Who doesn't own a property?

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Ive rented for 12 years now.

I did buy my own house at 24 with my then girlfriend, which we had on a 0% deposit deal. We upgraded to a larger house in 2007 with a normal deposit using the equity from the first house then got married and had kids. She was an abusive person and I made the decision to leave in 2010.

Due to remaining on that mortgage until we divorced in 2013 and then needing to save for a deposit whilst renting, paying child maintenance and having the expense of children, I was unable to afford to buy anything and I slowly saved a deposit over the next few years.

Due to owning a house before I'm not eligible for any of the assistance schemes, even though I came out with nothing from those previous houses.

When I had enough deposit and was actively looking, then Covid happened. Mortgage deals tanked overnight and banks now wanted 15%. By the time it had recovered quite recently, prices have jumped by around 30% in my area and availability is awful.

I have more deposit than ever, and earn a good salary, but still can't find a decent house to buy for my budget. At 42, I'm also now starting to be constrained by the maximum mortgage term I could have.

The market is set up for people buying with two moderate salaries which still exceeds my one decent one. I can't compete.
 
Hedge said:
Part of the problem I see is that everyone I know who lives in London also leads a way more sociable life than me. They tend to finish work and go for drinks with colleagues etc. Buy god knows how much crap from Pret or somewhere and make sure they dress well enough to fit in with the crowd.

London property prices are only half of the problem. The London lifestyle is pricey af.
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As someone who lived in London from 19 - 31, I can confirm this to be the case. Our entire income is spent on rent and going out on the cheap. You literally can't save. :(
 
danlightbulb said:
Due to owning a house before I'm not eligible for any of the assistance schemes, even though I came out with nothing from those previous houses.
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This is a big shame as I know a lot of people in similar situations who are "so burnt" that they are planning on being single for a long ass while. Best of luck it corrects if you find a bird with a house already :D
 
40 and still renting, and as harsh as it might sound, won't be able to get on the property ladder until my parents pass away
 
Haze said:
40 and still renting, and as harsh as it might sound, won't be able to get on the property ladder until my parents pass away
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I don't think that's harsh. That's the reality that many people face. Without financial support from family they simply can't get the required deposit together.
 
I've always been quite sensible with money. No credit cards, no loans I can't afford etc etc

been saving for years and had to say no to a lot of things to be able to save up enough deposit but we're lucky enough to be able to buy now. Prices are insane I agree. On my salary alone I'd have to move somewhere else or settle for a flat. No chance of buying a property worth 400k+

I have had no help from parents/family at all but the only people I see buying are the ones with inheritance or family that can gift them a chunky deposit.
 
Nothings changed then -When I bought my first house London prices were way out of our range-
As I see it London has messed it up for anyone who doesn't live there - London went up so our prices had to go up but we didn't earn London wages.
We also had 12-15% mortgages at one point which put my monthly income less than the repayments -Good job wife had a job which kept our heads above water till rates dropped.

We also had no assistance from parents.
 
I'm 35 now but was very lucky to buy my first house when i was 23, paid 120k for a 2 bed semi detached bungalow which seemed a lot at the time but i bet that same house is 200k now and there'd be no way i could have bought it. If we hadn't got on the ladder then there's no way we'd be in our current 'forever' home that we built in 2015, it'd just be an impossible target moving further away each year.

My sister is trying to buy her first house now at 25 and i really feel for her it's almost impossible even up here in Wales as prices have gone nuts since lockdown with all the city folk relocating that's without talking about all the airbnb houses.. :(
 
SonicSW20 said:
What a take.
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Just to explain ... We have a privately held central bank, the Bank of England, that is able to create as much Sterling as it likes, because Sterling is just a debt note, it is not "hard to produce" money like gold or Bitcoin. Sterling is also not backed by audited hard money reserves, such as gold or Bitcoin. This means the central bank has a monopoly over money creation. This is centralised control of credit and is a key tenet of the Communist manifesto. In summary, one entity (the Central Bank) has control over credit creation, with a monopoly, and therefore this is a centralised control structure, as opposed to true capitalism, where credit would be generated by the profits of the private sector real economy.
 
2021 ONS housing affordability report is out today:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...glandandwales/2021#housing-affordability-data

Starts off hot, with a graph showing annual house price rise of 15% vs earnings going down by 1%!

Further down, figure 3 shows an animation of changes in earnings vs house prices. Eye watering.

And figure 4 shows affordability by region, and lets you search your area. 10x median salary where I live .
 
