House Prices

[kazizzle]

I have a friend who once told me it was really easy to save for her deposit and she was just putting £1000 away a month. That was more than my monthly take home pay at the time and felt like a massive slap in the face. I was talking about my struggle to save and she was just telling me it was easy to put away £1000 a month? I think sometimes people forget that not everyone makes the same amount of money, and not everyone has the same financial situation or responsibilities. What is easy for one person is not easy for another.

I was putting £200 away a month in comparison.

 

[TheWitchIsBack]

If those on minimum wage jobs want a home so badly and it matters to them they can do what a poster above did and study in there evenings or time off. This will reap the rewards down the line as they will have a profession/skill/trade which can earn them enough to save for a place.

Again, before those with a chip on their shoulder try and apply it to their own circumstances I am talking in general terms. Some might not want to own a home, some might prefer to work the hours they currently work etc, which as I’ve said all along is completely up to them

You do know studying costs money right? College and university courses cost money, some aren’t always flexible to evening classes.

There’s also socioeconomic factors involved in this too - you as a middle class person might feel energised of an evening after sitting a desk for eight hours a day eating nutritious food. A poorer person will likely be working a more manual job, involving more physically exhausting work and might not have access to the same nourishment.

For someone “educated” your inability to understand that your theory could work but actually has so many variables and fundemantal flaws that mean it is almost always impossible is absolutely baffling.

The privilege is reeking out of you. I work with some of the wealthiest people in our society and do pro Bono work with some of the poorest and if you think classism and privilege aren’t real you’re off your head.

 

[BettyCrockerr]

At uni I lived in halls and then rented with other students (this is why I worked part time during uni). After uni I lived at home for 1 year, paying £300 a
Month to live at home (cheaper than renting granted but still led to having to choose where to spend money). I then rented for two years but chose a cheap little 1 bed flat because I had no need for anything bigger and wanted to save more.

I’ve worked since I was 14 (paper round). I was earning £40 a week from doing that and covering the odd round, plus I worked in a supermarket for 10-20 hours a week on top of this for 12 months. I also earnt money by going around peoples houses and asking if they had any tasks they wanted doing (anything from gardening, housework or cleaning cars) when I had time.

Who paid the rent for your halls at Uni? Who paid the rent/living costs when you lived in a house share? When you lived at home you only paid £300 to stay there?

can you not see where I’m coming from? You are lucky that you had these options. A lot of people do not and it is through no fault of their own and it’s really not as simple as saying people make a choice between putting money into savings or buying a Starbucks everyday. For a lot of people there is no money to put anywhere because what they earn only covers basic living costs and there is no financial buffer from family/parents.

 

[Mamacita]

Ah if only we weren't going so crazy with all the avocado toast, we could all buy a house by now

 

[Yel]

There should be fines for landlords.

Over 24 hours in the winter with a broken boiler then a week's rent for every 24 hour period after that until it's fixed.

Turn up unannounced and enter the property illegally? A month's rent as a fine.

At the moment they get away with way too much

They call it a business so why shouldn't they be held to some professional standards?

 

[judgejohndeed]

We’re a couple of weirdos who are downsizing from a 3 bed house in the north to a flat in London zone 3 which is costing us almost double the house did. It seems like a very good time to buy in London though - we’ve made a big profit on our house and the people we’re buying from have only made 6k in the 10 or so years they’ve lived in. It seems like the north is starting to catch up with southern prices now? Not really sure why?
Also can’t really believe anyone thinks it’s not massively privileged to be able to save, we both have high paying professions and it’s still not ‘all our own hard work.’ We didn’t have financial help in the form of a lump sum, but I was able to move home for a while and pay a third of what I would’ve done if I’d been renting. That is privilege. Other people’s families can’t always afford to have them move home. You’re also privileged if you live in a cheap to rent in area, people shouldn’t have to move far away from their family etc to live somewhere cheap enough that they can save. Cannot really believe anyone thinks it’s reasonable or somehow superior to have had no holidays or any luxuries at all for years to be able to buy a HOME. Hasn’t the pandemic alone proven how important breaks are for your mental health anyway? Pretty grim reading tbh.

