The 1960s house

margaretclare

bunking_off wrote:

How many BTL properties are there, versus how many single-adult properties are there due to later marriages/failed marriages? I think the latter will be the dominant figure, hence it's that which has driven up prices.

There are undoubtedly more 'single-person households' than there used to be (see http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1044) and with an ageing population this is set to continue.

However, these tables give a figure of 'people 16 and over living in single-person households'. They don't specify whether these are people renting or buying (well, I know it's not possible to buy under age 18). But you see on this forum, and I seem to hear it all around me, young people talking about 'gotta get on to the housing ladder'. As if it was, not a ladder, but a train they had to catch or they'd miss it for ever!!

We just did not hear these kind of things said in the 1950s/60s.

I wrote about my experience of a marriage in 1957 which lasted literally weeks because I couldn't stand living with in-laws in a tiny bungalow with a bossy mother-in-law. My eldest daughter was born in Cyprus in 1961 and I was by then a qualified nurse. I came back to UK and met a young woman I'd known before - she got married same time as me, had lived with in-laws and my one child was compared with her 4!! I was asked 'why I hadn't more children, after all we got married the same time!!'

So yes, living with in-laws was accepted, was common, and to have any chance of being considered for a council house you had to have at least one child, preferably more, and be 'living in awful conditions', as we were told by a Dartford Council housing officer in February 1957.

When I suggested renting a bedsit his mum 'went off on one'. Even though my husband was a fit young guy who'd done 3 years army service in the Far East, 'he's my baby, he was ill as a child, he has a bad chest, you want to take him away from home and kill him, you married him thinking he's got money and if he gets bronchitis and dies you think you'll get it....'

Best thing I did was to get away, worst thing I ever did was to marry him in the first place. Or at least, not without giving him time to decide whether he really was mature enough for an adult relationship like marriage!

Aunty Margaret

Robert_Sterling_3

In the past six years each of my children has bought a property.
The values of the properties have increased in total by a quarter of a million pounds. The house I bought about 25 years ago has increased in value by about half a million pounds. A house my father bought in 1928 has multiplied in value by about five hundred times i.e. From £350 to £175,000.
I think, related to A Day 06 April 2006 and SIPPs, prices will continue to rise.
Buy now !!!

wibble68_2

Robert_Sterling wrote:

In the past six years each of my children has bought a property.
The values of the properties have increased in total by a quarter of a million pounds. The house I bought about 25 years ago has increased in value by about half a million pounds. A house my father bought in 1928 has multiplied in value by about five hundred times i.e. From £350 to £175,000.
I think, related to A Day 06 April 2006 and SIPPs, prices will continue to rise.
Buy now !!!

Property values always rise in the long term and during boom periods.

That's a given.

However, house price inflation is nearing 0% in a low interest rate environment.

This means that affordability is stretched. So the chances of prices rising in the short term are very remote.

Advising FTB's to buy now is irresponsible.

You obviously get a kick from seeing young people stretching thier finances to the limit.

meanmachine_2

To buy an average house through SIPPs you need around £300K in your pension pot.

And if you're crazy enough to put your entire pension fund into one depreciating asset then you really do deserve to lose the lot.

And yes, of course I should have bought back in the 1920s. D'oh! How stupid of me.

We're talking about whether it's the right time to buy now, compared to previous eras, on the basis of affordability.

With the economy clearly heading for something rather messy, I'd rather wait.

But thanks for the measured "moneysaving" advice.

rozeepozee

Robert_Sterling wrote:

I think, related to A Day 06 April 2006 and SIPPs, prices will continue to rise.
Buy now !!!

I was about to respond - got distracted by the door bell and have been beaten to it stereo by the previous two posters!

I will have to join the chorus of disagreement. I think the point has been made: how do FTBers afford to buy at current prices? Six years ago is a long time! I mentioned earlier in this thread that the house I bought 10 years ago for 3 times my salary would be way beyond my reach now even if my salary had doubled in that period.

In the absence of an influx of cash into the housing market, it strikes me that onlhy people who are already home owners can afford to move but, at the bottom of the ladder without a FTBer, they won't be able to.

If A Day does encourage people to buy more properties it I reckon it's just inflating the bubble a little further before it inevitably bursts.

