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Housing market

I read a lot of - "But mortgage repayments are cheaper than renting, so why don't you just buy?" - well yes, but renting doesn't require a huge unobtainable deposit FFS. Closely followed by - "well just quit the Starbucks lattes and avocado on toast and you'll soon have a deposit", how many years worth of lattes and avo on toast do people need to give up to save £50k? lol.
 
The housing market round here is just insane. We sometimes, out of sheer nosiness, look at places for sale online and whenever we think ‘that’ll never sell, it’s way overpriced’, the property concerned is snapped up. I can’t see how anyone not selling another property or being subbed by their parents/grandparents can afford the deposit on even a tiny flat.

By contrast, we progressed from a one-bed flat to a five-bed house in less than ten years.
 
It's quite simple. We need more council houses with generally reasonable rents. Combined with a massive national house building programme it will force down private rentals and property values in general.

I was looking again on Rightmove today at a downsize idea in Newcastle and up popped some new houses by Bellway at £450k in the post code. They described it as an ideal starter home, ffs! What planet are they on. Bellway build not far from here and the prices are similar but the houses are smaller so I think house builders are simply intent on valuing new houses too high for what they are. This also needs addressing to get prices down.
 
Joe Hutch said:
. I can’t see how anyone not selling another property or being subbed by their parents/grandparents can afford the deposit on even a tiny flat.
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I'm one of those, I can comfortably cover my tiny flat rent but wouldn't be able to buy where I live without a substantial deposit.

Speaking to my old man - who happens to be a fairly accurate comparison, as we do/did very similar jobs - his hurdle was not the cost but getting the mortgage, he had to have an interview with the bank manager and had to take his old man with him to basically convince them he was a safe bet. Once he had bought the actual repayments were nothing, as a single bloke in the early 70s he bought a house, a brand new car and went on multiple foreign holidays all within the space of a few years, not to mention the final salary pension he ended up with.
 
450k for first time buyers ...
Mad...maybe they think all first time buyers are on 100k as you can get a mortgage for 4.5 times your income !
 
There’s yet another luxury housing development being planned near here, on the site of what was a school for children with learning difficulties. The original plans included an element of affordable housing, but this has now been dropped because the developers claim it would be ‘economically unviable’ (ie their profits would be less astronomical).
 
matt j said:
I'm one of those, I can comfortably cover my tiny flat rent but wouldn't be able to buy where I live without a substantial deposit.

Speaking to my old man - who happens to be a fairly accurate comparison, as we do/did very similar jobs - his hurdle was not the cost but getting the mortgage, he had to have an interview with the bank manager and had to take his old man with him to basically convince them he was a safe bet. Once he had bought the actual repayments were nothing, as a single bloke in the early 70s he bought a house, a brand new car and went on multiple foreign holidays all within the space of a few years, not to mention the final salary pension he ended up with.
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Yes, mortgages (and bank loans) used to be rationed as well, so if your local bank/ building society had used up its allocation for that month, you had to wait until more funds were released. That happened to us twice, firstly when we were buying our flat, then again when we needed a bank loan to buy a new central heating boiler.

Taking out a mortgage was a huge step for us. To add to the stress of it all, the building society claimed that they hadn’t received our first mortgage payment and threatened all sorts of dire consequences. Fortunately, I’d paid by cheque and my bank was able to give me proof that the cheque had been paid into the building society’s account.
 
Joe Hutch said:
There’s yet another luxury housing development being planned near here, on the site of what was a school for children with learning difficulties. The original plans included an element of affordable housing, but this has now been dropped because the developers claim it would be ‘economically unviable’ (ie their profits would be less astronomical).
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Yes the building market is definitely skewed in two ways- build what will make the most profit and what will appeal to BTL landlords to rent out. Mine is the latter, I wouldn't buy my place even if I could, the only reason I am still here is that I hit the jackpot with the LL.
 
hifinutt said:
450k for first time buyers ...
Mad...maybe they think all first time buyers are on 100k as you can get a mortgage for 4.5 times your income !
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My wife commented that perhaps developers are at the point where they are thinking a lot of first time buyers are about 40, have never managed to move out of their parents house who have now croaked and they suddenly have the ridiculous deposit demanded by the the bank (robbers). I've no idea if it makes sense but I can easily believe it.
 
I just did a search in my area and checked the "exclude new homes" box and the list reduced by about 2/3. There's no doubt they're building tons of houses, just the wrong ones, but whilst there are folk rich enough to buy them I guess they'll carry on.
 
They still aren't building enough, matt.

It needs a plan, a proper programme and with an objective different to that set out by Thatcher.
 
Brian said:
My wife commented that perhaps developers are at the point where they are thinking a lot of first time buyers are about 40, have never managed to move out of their parents house who have now croaked and they suddenly have the ridiculous deposit demanded by the the bank (robbers). I've no idea if it makes sense but I can easily believe it.
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I was surprised by how (relatively) affordable mortgage payments are, assuming one could lay hands on the deposit. For a 30 year mortgage, fixed for 5 years, monthly payments on a £400k mortgage would be around £1600, so a £450k house could be within the reach of first-time buyers, with no children and two incomes.
 
Brian said:
My wife commented that perhaps developers are at the point where they are thinking a lot of first time buyers are about 40
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Anecdotally lots of friends here in London were first time buyers when they were around 40. They managed to do it by saving for a deposit for years, getting far enough in their career that they were on a decent salary, and having a partner who was also earning. That would normally mean they could buy a one bed flat in a less desirable neighbourhood.

I just checked Rightmove and there are a bunch of two bed flats round here (SE3) on the market for £700k-800k...
 
paulfromcamden said:
Anecdotally lots of friends here in London were first time buyers when they were around 40. They managed to do it by saving for a deposit for years, getting far enough in their career that they were on a decent salary, and having a partner who was also earning. That would normally mean they could buy a one bed flat in a less desirable neighbourhood.

I just checked Rightmove and there are a bunch of two bed flats round here (SE3) on the market for £700k-800k...
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madness ..i neally bougt a flat in tulse hill for 16k in 83
 
Our one-bed flat (SE10, but on the edge of Blackheath) cost £20,000. Last time I checked, a couple of years back, one-bed flats in the same block were £200,000, with 40 years less on the leasehold.
 
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