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

I've saved up in excess of 40k during my years working but house prices are so mental that as a single person I can't even get a 1 bed flat in the area I live in because the maximum mortgage I'd get lent is far less than that of that which would cover property in the area. It's stupid.

40k?? You just need to work harder according to some here!

I’m joking obviously. It’s amazing to save up that amount of money. What is a joke is that people have this much in savings and it’s still not enough to buy a home. Single people find it particularly hard as it’s all geared towards 2 people earning a wage.

I don’t see a way how we can possibly save up enough. No one is entitled to own a home, but is it mad to think that it shouldn’t be this hard? Probably be in our 60’s by the time we save enough. Dread to think how hard it will be for future generations when it’s like this now

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Yes exactly what I’ve said - it’s about what you prioritise which is completely fair enough either way. It’s the fact people say “I can’t save” when they’re spending all this money on other things - it’s not that you can’t it’s that you’ve prioritised something else, which is fair enough!

Not really though, the artificial pushing up of house prices means people are having to choose between them and its shit. Or in some cases will never be able to get a mortgage because they just dont earn enough if the area they live in is expensive.

People can say oh years ago we didnt have x y and z but years ago most households had 1 income. We live in a society where most households have a dual income. It should be possible to buy a home and have some sort of a cultured life, have experiences.

I grew up financially disadvantaged, I wouldnt say poor but we didnt have a lot for a variety of reasons. My parents home is 5 times more expensive now than it was when they bought it in 1990, we dont live in a very expensive area. Has the average wage increased 5 times since 1990? No. Thats the problem. Yes there may be other factors at play for people struggling to get on the ladder but this is the main problem.

I am a home owner (well I pay the bank, dont own it outright) and even I can see the issues that people face and its not giving up £5 lattes, sadly.

 

[judgejohndeed]

People “bragging” about having £400k houses by pulling themselves up by the bootstraps are entirely missing the point.

100% this. I also don’t understand the mentality of ‘well I had to suffer to get my home, so should you.’ Surely that experience would make anyone with a shred of empathy want things to be different for other people?
For example all this talk of ‘just do another college course it’s not that hard.’ I actually did a part time degree while I was finishing another full time time degree. It was bloody hard work and not at all something I would ever wish on someone who has to work draining 12 hour shifts, or someone who has little kids to look after in the evenings, just so that they can afford to buy a home. Being able to pay for or spare the time for further education IS a privilege. I really pity people who think they’ve worked so much harder than everyone else just because they’ve done alright for themselves. I guarantee you that most of the time those on minimum wage have far worse working conditions and more draining jobs than those of us fortunate to have busy, well paid/respected jobs.

 

[Yel]

But has it really helped? People paying 20k more for something to "save" 5k in stamp duty. Madness.

 

[Rxt156]

Finally someone else speaks sense

What about those people that are in low paid jobs and their wage just about covers their essential bills? Should they prioritise saving for a house over feeding their children?

You are being ignorant to the circumstances of others.

 

[StrawberryCream]

Me - I did. I see where you’re coming from but I stand by what I say. If you want something there’s always a way to achieve. Don’t spend on things you don’t need to if you really want to own a house. Buy a flat if you can’t afford a house and don’t want to rent. Go and earn extra money from a second job, or do a qualification in your spare time.

It’s the same as people saying “I don’t have time to exercise”. You do, you just prioritise going out with friends, watching tv etc (again nothing wrong with doing that but it’s the fact that not having time is a shit excuse).




I wouldn’t say I’m privileged because I worked hard at school, worked in my spare time, was sensible with money, worked hard at my degree and then got a graduate job after spending my whole life working towards it?

You’re privileged because you lived at home paying £300 a month which massively helped you save for a house, not because you studied hard, that’s what @JLXRD said

 

[Rxt156]

It’s all about being understanding of others. You don’t have to like it and you certainly don’t have to agree BUT the ability to put yourself in others shoes is a wonderful skill that clearly not everyone possesses. The whole “it doesn’t affect me so it must not exist” thing is bizarre, especially when it comes to money. Some people save hundreds a month, some piss it all away and some can’t afford to save at all. It is not for us to judge.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Dont feel you need to justify it. The majority of us here can see exactly why its difficult. If hard work was the only thing that got you places the people working manual jobs outside in all weathers, care assistants looking after the sick and elderly would be earning a lot more than they are.

