Soldato
They cost even more here! But if you can raise the deposit, buying is a no-brainer.
House Prices / Interest Rates 2022 onwards
- Thread starter Richie
- Start date
They cost even more here! But if you can raise the deposit, buying is a no-brainer.
Average price in Surrey (where you are) is circa £600k according to Rightmove so if you want to put down more like 20% for better/more affordable rates you're suddenly looking at a deposit of £120k. I'd say the deposit is the obvious problem, but actually it's more simple than that. Property is too expensive in this country.
Bought this house in 2020 for 260. 3 bed detached. I skipped the starter home and went for 2nd home in a probable 3 house plan. (starter, middle, forever home).
Now, you'd never get this house here for that money. I'd be priced out completely.
It was never the mortgage payments. It was the salary barrier for me that slowed everything else down. That increased multiplier would have made things much easier.
Knowing I could in a different job is a game changer. Now you're saying to 2 people.. You can have it, you can't. Because of your career choice.
Could massively improve take up of those jobs if it becomes the norm
Soldato
I expect house prices to remain relatively stable, if even perhaps a slight dip over the next couple of years.
The last years madness was as a result of the stamp duty holiday. By making it easier for people in the middle to move, it created movement throughout the market - and house prices increased to fill in that £15k void.
The last years madness was as a result of the stamp duty holiday. By making it easier for people in the middle to move, it created movement throughout the market - and house prices increased to fill in that £15k void.
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 16,550
We have a combined income of £70k and can save £35k quite easily. I guess it depends how much your rent is, but even so, you should be able to save up within 4 years (3 if you set your minds to it).
I've always been quite frugal with my outgoings though (we dont smoke, drink, go out, no sky tv etc etc).
I'd agree this is realistic. It's not frugal to the point of freezing in winter. And depends on rent. But it's ballpark for sure.
Obviously you need a stable relationship though to make it easier!
It's basically my exact condition. And rough time to save up too. Well. More like 6 years
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 16,550
I've never been much of a saver. In fact, up until a few years ago I'd never saved. I'm not sure if it's just an age thing, but around 2018ish I decided to make massive in roads into a loan I had, and my credit card. Once I'd done that, I opened a savings account and stuck £1k - £1.5k in each month. I was shocked at how little time it took to hit £12k. When you are in january, december seems a long way off, but as we all know looking back, the years fly by. Hell, I don't know where the last 5 years have gone!
We bought a freeview box and cancelled sky, that was a £70 a month saving plus a few other bits and bobs here and there. It makes a big difference.
The savings are all going towards a new kitchen, and I'll change the car in September but starting next year I'm on a mission to clear the mortgage before I hit 50. That's the goal.
I have always been anti loan but when savings hit a limit in cash I get antsy and either want to buy something or spend it.
Bitcoin being good, s2000 being worth it, and stocks being 'questionable'.
But still that final push to save 40k was hard. Lived in a **** 500ppm single bed electric heat flat with 2 of us. At time I was on 30k and she was on 17.
Fast forward 2 years and it was worth it.
3 bed detached house, combined is now 70 too. And that massive tick off the life to do is done.
But I couldn't even change jobs near to the buy as worried the bank wouldn't like lending etc. So did feel properly crippled.
It's why I hate these house price rises. You're saving saving saving and then the house you want goes up by your yearly salary. Broken system
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 16,550
Yeah, the faster you save the faster the house rises. It's not great, but you've proven it can be done. Thing is, the sacrifices sound hard but in reality they are not really. Most people are pretty good at making the best of a bad situation.
I remember we ran around in a right shed of a car for a few years (almost as bad as del boys three wheelier), and that wasn't even that bad.
Soldato
£1.5k a month? Do you even have outgoings? 
£1.5k a month? Do you even have outgoings?
1.5k a month saving?
On 70k its definitely doable.
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 16,550
£1.5k a month? Do you even have outgoings?
We can save £2k a month if we really struggled
Happy to share my excel. Family of 4 living in a new 5 bed detached, but that doesn't matter......as mentioned above, a couple bringing in £70k a year should be able to save for a 10% house deposit even if they have a chunk of it going on rent.
