Cornwall's broken housing market
- Thread starter FoxEye
- Start date
I feel for the kids leaving school/uni and starting out in life that want to move out and have a life. 
I feel we need 100% mortgages. Why should people be denied a mortgage at £1500 a month when rent is £2000 a month for example. Raising a deposit is unachievable and becomes increasingly so year on year.
I feel we need 100% mortgages. Why should people be denied a mortgage at £1500 a month when rent is £2000 a month for example. Raising a deposit is unachievable and becomes increasingly so year on year.
Deposit required, £20k. Save £500 a month, it takes you 40 months or close to 3 1/2 years. Except the house prices have risen so much in that time that a 20% deposit for an average house is now £25k so you have to save for a further year and a bit. So you've been saving for nearly 5 years, no doubt while your take home pay hasn't risen anywhere close to inflation unless you've job hopped two or three times, which doesn't look too good on your Mortgage application either. Not to mention your Rent has been put up 4 times in those 4 years, or you've been evicted so the landlord can sell up/turn it into an AirBnB and your new flat now wants a whole year's rent up front wiping out a £3k of your savings and the rent itself is £250 a month more than you were paying before. It's next to chuffing impossible.I feel for the kids leaving school/uni and starting out in life that want to move out and have a life.
I feel we need 100% mortgages. Why should people be denied a mortgage at £1500 a month when rent is £2000 a month for example. Raising a deposit is unachievable and becomes increasingly so year on year.
Soldato
Dp
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Soldato
Please don't make it sound too good, I kinda like the peace up here
You can always spot an outsider though, eh? They don't have any more than 5 fingers on each hand...
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I was never able to save or start a pension when I was younger, I was lucky to be earning 13k a year so it wasn't feasible for me. I was lucky to get housing association 1 bed flat. Parents where poorer then me so no options there.
I spent months saving but always found something would come up that needs sorting, either car repair, washing machine or something else.
Eventually I managed to get a share to buy property out in a village new build for 220k and I took a 110k mortgage with a 5k deposit.
Not surprisingly I am still here with lots more children and no chance of moving to a bigger property anytime soon, and that's with a decent wage now, but unfortunately I do not have the savings or help to get a larger property
I spent months saving but always found something would come up that needs sorting, either car repair, washing machine or something else.
Eventually I managed to get a share to buy property out in a village new build for 220k and I took a 110k mortgage with a 5k deposit.
Not surprisingly I am still here with lots more children and no chance of moving to a bigger property anytime soon, and that's with a decent wage now, but unfortunately I do not have the savings or help to get a larger property
Commissario
I was talking to my nephew about this earlier, he's been on the council waiting list for about 2 years as he and his partner have her 8yo son living with them, and their 2 little girls in a shoebox 2 bed "new build".
They were offered a 3 bed that is 45 minutes+ away from his job and everything else (school the boy goes to, family who help with child care, GP who is somewhat familiar with his partners medical issues) and because of the council housing list rules if they reject it they basically get thrown off the list.
He's pointed out that whilst the house is nice and he's grateful for the chance, there is a good chance it'll mean he has to give up his current job as his partner won't be able to deal with the kids on her own for ~14 hours a day and they won't be able to afford to pay for childcare (the house is also in a place with very few amenities, so they'd probably need to run a second car).
Private rent is pretty much out of the question as locally all the 3 bedroom houses are far too much to leave enough to live on (private rents are ~400-600 a week for a 3 bed).
They were offered a 3 bed that is 45 minutes+ away from his job and everything else (school the boy goes to, family who help with child care, GP who is somewhat familiar with his partners medical issues) and because of the council housing list rules if they reject it they basically get thrown off the list.
He's pointed out that whilst the house is nice and he's grateful for the chance, there is a good chance it'll mean he has to give up his current job as his partner won't be able to deal with the kids on her own for ~14 hours a day and they won't be able to afford to pay for childcare (the house is also in a place with very few amenities, so they'd probably need to run a second car).
Private rent is pretty much out of the question as locally all the 3 bedroom houses are far too much to leave enough to live on (private rents are ~400-600 a week for a 3 bed).
Associate
My parents got a mortgage in 1980 in Shirley, Solihull, then struggled when interest rates went up in the 80s. During the mid 90s when my Mum sold up (parents divorced and my Dad didn't ask for his half of the money so we could stay living there) and moved out of the area that's when the housing market was at its lowest in 'recent' years. I don't know what she sold it for but probably less than £200K.
