Home ownership in England at lowest level in 30 years as housing crisis grows

[VectraMan]

I suppose the other side is that we're now in a society where immediacy is important. That extends to a lot of youngsters simply not caring about saving the deposits for their own places and being happy enough to rent, then worrying about where they'll live long term later on in life.

As long as you have somewhere to live does it matter? It's the British obsession with home ownership: everybody repeating the mantra that you must buy a house or your life is ruined. There'd be less pressure pushing up prices if everybody would accept that renting is fine and that not everybody wants to or should own a home.

[original PM]

As long as you have somewhere to live does it matter? It's the British obsession with home ownership: everybody repeating the mantra that you must buy a house or your life is ruined. There'd be less pressure pushing up prices if everybody would accept that renting is fine and that not everybody wants to or should own a home.

Indeed that too - either save up buy a house and shut up

or rent and shut up

either way shut up!

[LondonManc]

The Uk consists of many many places - not all of them in London.

Maybe if you cannot afford to rent down there try finding a job in a different place of the country and you know see what salaries you could get, see what the property market is like and then you make that change.

I am not saying it easy to afford your first house but what I am saying is there are many things you can do to make it easier and some of those are to extend your horizons.

Remember you are entering into a 25 year mortgage you maybe need to not put things like 'next to Joe's trendy hipster Bistro' and near the Vegan Yogo society as really that high on your list of influencers when looking at where to live.

So, instead of a £30k pa grad wage in London, get a £20k pa grad wage in Manchester to finance a £130k house? You're still looking at massively skewed wage to house values wherever you go in the UK.

As long as you have somewhere to live does it matter? It's the British obsession with home ownership: everybody repeating the mantra that you must buy a house or your life is ruined. There'd be less pressure pushing up prices if everybody would accept that renting is fine and that not everybody wants to or should own a home.

Where did I say it mattered? It's just that property has continually been a sound long term investment and at the very least owning your own home gives you great peace of mind, especially when you have at least half the equity of it.

What should people invest in instead?

[NigelJK]

Croydon is in London so fail on the City part, but:

£160K 2 bed flat in Croydon

This took 30 secs on Zoopla to find.

I make that £32K deposit for a 20% deposit. Should be doable on even an average salary over a couple of years (less if you're willing to forgo iPhones, iPads, Imacs etc etc or have credit cards available to you). Better still if you are still at home with Mummy and Daddy.

[VectraMan]

Where did I say it mattered? It's just that property has continually been a sound long term investment and at the very least owning your own home gives you great peace of mind, especially when you have at least half the equity of it.

What should people invest in instead?

Having cash gives you greater peace of mind. Stress of a large mortgage that you can barely afford can't be a lot of fun, and neither can be being stuck with a house that you can't sell when you need to move because you lose your job. These are the sort of problems 25 year olds that have been told they absolutely must buy are stuck with.

[OwlHoot]

Croydon is in London so fail on the City part, but:

£160K 2 bed flat in Croydon

This took 30 secs on Zoopla to find.

More haste less speed then.

The first line of the description stipulates:

Over 60s only under Homewise's lifetime lease plan

I make that £32K deposit for a 20% deposit. Should be doable on even an average salary over a couple of years (less if you're willing to forgo iPhones, iPads, Imacs etc etc or have credit cards available to you). Better still if you are still at home with Mummy and Daddy.

I doubt if their "Mummy and Daddy" would still be around to help the pensioners buy it.

Also, all the equity in the property presumably reverts to some company once the old biddies in the place pop off.

[LondonManc]

Having cash gives you greater peace of mind. Stress of a large mortgage that you can barely afford can't be a lot of fun, and neither can be being stuck with a house that you can't sell when you need to move because you lose your job. These are the sort of problems 25 year olds that have been told they absolutely must buy are stuck with.

I was fortunate enough to get on the property ladder in 97 in my early 20s; five years on and prices had rocketed.

[CretinWatcher]

Exactly.

It's the result of other people's greed pure and simple.

Greed of the politicians.

Greed of the developers.

Greed of the NIMBYS.

Greed of the BTL.

Greed of the bankers.

Greed of the boomers.

Feck me, you're a simple-minded blockhead.

[SueEllen]

The Uk consists of many many places - not all of them in London.

Maybe if you cannot afford to rent down there try finding a job in a different place of the country and you know see what salaries you could get, see what the property market is like and then you make that change.

I am not saying it easy to afford your first house but what I am saying is there are many things you can do to make it easier and some of those are to extend your horizons.

Remember you are entering into a 25 year mortgage you maybe need to not put things like 'next to Joe's trendy hipster Bistro' and near the Vegan Yogo society as really that high on your list of influencers when looking at where to live.

So according to you it's a good idea to move to a place well away from your family and other support network in the UK when you have or are planning to have children just so you can buy a house?

You may as well move somewhere abroad where provisions for childcare are better and there are cheap flights there. (And I know people who have.)

[original PM]

So according to you it's a good idea to move to a place well away from your family and other support network in the UK when you have or are planning to have children just so you can buy a house?

You may as well move somewhere abroad where provisions for childcare are better and there are cheap flights there. (And I know people who have.)

I am not commenting on whether it is a good idea or not what I am saying is that if you want to buy a house but cannot afford to in the area you are looking then you need to asses your priorities.

C'mon you must have watched episodes of Kirsty n Phil?