guilt tripped for your savings by baby boomers who benefited from excellent saving interest rates and, of course, debt-free further education.

Yes there are a lot of factors that can diminish the amount of money that someone can save but in reality when considering the balance of probabilities someone living at home who is 20+ can easily save more than £65 a month. People need to realise that if they want to have nice things in life like owning a house they need to budget and save money. When your living with parents (even when paying average rent) it is easy to save much more than £65 a month if their priorities are in the right place.

I'm nowhere near a "baby boomer" and I'm actually younger than the OP!. So i know all about what needs to be done to save to be able to purchase a house these days and telling people they have done a good job when they haven't doesn't help anyone.  

moneysavinghero

StandingInTheSun said:

Tokmon said:

Harrybrown100121 said:

Many thanks for your help
I work in central london, I was looking for jobs in Manchester/ Birmingham. As I feel I may be able to buy a property there but worried now the government is investing in these areas and moving jobs out of london to these areas. How's much will this affect properties prices?
I got about 10,000 in savings. I need to save more but I have to pay my parents back as I bought a car.

So then it's entirely you fault you can't afford a house if your 33 and have been living with parents and only have £10k in savings (well less than that when you take away the money you owe for a car). You can't really expect to be able to buy a house if you have made no effort to save money when you could have been saving loads.

Posts like this make me so angry.

You know nothing about how much money the OP makes.

You know nothing about the conditions under which they lived with their parents (did they pay rent?)

You know nothing about their daily costs of living outside of that or any other mitigating circumstances which could explain a £10k savings pot.

OP, if anyone ever dares to speak to you like that either on here or in person, pay them no heed at all. The last thing you need is to be guilt tripped for your savings by baby boomers who benefited from excellent saving interest rates and, of course, debt-free further education.

Posts like this make me so angry.

You know nothing about how the baby boomers make their money (im not a baby boomer btw)

You know nothing about whether the poster in a baby boomer, or if they had lots of money invested in high interest accounts back in the day, or whether they went on to further education. Further education was not as common place back in the olden days as it is now.