Those houses were built during the 1930s, decent quality, solid internal walls etc, most have now been extended over the garage and out the back turning them from normal size 3 bed to huge 4+ bed houses, now worth ~£500K.
There is another long thread about this but yeah if boomers are struggling to pay bills today what's the next 2 generations gonna be like with far worse pensions, less/no savings etc? Sounds like a time bomb to me. Sounds the housing market needs to colipase as it's been living in a dream world. That means the 'haves' have less and the 'have nots' have a chance of having something again. But it won't happen coz supply and demand and there aren't enough houses.
Those houses were built during the 1930s, decent quality, solid internal walls etc, most have now been extended over the garage and out the back turning them from normal size 3 bed to huge 4+ bed houses, now worth ~£500K.
There is another long thread about this but yeah if boomers are struggling to pay bills today what's the next 2 generations gonna be like with far worse pensions, less/no savings etc? Sounds like a time bomb to me. Sounds the housing market needs to colipase as it's been living in a dream world. That means the 'haves' have less and the 'have nots' have a chance of having something again. But it won't happen coz supply and demand and there aren't enough houses.
That's not too bad, ultimately a 45-minute commute isn't the end of the world and kids can easily move schools when they're young, esp if the eldest is only 8. At least once in a council house it's a long-term, secure tenancy.
It's more that 2 year wait (and the inevitable backlog councils have) that ought to be addressed. Even if we do build more council houses and more housing in general we'd surely want to be efficient about it, if one area of a given borough is particularly desirable/expensive then building houses in that location maybe isn't going to be the best use of a given budget.
Perhaps higher density accommodation might be though, then someone in that situation might options like a 3 bedroom flat in the desirable part of a given local authority area they may prefer to be in or a 3 bedroom house with garden in a less expensive part.
If it's boomer homeowners then that sort of thing becomes slightly comical as they can downsize. I'm familiar with Solihull too and one of the common complaints re: new developments is "too many" retirement homes being built. People are too short-sighted and don't seem to grasp that any new development, any addition of more bedrooms, more square ft of floor space to the housing market helps.
If you build a bunch of two-bedroom retirement flats on some over 60s or whatever development then you could well find that the people who end up buying them are all vacating 3, 4 5 bedroom homes. So not only have you added number of flat * 2 bedrooms to the market but you've also vacated a bunch of houses with previously unused bedrooms for lareger households to move into and they in turn vacate homes etc..etc..
Stuff like this is a bit farcical:
'Starving' woman who hadn't eaten for two weeks found on 'millionaire's row'
Community worker Teresa Farrell described her shock at arriving at a bungalow on an apparently well-heeled Solihull road where a woman in her 60s claimed she hadn't eaten for two weeks
www.mirror.co.uk
In her 60s? We're expected to work in most of our 60s in the UK, the current retirement age is 66. If you're in your 60s and living by yourself on a house on a road where the average houseprice is 1 million but you can't afford to feed yourself then you ought to sell up!
Soldato
It is this attitude that really bothers me.
My current living arrangements aren’t working and I need to move. I want a council house. I get one offered to me that’s nice/fits my needs.
I reject it on the basis that a 45 minute commute is a deal breaker… 45 minute drive is basically another country so I can’t possibly use similar services as before.
45 minutes is considered to be a good commute by a large proportion of the working population. It is not too far to go for family or school if you really want to use them and to move.
It would be a bit of inconvenience until you find new places and visit a new GP etc. the family would still muck in when really needed. Plus would they be there forever anyway?
Or is it a case of “I don’t want to move outside my area, therefore I will find any reason(s) I can to not move”
From a boomers perspective though, they will want to stay in their 4/5 bed spacious, detached houses. What inventive do they have to move and downsize? They also have links where they are usually to family and friends. Downsizing means upheaval and stress in later life that they generally are not attracted to. Have got used to their "forever" home for decades. Most boomers still worked hard through their own versions of difficult times (90s interest rates) and came out the other side. They will feel they have worked all their lives for it and will want to retain it.
I look at my parents house... they'll never move. No reason to. The only consideration would be a bungalow for ease when mobility becomes an issue, but stairlifts are a thing so...
I look at my parents house... they'll never move. No reason to. The only consideration would be a bungalow for ease when mobility becomes an issue, but stairlifts are a thing so...
yep, pre-brexit past tense.