I'm 34 and born and raised in London. Been renting since I was 21 and only had a salaried job/income over 15k since I was 30. I've been homeless (not slept rough luckily but sleeping on floors), I've been self employed eating into credit cards for food, I've been a student on state money. In 2013 I took on student loans/grants and went from £1800 of credit card debt to saving hard. I've always been careful with money, I've always found "cheap" rentals, I've barely been on holiday, drunk, everything I buy is second hand... Painfully frugal. I've saved up 50k in those 9 years on top of paying my rent and often supporting my partner too.

I'm in the last stages of buying a house with my partner, but we've had to move 60 miles out the wrong side of London. I don't mind as much but my partner will now be miles away from her parents, siblings, new nephew, and she doesn't drive. As someone mentioned above it would be weird going to a "starter" home in our mid 30s, especially given we both work from home and need workshops/storage for tools and materials. Options in London were at best, leasehold 2-bed flats in tall blocks or above shops. It ****ing stings having to leave my home, and I might regret it, but the alternative is to stay here and compromise, and I've been miserable in shared rentals for a decade. Really miserable.

I don't even really believe in property ownership and I certainly don't plan to pass anything on to children, I didn't get any financial help at all. But when renting in London is expensive and has no sense of stability or being able to put down roots, I'd rather have a place I can feel I'll make my own.

Depressing, and it's a subject I struggle to hear others talk about. While it's hard for everyone, I still don't get why I've worked so hard and improved my circumstances, and still can't seem to get as far as some others who waste more money.
 
cheesyboy said:
2021 ONS housing affordability report is out today:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...glandandwales/2021#housing-affordability-data

Starts off hot, with a graph showing annual house price rise of 15% vs earnings going down by 1%!

Further down, figure 3 shows an animation of changes in earnings vs house prices. Eye watering.

And figure 4 shows affordability by region, and lets you search your area. 10x median salary where I live .
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Median £436k; median earnings £36k. lollers
 
SideWinder said:
Yeah its mad how pricey houses/flats are in London. I would be looking at Zone 6 or something...kinda at the end of the Northern Line perhaps.
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1-bed flat in Morden
Bought for £153k in 2010
Sold for £293k in 2016

Same flats are currently going for £360k
 
cheesyboy said:
2021 ONS housing affordability report is out today:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...glandandwales/2021#housing-affordability-data

Starts off hot, with a graph showing annual house price rise of 15% vs earnings going down by 1%!

Further down, figure 3 shows an animation of changes in earnings vs house prices. Eye watering.

And figure 4 shows affordability by region, and lets you search your area. 10x median salary where I live .
Click to expand...

12x median where I currently live, 17x where I used to live :o
 
The root cause of this is the ability of the privately held central bank (the Bank of England) to print unlimited money for itself. If the general population does not start to realise this, and push back on it, then the private banking sector will just end up owning everything. People should start to question the nature of money and realise that FIAT currency such as Sterling is actually an unfair and undemocratic monopoly held by the private banking sector. This is what's causing the pump, and really the UK economy is in a crack-up boom phase, reflected by house prices as primary lendable assets. It has to stop eventually when people doing real work get utterly priced out of the market, because they will no longer be able to earn enough money for basic survival. If you want a democracy, where everyone is equally treated, then any increase in the money supply should benefit the whole population, instead of the small minority that currently have control over the supply of money. Really, money itself has been debased, and this is why those not able to survive in the current system should call for FIAT currency to be replaced by a "hard to produce" money such as Bitcoin, (or gold). Until money itself has meaningful real value, then the majority that cannot benefit from money printing from thin air will continue to be disadvantaged.
 
Don't think my first place has increased all that badly... although the first owner did well. Is a basic 1 bed flat...

Built & sold 1998 for £38k
I bought it in 2007 for £112k with a £15k deposit from memory
I sold it in 2015 for £110k having made nothing beyond the payments off my mortgage thanks to the crash
One identical next door to my old place sold 2021 for £124k

When I bought mine I was on about £17k salary working for Vodafone in the call centre. Same job today pays c. £23k from a quick google.

By the above logic my first home is actually more affordable to someone today than it was when I got it. Far lower interest rates too I'd imagine.

Probably a exception but does show some of the same opportunities are out there if you're willing to have a small place and fortunate enough not to rent initially to get that first deposit saved. Going by the above timescale vs price movement though probably wont help you step up to the next place, the gap to which would be increasing all the while no doubt.
 
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