Are we that desperate to get on the housing "ladder"?

[formant]

Halifax do 90% mortgages and allow vendor gifted deposits. As we bought our current house prior to my other half getting bought out of his former marital home, we only ended up putting down 5% initially.

Strikes me as a better deal to what that building society is proposing.

[d000hg]

Not quite.

If you give your kids a 25% deposit as a gift, the most you can lose is that cash amount if they decide they can't/won't pay the mortgage any more.

If you let this BS put a charge on your home, they will kick you out, sell it quick at a much reduced price, take the 25% deposit and then leave you and your kids homeless.

Oh I see. Thanks!

[doodab]

The inability to accept that wages need to keep pace with the cost of living will eventually destroy our economy.

IMO

[sasguru]

I may be in the minority, but i have no interest in buying a house, even though i could easily afford it.

My rent and living costs come to £450 a month, i live in a modern house within a 5 minute walk to the station, and live away depending on the clientco. I am not in a serious relationship, and have no interest in having children. There is so much pressure on people to buy a house, i have seen friends buy houses, rent out their spare rooms to strangers and it ends up costing them more money than it would be to rent a room privately.

I am more than happy building up a money pile, and when the inevitable crash does happen, i can buy somewhere with a large deposit if i want to.

If I was in your position I'd do the same.
I've benefited hugely through the housing market, mainly by being born at exactly the right time and having the contrcating cash to invest in the biggest housing boom in Uk history.
But now? I wouldn't put myself in hock for uncertain returns.
I would try and invest the money in other ways though, although the only qet rich quick scheme that I know was the housing boom.

[Ketchup]

IMO

I agree with that too, the government are keeping prices artificially high to stop people defaulting on their mortgages as so many people are in negative equity still. They are delaying letting them fall until wages rise and start to close the gap, and also allowing people to pay off the negative equity.

If they rose interest rates now, people would default on their mortgages and put further strain on our banking industry, but raising interest rates will close the gap between wages and house prices and after the initial shock, it will kickstart activity in the housing market and in term boost the remainder of the economy.

[d000hg]

My rent and living costs come to £450 a month, i live in a modern house within a 5 minute walk to the station

That's pretty cheap - are you sharing a house, renting a room?

[OwlHoot]

Not quite.

If you give your kids a 25% deposit as a gift, the most you can lose is that cash amount if they decide they can't/won't pay the mortgage any more.

If you let this BS put a charge on your home, they will kick you out, sell it quick at a much reduced price, take the 25% deposit and then leave you and your kids homeless.

WHS - Sounds like an iniquitous scheme.

Wouldn't it be better for parents in that position (of not being able to provide the deposit in cash) to remortgage their property and receive a small percentage of its value in cash to lend their children as the deposit for their mortgage, and trust the children to repay this loan in addition to paying their own mortgage? Would amount to the same thing, except the parents' property would be secure provided payments were maintained on their small mortgage.

[Ketchup]

That's pretty cheap - are you sharing a house, renting a room?

Rent a room in a 2 bed flat, peson i share with lives there monday to friday, i live there weekends. Works quite well.

[Scrag Meister]

I would NOT put my main house on the line, perhaps my other house or the flat.

I did like the idea of the Barclays Springboard mortgage.

5% deposit, remainder of deposit in savings account for 3 years and you get that back with interest after the 3 year period has expired and there are no arrears issues.

Did impose a higher interest rate though, but a good idea none the less.

Does mean having the cash to hand though.

[formant]

I may be in the minority, but i have no interest in buying a house, even though i could easily afford it.

My rent and living costs come to £450 a month, i live in a modern house within a 5 minute walk to the station, and live away depending on the clientco. I am not in a serious relationship, and have no interest in having children. There is so much pressure on people to buy a house, i have seen friends buy houses, rent out their spare rooms to strangers and it ends up costing them more money than it would be to rent a room privately.

I am more than happy building up a money pile, and when the inevitable crash does happen, i can buy somewhere with a large deposit if i want to.

Yeah, I was never keen on buying. I basically didn't intend to 'settle down' anywhere anytime soon. Well didn't work out that way, got involved with my other half who brought along two kids. Rented an overpriced former local authority bungalow for a year and then decided to buy to keep sane and be able to keep the dog (as rental alternatives weren't too keen on pets). Hugely improved our quality of life, but no doubt added a bit to our fixed outgoings (like...an extra £400 a month). Worth it for us, but I'd have never bought just for the sake of buying.