The whole system is rigged. Its set up to keep poor people poor. Not even in regards to home ownership just in general. Society even has those on minimum wage pitted against people who dont or cant work. How often do you see people who arent high earners moaning about 'benefit scroungers' answer - alot.

 

[Boutros-Boutros Ghali]

I got called by the estate agent who sold us the house just over a year ago, asking if we wanted to move again as they had people interested in the house….err no you’re ok

 

[Begborrowsteal]

I work in social housing and it pains me to see the lovely old council houses sold off. The new builds may look nice but they simply do not function as family homes.

The Mayor of London is pushing to be able to buy back the right-to-buy houses that have ended up in the private market, and use them for social rent. I hope it goes through. No one in social housing should be allowed to buy their property. Literally no justifying it, imo.

 

[JLXRD]

Clearly some people have taken this as a personal attack when I was simply making a point that a lot of people who say they can’t buy couldn’t if they really prioritised.

Everyone is different and has different circumstances so what I said of course will not apply to everybody. However I stand by the fact that if people want to buy, a lot of the time they can (after saving hardcore for a few years obviously). Whether people want to prioritise this over the lifestyle they currently have is a completely different argument and that is down to each person, I can completely understand both points of view on that one.

Not going to reply on this topic further as people have taken it as an attack when that wasn’t the case, so apologies for any offence caused on that.

You seem to have taken it more personally than anyone else - I’m not offended, your points don’t apply to me personally (the fact that you have assumed because people disagree they must not own their own home and therefore are offended speaks volumes) but I just think your attitude is one that I have seen many times among people who have had no obstacles in life.

I don’t think anyone is offended, more saddened that people truly believe that the cycle of poverty is something you can just decide to escape.

 

[Lanavalentine]

There is essentially nothing else a lot of people can do now other than couple up with a partner or wait for a pay rise or a big hit of inheritance. I'm worried that even if I do get a chunk of inheritance (my grandmother recently passed away) that it's still not going to do it. It's annoying as it seems something completely out of your control.

It's a straight up theft of wealth between generations. The younger generations are paying off their future for the present of those who can afford to own multiple properties. Landlords are for the most part absolute parasites who just want to sit on property and get an easy income.

There are grave consequences looming in the future but of course our governments can't look beyond the next 2-3 years. I hope the older generations don't expect us to wipe their arses for a pittance in the future though because that certainly will not be happening with the current and future housing market state + lower brith rates in the UK.

It’s not just that the government can’t see further into the future. It’s also that they don’t care. They’re all benefitting hugely from the broken system, so why would they want it to end?

People “bragging” about having £400k houses by pulling themselves up by the bootstraps are entirely missing the point. It is a system designed to work for the rich and against the poor, at their expense (and don’t now get at me having a “chip on my shoulder” because my house is literally worth almost twice yours )

 

[Columbo]

My husband grew up in the care system and once he was finished school at 18 he was on his own, no parents to give him a leg up or let him live cheaply at home while saving for a deposit. He had excellent grades despite having no stability growing up but interviews weren’t too forthcoming when they noticed his address was a bedsit in a “rough” area. He turns 40 this year and it has taken this long for him to work his way up to being in a stable, decent paying job. Perhaps he should’ve prioritised more

We save what we can but I can tell you it’ll be 10s of 1000s of sacrificed Starbucks before we can afford a deposit.

 

[navybluewolf]

Urgh the drama this morning. We viewed a house on Saturday, that wasn't even on the market yet. Phoned this morning, and it was already gone for well over the asking price. We didn't expect to get it, but it's still a disappointment. Phoned about another that was listed three days ago-already gone! Couldn't get through about two more (tried ringing multiple times)! Finally, was laughed at by another estate agent, when I phoned about another property-that was already gone. I asked if there was anything else similar, and he snorted and rather condescendingly told me no all sold out, like he was selling bananas or something and not houses for people to live in. I won't lie I ended up crying after I hung up.