Maisie

In my post #38 and rozeepoozzee's reply. I forgot to say that as well as renting the rooms in this lady's house (we didn't know her before) we shared the kitchen and bathroom. Had alloted times when we could use the bathroom and kitchen.
Not at all a good situation and I remember once going to use the toilet one night and the lady was in the bath (combined bathroom and toilet).
I don't think many today would put up with renting rooms and sharing like we did.

It was very a very undesirable position to be in but there was no choice if we wanted to live together after marriage. I know some of my friends even lived at home after marriage singly that is and stayed at parent's house together at weekends.

You might say why didn't we wait to get married until we had a house/flat of our own but there were none available only option was to rent rooms as we did.

Someone ought to write a book to show today's people that it was just as difficult .. or more so to buy property in the 60's and 70's.

lush_walrus

Robert_Sterling wrote:

In the past six years each of my children has bought a property.
The values of the properties have increased in total by a quarter of a million pounds. The house I bought about 25 years ago has increased in value by about half a million pounds. A house my father bought in 1928 has multiplied in value by about five hundred times i.e. From £350 to £175,000.
I think, related to A Day 06 April 2006 and SIPPs, prices will continue to rise.
Buy now !!!

Not sure I agree with your date, but I can definately say that houses are still selling, first time buyers are still able to afford to buy at least in my areas where a lot of FTBs are able to earn high wages. I have just had the mid month figures sent through to me, and just to give you a rough outline of sales at one of our agencies, we have 52 sales in the pipeline and 12 offers submitted in the last 2 weeks which have not yet been tied up. In the real world, I am still to see the downturn in prices and number of sales that so many on here are predicting!! Sorry but the market is still bouyant, people are still buying including first time buyers, many of which are continuing to buy small houses starting at approx 215 as their first buys (so therefore they can easily afford a flat).

Till the FTBs are scraping around to be able to afford to buy studio flats, affordability is still there. Price rises may well have slowed, but they are also still steadily rising.

Im sorry but all of the statistics in the world will not turn a market nor stop the reality of what people are actually doing and affording!

wibble68_2

lush_walrus wrote:

Till the FTBs are scraping around to be able to afford to buy studio flats, affordability is still there. Price rises may well have slowed, but they are also still steadily rising.

Im sorry but all of the statistics in the world will not turn a market nor stop the reality of what people are actually doing and affording!

Typical EA speak.

You obviously live in an area where people are earning 40k.

This is not representative of the country as a whole.

I hope that people can see your comments are made out of self interest.

lush_walrus

rozeepozee wrote:

I will have to join the chorus of disagreement. I think the point has been made: how do FTBers afford to buy at current prices? Six years ago is a long time! I mentioned earlier in this thread that the house I bought 10 years ago for 3 times my salary would be way beyond my reach now even if my salary had doubled in that period.

In the absence of an influx of cash into the housing market, it strikes me that onlhy people who are already home owners can afford to move but, at the bottom of the ladder without a FTBer, they won't be able to.

If A Day does encourage people to buy more properties it I reckon it's just inflating the bubble a little further before it inevitably bursts.

People can still afford to buy in a lot of areas in the UK, especially in areas such as my agnecies are in close enough to London for people to commute in and earn decent wages. You have to bear in mind that the average secretary earns £26,000 meaning that on one wage and very little deposit, most can afford a studio flat and if they stretch themselves further or find a cheaper area then perhaps a 1 bed.

But that is taking into account a low earning job, a hell of a lot of young people earn far higher wages than that, just looking at my friends most are earning into the top wage bracket, making houses on a single wage affordable. There is still a long way to go before FTBs truely can't afford to buy, of course there are those who don't want to pay the prices and hope for the fall to come, but that is a totally another matter.

lush_walrus

wibble68 wrote:

Typical EA speak.

You obviously live in an area where people are earning 40k.

This is not representative of the country as a whole.

I hope that people can see your comments are made out of self interest.

I'm sorry but that is a riddiculous comment, where exactly is my self interest in commenting on a forum, I hope you dont really beleive that there is a benefit to the national economy and the amount of people buying property through anything that is said on here!! Im sure we are both able to agree that economies are far more complex than that.

Facts are facts, Im just providing you all with the reality of the areas I have agencies, which are all in the home counties.

Oh and just for your information, I am not an EA, I OWN a small chain EAs and work in my own profession as an architect, my business is run by people who report to me, so I think you might also be wrong on what is and isnt EA talk!!