Santander Mortgage (1st) £610.41
Legal & General Decreasing Life Insurance (1st) £6.58
Council Tax D (1st) £161.00
Octopus Energy (1st) £100.00
Anglian Water (1st) £50.00
TV Licence (1st) £13.37
Sky Broadband (1st) £28.00
C&C Trust Fund (1st, 19th) £20.00
Baxi Boiler Care Plan (1st) £28.99
Sky Mobile £10.00
Sky Mobile £10.00
Sky Mobile £6.00
Sky Mobile £6.00
Netflix (24th) £13.99
YouTube Premium (1st) £1.99
Food £500.00
There is no car costings here as we have an electric through a works scheme, so no petrol, insurance, maintenance etc etc. You'd need to stick on something for that.
Soldato
Yup - but you could use help to buy which is what we managed to do both times. As a consequence, the deposit on our first house was £11k (6 years ago) and for this house, we didn't have to put anything down other than the equity.
Aaaaaand that might be why you find it easy. How much is it to rent a similar 5 bed detached? Or a smaller house for that matter? I have no idea where in the country you are but judging from your posts you've had the mortgage for a while so I'm going to guess that rent is much more expensive? Good on your for sensible budgeting, mind.
Anyway, the stats don't lie when it comes to affordability. We've had this discussion so many times on here. Try this;
In other words, you would have needed to save £28k last year to even keep up with house price inflation. That's over £2k a month. lol...
EDIT: Or perhaps more mathematically correct (because someone will pull me up on it) if you were saving for a 10% deposit you'd need to save at least £233/month more than you were the year before to keep up. That's if you were only aiming for 10% deposit.
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 16,550
Yeah, completely agree. It all comes down to what someone is paying in rent. I understand in some parts of the country rent might be triple what we are paying.
There are people though who can afford to save who don't.... Like a couple I used to work with.
It's not right that houses are rising faster than wages. I did post a few days ago the percentage difference.
Let's say you have 2 kids and rent a 3 bed house. Let's say you live in Woking like the guy above. Say your wife is a nurse and earns 20k a year. You earn 50k. Childcare alone can cost over a grand a month. Commuting into London from Woking is about 4k a year depending on ticket. For an ok semi or terraced not in the rougher parts of Woking, you can be looking at £1400 a month. Add in all your normal living costs on top and you can see how sometimes it's a challenge to save a deposit. People see the headline figure of combined 70k and think they must be comfortable and own a house. A lot of people will have to rent for life and will never find a deposit.
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 16,550
If you are renting near London and already have kids it's nigh on impossible. Unless you consider moving, or can somehow use grandparents for a few years whilst you get that deposit. It's obviously not possible for everyone with the way things are.
There's always Rhyl
Soldato
It's all beyond a joke now. I've seen houses listed near me for double their 2012 price. We are very very lucky and my kids will be fine, but we are the exception as far as I can tell.
In my experience anyone who has had a mortgage in some shape or form for more than 10-15 years and therefore been on the 'ladder' has absolutely zero idea of how much rent is nowadays. Especially in London and the South East. I don't mean that as a barb towards you because you obviously understand somewhat, but I think that's generally the case. I used to rent a 2 bed flat around the corner from a more senior colleague who had lived in this part of west London for years and years, bought his first flat here on his own, possibly only bought his house after that with his partner. But has obviously been in that house for years, paying his mortgage, no idea of anything else. When I told him how much my rent was he was speechless. He was almost embarrassed. He said it was more than triple his mortgage. Yet here he was, probably getting paid 3-4 times me, paying less than a third what we were. We weren't poor by any stretch of the imagination but he couldn't believe it. Not to descend into name-calling (like I often do
) but I think a lot of boomers are just completely oblivious.EDIT: I certainly feel for those who try to live on the outskirts of London and commute in. It's part of the reason we stuck with zone 3. Two people commuting into central London from outside the M25 was just a ridiculous notion!
Just move away from London. We moved to Manchester 8 years ago as couldn’t afford anything in London with a combined salary of £120k. We initially took a hit to salaries moving to Manchester but regained that now and we have a lovely 4 bed house (250m2) for £350k.
Covid has very much proven that living in or around London is no longer desirable unless you already live there in a house with garden (flats in London are suffering from an extreme lack of sales) and there are huge job centres on the north and midlands.
Covid has very much proven that living in or around London is no longer desirable unless you already live there in a house with garden (flats in London are suffering from an extreme lack of sales) and there are huge job centres on the north and midlands.