How do people afford to work in expensive areas of the country?

Stu999

Stu999

Stu999

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I've seen a job online that I'd really like to do but the salary is under £30k and it's located in the South East, not that far from London (edit: closer to Oxford). How do people afford to do these 'normal' salary jobs in areas like this? Purely from already living in the area / having family to help out? Been employed for many years and bought a house more than 20 years ago?

Edit - Trying to keep this vague has led to assumptions so a bit more about the situation:

- I’m in my 40s,
- I’ve worked 20 years in a career I no longer enjoy so wanting to change,
- Currently earning a little over £40k,
- Current rent in the NE is £500/month for a 2 bed flat,
- the role I’m interested in is skilled but a manual job so WFH is not an option,
- it’s closer to Oxford along the M40 than London itself,
- would be maybe for a couple of years to get the experience then maybe look to move back to the NE or a cheaper area,
- it’s a difficult field to get into and not many jobs crop up.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
Houseshare like a student.
Living at home.
Never go out.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I had a quick glance on Rightmove and some of the house shares are more than my 2 bed flat in the North East. :D

I could just about afford to rent somewhere on the salary but there would be no 'spare' money. It would be like resigning myself to working forever. Only way would be if I did it short term with a view to moving to a cheaper area in future.
 
Haven't a clue. I earn three times that living in the east midlands and certainly don't live a life of luxury.

I'm fact, we've desperately needed a new kitchen for years and won't be having one for many more years.

Missing a trick somewhere.
 
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glenimp617 said:
Haven't a clue. I earn three times that living in the east midlands and certainly don't live a life of luxury.

I'm fact, we've desperately needed a new kitchen for years and won't be having one for many more years.

Missing a trick somewhere.
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Single income household I guess?

The answer to the OPs question though is having two fulltime working partners in a home.
 
No idea.

Relatively standard/not that special/old 3 bed semis in parts of Surrey are now £750,000.

I do sometimes wonder how on earth anyone (especially young to mid aged adults) affords something like that, especially with ~5% rates.

UK wage growth since the financial crisis in 2008 has been staggeringly poor, compared to the cost of..well.. everything.

The housing market still feels like a ticking time bomb to me..
 
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ci_newman said:
Single income household I guess?

The answer to the OPs question though is having two fulltime working partners in a home.
Click to expand...

Mrs works but part time minimum wage. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but the house needs refurbishing and at this rate I'll be nearing retirement before it's finished.

We would love to move, but we're stuck here for now.
 
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ci_newman said:
Single income household I guess?

The answer to the OPs question though is having two fulltime working partners in a home.
Click to expand...
Basically it. Either you're both low-paid and between you struggling to keep your heads above water, or your other half is earning 6-figures and you're basically earning a bit of pocket money/paying for the holidays.

Or somewhere in between.

But it's the same down here; the low- and medium-paid don't buy houses on a single income (unless massively helped by parents). £30k just wouldn't do it. £40k wouldn't cut it either, with the inflation we've had recently.

No, the magic figure for owning a house is... about £50k, a wise man once told me ;)
 
20-30 years ago 30K was reasonably doable in London as long as you were out at the edges of Zone 3/4... the rent on my old flat back then was only about £700/m - all that will get you these days in the area is a house share. Though flats do start about £900/m realistically anything like I had is £1500+ now.

EDIT: Around where I work now in the South West is pretty bad actually - starts from £925/m for anything remotely decent...
 
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Somewhere like Brentwood which is just outside the M25 you can rent a 1 bed place for around £1k which is roughly half the take home pay on a £30k P.A salary. Doable but your better off gets 2 bed with a flatmate to apply the rent.

I bought my first place in 2005 cost me £163k with a £20k deposit. Couldn't afford to live there at the time with salary at the time so rented it for just over a year, improved my earnings in that time and was able to move in and gone on from there.

The trick imo is avoid lifestyle inflation and work on yourself to get better at your given trade.
 
This was me a few years ago. Earned mid 30s and live in a flat which I’m lucky enough to own. Only doable due to help from family though.

Once I had the deposit the mortgage payments were fine. I would have lived with parents otherwise and saved like a mad man.
 
Around here the new-build boxes (no gardens, no parking) go for £300k and up.

That's what... £20k a year in interest payments on your 95% mortgage?

So even on £40k you still aren't paying anything off, basically.
 
We’re gonna get to the stage in the south east soon where families live together permanently. Literally family homes.

Am I right in thinking quite a lot of Asian families live 2 or 3 generations in a house?
 
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