Todays society

I agree with you but I am renting terraced housing and it isn't cheap, it's actually cheaper to have a mortgage than it is to rent on monthly payments, terraced housing is fine but it's still finding enough to get that deposit while renting.

 

when the banks won't lend like they used to, the rent where you live while you save takes 50% of your wage without even covering living costs, and deposits are now daft amounts, how can people get on the ladder early as they used to? That's what I'm getting at when I say young folks are being shut out of the system, the conditions that allowed you to get that house when you did don't exist anymore, and is in the main a result of poor/short-sighted government policy.

 

It's tough but you need to be clever (not whinge or blame others) and get ahead of the game...

 

Up to the 90s and further even, Most banks did not do mortgages as the Building Society's had a near monopoly and unless you could provide a cash deposit of 10% and the mortgage amount was less than 2.5 times your annual salary you had no chance at all of a mortgage. While house prices are very high it is easier now than it has ever been with 5% deposits and part purchase schemes, Believe me it is hard now but was even harder in times past with the vast majority living in council properties

 

Aren’t there rent to buy schemes these days to help young people?

 

House prices is the one area of society where it's true and fully agree.

It's easy for people to say that you should just get on the ladder early but I bought a "starter home" 13 years ago and it's now worth £25k less than it was then The issues is that more people have benefited from the bubble than have been detrimented by it.

But yeah, it's more difficult now than it was before unless your parents benefited from the boom.

The expectation that housing should be cheap seems to be something we all need to get over in reality.

 

There are schemes like this but generally it is provided through social housing, in my position with no children or needs that would put me at the front of the queue I wouldn't get to be in one of these types of properties.

 

I don't expect housing to be cheap and the pricing isn't my problem but I've been renting for 8 years and not missed a payment and in my eyes when trying to get on the ladder that should be a major factor when looking at how much LTV a mortgage provider should offer.

 

The government is providing 5% deposit schemes for first time buyers and even a Mortgage ISA, Most councils will only approve new housing schemes if it includes a percentage of affordable homes, Banks will lend up to 5 times earnings and mortgages that are longer than 25 years, None of these were available to help in the past, you either saved/ borrowed 10% or waited

 

You're not wrong - all these things are available and none of them were available 20 years ago.

The simple fact is that none of them were needed 20 years ago. If prices had kept track with wages then more people would have waited and saved until they had a decent deposit but for a lot of people that means £25k-£50k at the moment.

Could have probably bought 2 houses for that when you were a lad!!

 

That's great but I bet the 5% needed now is a greater proportion of an annual salary now than what it was say back in the 70s/80s. The cheapest new build home with the help to buy scheme in my area is £179k so I'd still need to save just short of £9k, I'm not saying it should be easy but it's nigh on impossible if you are living in private rented accommodation.

 

Now a day's its usually the bank of mum & dad and if they have the financial capability to help they usually do, or lets say many of my friends and relatives have done.

 

This and some were/are lucky enough to live at home with the parents until they have the money behind them to move out.

 

Despite all the difficulties mentioned both demand and sales of houses has never been higher

 

All we can do at the moment is increase supply I think, but as has been said the Tories will never really have the political will to do so as in george osborne's words 'all it will do is create more Labour voters'.

I'm doing a degree and was working 30/40 hours a week before the pandemic mate you don't need to tell me to be clever

 

I believe decent and affordable housing is a right and not a commodity so it depends on your viewpoint. The market should work for us not the other way round

 

People still need places to live regardless of whether or not they are reasonably priced

 

You can buy a house though. Just not the idea that you want.

 

And what is it you think I want?