Lack Housing Options in London for someone earning £42.000

AdamDingby

A year ago, I completely changed career and went for a job that paid a lot more than I have ever been paid previously. I thought it would be a decent enough wage to finally pursue my dream of living by myself. I'm earning £42,500 in London and I have come to a realisation that I may have to continue to live in my parents box room for the foreseeable future and it's hard to see a way out. I'm 41 and not interested in living in shared accommodation, nor do I have (or want) a partner. 

Here are my options:

- Buying -  I don't earn enough to get a mortgage for any available 1 bed property in London, unless I want to live in a parking garage. 

- Renting - Don't particularly want to rent but, when I search for a 1 bed property in London within my budget, I get 0 results. And I'm willing to spend a large chunk of my wages of housing as it is a priority for me. 

- Shared Ownership - This felt like an option for a while, but for most properties I'm looking at paying £1500+ per month if you include rent, mortgage and service charge. And there are plenty of horror stories about the service charges and rent being increased as they don't seem to be regulated. This is supposed to be the governments affordable solution but many developers for new builds require applicants to earn a certain amount, and more often than not, I am priced out. 

- First Home Scheme - A government sponsored scheme where you may be able to buy a home for 30% to 50% less if you meet certain criteria. I meet all the criteria so...problem solved?... NO. I have spent hours and hours researching this over the last few months and I have found ZERO homes available under this scheme. As far as I can tell, it's not a real thing. 

Looking at options outside London within a commutable distance isn't much better. I also work, shifts so commuting is not an appealing option. 

If anyone is thinking of commenting on here; 'get a better job', please don't. I often work 60+ hour weeks and I'm a key worker doing a job that helps and benefits all Londoners. 

I guess I don't have a question. I just want to see if anyone else is in a similar situation. 

lika_86

If you're single and able to live at home and work in London you're in a more fortunate position than many on relatively average salaries (for London) who have to rent. 

It's the sad truth of London that buying a house here isn't available to all and a lot of people end up moving away from London if buying a house (or having more space) is something they want.

rach_k

Lots - I'd actually say most - people are priced out of living in inner London.

Perhaps readjust your thinking on commuting - so many people do it!  It's just one of those things you'll probably have to grin and bear if you want to own a home.  At least within Greater London, the public transport is excellent.  

If you're a key worker, could you also look at eventually moving your job to somewhere in Greater London so the housing is cheaper and you can work closer to home?  

RelievedSheff

I guess your other option is to transfer your job move to an area where housing is more affordable.

Brie

Are your parents charging you rent and asking for a share of expenses?  I wouldn't blame them if they did but not all parents insist on this particularly if they have enough to cover everything themselves.

If they aren't perhaps your option is to stick with it for a couple of years and save on everything to build up a decent(ish) deposit so that your actual salary isn't quite so much of a problem.   

I do wish you luck.  We lived with the inlaws for 7 years before we were in a position to buy.  Fortunately they were easy to get along with.

EssexHebridean

If you could give a rough idea of where your job is (just a borough, for example) then that might help those that know and understand London's housing market and transport network to suggest locations worth looking at for you? Realistically, what IS your budget for a purchase, and how much do you have saved as a deposit/how much could you have saved in another, say, 12 months? 

Although transport in London is good, that doesn't necessarily help as much as people might think when it comes to shift work commuting. If you are on a night-tube line, then great. If reliant on buses though, less so. 

thegreenone

How much have you saved for a deposit?

silvercar

It is a common problem. The short term answer is to live in a shared house with like minded people. Maybe people you work with know of a room available through contacts? I would guess this is what people without parents living in a convenient location have to do.

Longer term is to accept looking further out or cheaper areas, though as you say shift work makes this difficult.

Jami74

I've spent years watching property and prices in my area hoping eventually prices would be low enough and the deposit big enough to buy, then last year I looked for similar jobs elsewhere in the country and found that property prices are almost half the price, so I am relocating. Also a key worker and had never previously considered moving area. It's worth a thought.

GDB2222

Rightmove shows 188 1 bed flats under £200k in London. That's excluding shared ownership and retirement apartments. 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^87490&maxBedrooms=1&minBedrooms=1&maxPrice=200000&propertyTypes=&includeSSTC=true&mustHave=&dontShow=retirement,sharedOwnership&furnishTypes=&keywords=


Including studios, the number shown goes up to 500.  Those numbers go down if I exclude Sold STC, but there are still 300+ remaining.  I'm sure that a detailed look would weed quite a lot of those out, but I'm surprised the OP can't find anything at all.


I'm unsure what the OP's budget is? 

EssexHebridean

That 188 reduces to 100 once SSTC is excluded, and it must be said that a fair proportion of those would either prove potentially difficult to get a mortgage on, OR are for sale by auction, so will be unlikely to go for anywhere near that £200k limit. It does go to show that properties I;that budget still do exist though, even if you might need to have a fairly wide search area to pin them down!