My parents bought their first house in 1971 for £7500 on an annual income of approx £10k.
In 1981 they sold that house for £25k and bought the house they are in now for £36k. They were on approx £20k.
That house is now worth over £300k.
The house I am in now cost over £120k. I am lucky that it cost that little and that I am part of a £60k household but look back through those figures and spot the trend.
House prices are bonkers and people in their 20s don’t have a prayer. And that’s before having to think about pensions, private healthcare etc because these things are no longer guaranteed.
Everyone thinks their generation had it toughest and everyone can point to something to support their argument but I know I would rather be in my parents position rather than that of my wife’s kids who are in their 20s.
Our house has risen in value by £60k in the 5 years we have lived here.
Median salary in Nottingham is £22k. That means your average house will be around 8-10 times salary. The alternative is to live somewhere like Sneinton (as I did) or Forest fields where you can get houses for £120k (an article in the post last week stayed the cheapest house on Rightmove was £120k in forest fields). There are very good reasons why people don't want to live there; primarily anti social behaviour that is a result of poverty. A significant amount of the housing stock there is being bought by people such as Lienking and Poacher as investments.
When rent is £600 p/m or more, how are people supposed to save a minimum 10% deposit?
His generation love to suggest Millennials and Zers are lazy, indolant, not wanting to save. But you need 12k for a shithole in forest fields, or 20k for a more average house. Where is that meant to come from?
For those wanting a fairly average house to start a family in, a couple who somehow managed to save £200 a month (very, very hard) might, if no disasters happen, no cars break down seriously, etc manage it in 9-10 years. Of course, by then you are in your 30s, with slightly fewer options for length of term; and prices have gone when further out of control. My house has risen 30% in value in 5 years. What chance have our savers, looking for a fairly average house have when the starting price might be 8 times salary?
They could make the shithole in 5 saving 200 a month (let's pretend that is easy, which is is not; on average salary it is nearly impossible, even without any quality of life), and their value doesn't rise as quickly. But that is also the trap; it's not as easy to move up the ladder from a house like that
My grandparents bought their council house for 4k, now it's £120k. My mother bought a house in the early 90's for 80k and sold it for 250k. What chance have people got?