Similar with Cambridge hi-tech - it's a faustian pact - govt subsidises companies paying high wages, limited housing & high demand pushes prices ...
but at the end of the day location doesn't deliver the quality of life for the employees with the daily congestion/environment
this is one of the issues with having a 2ndhome in a nice place, versus living there full time - contending with crowds on your intermittent visits,
locals learn how to accomodate that in their lives, but you don't have time to do that when on holiday - so I'm not sure the 2nd home experience lives up to the expectation
45 minutes whilst not far for a commute, is life changing if everyone/thing is 45 minutes away. I'm not defending it, and I would take it too and make it work. You have to see both sides. I remember when I used to moan about my 30-45 minute car commute. I look back on that doing my 1.5 hour commute each way into London on trains and it's laughable how nice a 45 minute drive down back roads in your own car was in comparison.
My Uncle recently sold his house in a small village on the coast in the very tip of the County. Made every effort they could to ensure it was going to a local and didn't want it going to a property developer or someone not from the county. Various excuses about not being able to meet and the Estate Agent always insisted they were from Cornwall and not looking to buy as an investment.
Within a month of the sale they saw the house on airbnb.
Within a month of the sale they saw the house on airbnb.
It's an argument that I often see in our local Reach Plc crap rag (off-topic: ugh). Quite a few will say that "greedy Cornish sold their homes to Londoners so the Cornish only have themselves to blame."
It's utter nonsense. You are duty bound to get the maximum you can for your property, as whomever you buy your next property from will be doing exactly the same.
And as you just pointed out, with the best will in the world you can't stop houses from falling into the hands of speculators, or whatever. It's just not tenable.
You say that as if those are mutually exclusive. I'd bet there's a good portion of people living in Cornwall that have multiple properties too.
Soldato
Don’t blame the boomers blame low rates and magic money trees, along with a load of other government policies.
This situation is log jammed now and will remain so nothing can be done to extracate the country from some form of meltdown.
This situation is log jammed now and will remain so nothing can be done to extracate the country from some form of meltdown.
Commissario
It's 45 minutes each way after a 12 hour shift. That's probably going to work out at closer to 14 hours a day away from the house.
Two young children (under 5)
It's 45 minutes away from the support network for the family, so no more ability to have the grandparents/uncles etc to easily pick the older kid up from school if there is a doctors appointment, no easy ability to have baby sitters etc*.
It's an entirely new school for the older child who already has issues and has just started settling into his current school (the new place is small enough it looks like they only have one small middle school, same for primary and no upper).
It's an entirely new GP's practice for his partner who has spent several years starting to find out what some medical issues she has are, and potential treatments (I can't actually see any GP's within several miles of where they'll be).
45 minutes isn't a terrible commute if it's something you've chosen and taken into account when you've looked for your job.
When the move also removes you from every element of support you've got, and at the same time massively increases the load on your partner that's an issue.
As I think I said, it's also going to require them to get a second car as the local services are pretty poor, and with 2 under fives getting on the few busses is going to problematic.
He's grateful for the chance, but at the same time it's going to be a very difficult change for them to make and it's going to make their lives more difficult in many regards, but it's the only option they've got and he's probably going to have to look for a new job if they do move as he'll probably need to be at home more to assist in childcare.
In short, yeah 45 minute commutes aren't too uncommon, but it's definitely not something you can just shrug off. He specifically quit his old job a few years back to get one closer to home when the first little one was on the way (and lucked out into a job that was actually better paid and has good bosses, most of the work around here is minimum wage).
*At the moment they live within 10-15 minutes walk of myself, my sister (his mum), his father and another uncle so if there is any problem they've litteraly got help minutes away
Bills for a start, see the story about the woman in her 60s apparently not able to feed herself, must be some mental health issues there tbh... But if you're in a detached house on a street where the average house value is 1 million then you'll have plenty of options locally without needing to move far away from friends and family. Just get a 1 or 2 bedroom flat.
This is the same town where people continually moan about new retirement flats being built but the fact is if there is demand for retirement flats in that area then some boomers clearly are moving and if a bunch of them move from their detached family homes to newly built 2 bedroom flats then that's a nice multiplier, that puts a load of 4 bedroom homes on the market.
Sadly it's also often boomers who oppose developments, perhaps including those who don't wish to move. I'm opposed to ramping up big property taxes on people, I think assets should be taxed on transfer (like with inheritance tax etc.) but if general cost of living stuff is causing issues and they're a single person or couple in a family home then that's on them to sell up and move.
If there was enough supply of housing alongside discouragement of house hoarding, then the rate's wouldnt matter other than to affect affordability (which of course low rates are better).
You could e.g. set rates to 15%, and require a 50% deposit, you would then have a newer problem of only the rich can afford to buy a house. Same problem, different metrics.