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How do people afford houses?
AnnieBaker
Posts: 4,266 Forum Member
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I was thinking about moving so we could be closer to our son's school.
I looked up four bedroom houses as we have an average family size of two children and need an office, ideally.
The only houses available were 500 k or more.
Then I looked at the floor plans and these were not even four-bedroom houses at all. Two of the bedrooms could more accurately be classed as the living and dining rooms. Apparently families are expected to spend half a million on a house nowadays and eat dinner/watch tv in the draughty conservatory.
I'm not complaining, I am just confused. How can people afford to pay so much, for a distinctly average home? How did our housing market get so out of reach?
I looked up four bedroom houses as we have an average family size of two children and need an office, ideally.
The only houses available were 500 k or more.
Then I looked at the floor plans and these were not even four-bedroom houses at all. Two of the bedrooms could more accurately be classed as the living and dining rooms. Apparently families are expected to spend half a million on a house nowadays and eat dinner/watch tv in the draughty conservatory.
I'm not complaining, I am just confused. How can people afford to pay so much, for a distinctly average home? How did our housing market get so out of reach?
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You wouldn't get close to 4 bedrooms for 500k in London, sadly.
But I don't think I could ever afford a £120k property (which is the cheapest price you'd find for a ready to live in 2 bedroom terrace round here, and I don't even live in a particularly expensive area!), let alone a £500k four bedroom family home! :eek:
The houses I was looking at were not in London, but they are in the south.
I want to stay in/around Cambridgeshire (renting at the moment) but I'd love to buy my own house, but they're all startlingly expensive! A 3 bed around the outskirts of Cambridgeshire (at least where I live, anyway) will set you back around 350k. God forbid you actually want to move into the city itself, 350k probably wouldn't even buy you a one bed flat!
The garden is very nice, but really, in truth, these prices are extraordinary, and out of reach for so many.
32 miles from London - and the prices in this town are fairly conservative for South East England.
The median home price here is around $900k, and the median household income is around $60k. 15 years of pre-tax income. Of course nobody can possibly spend 100% of their pre-tax income on housing, or even post-tax income, since they have other expenses. The numbers seem like they'd be out of reach for the majority and prices would fall, but they don't.
I suppose the answer is that not every household can afford it. Some add hours to their week commuting from wherever they can afford, some are lifelong renters, some live in smaller spaces than they might like, and some all of the above. Investors put a floor on prices by buying up homes to rent out to people who can't save up enough to buy.
get money of mum and dad, or other family, money left in wills
buy together
some people are turning to crowdfunding, a new idea
https://www.thehousecrowd.com/
I was considering buying a chalet/static caravan that's made in the style of a log cabin, they cost between £60-£80k, so much more affordable and very pleasant little places to live in, but I'm not sure if you're allowed to live in them full time? I tried doing some research but couldn't find a definitive answer.
What did I pay?
lol You'll be going to the puggy machines and swimming everyday and showing the tourists round the resort.
Most are classed as holiday homes and not for residential use, plus factor in site fees as well, and the fact your chalet won't increase in value like a house.
It's Legalised Robbery what they ask for down South.
Over the odds.
I live in the south, but looking at moving a little bit further north where I can get a 5 bed detached with land for £20-£30k less than my current 4 bed detached with a garden. My current house has appreciated 30% in four years which is just nuts and why it's extremely difficult for people to buy when house prices massively outstrip inflation.
Each site is different, you need to ask around, if they call them holiday homes they are definitely not all year sites but there are many residential sites out there.
Alternatively, find yourself a rich boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife.
I paid £115.000
You can buy in a crap part of London but even then for a house its very very expensive. Modern flats are expensive also.
In the South, its the south, try up north.
Bargain. I could sell my house and buy more than three of those. I work in Manchester every week, so may be a plan.
Is it like most new builds in that it's 2.5 bedrooms, a garden the size of a postage stamp, flimsy walls and overlooked by houses in any direction you care to look?
I've lived in two brand new houses, never again.
Yes it is ... But it's mine ... After a nasty divorce settlement I'm grateful
My house is bigger than your house eh ??? Very mature
Too much
Houses are just a pile of bricks to me and their value is just paper money, unless you downsize or die. It's probably why I refuse to be a landlord, as BTL mortgages are also responsible for pushing house prices beyond the reach of most ordinary folk, which I find wrong.
I know what Vernon means about modern houses being a bit on the compact side, but as you say, that house is yours, and after a divorce, that means a hell of a lot.
My point was that some people in the south can't buy a flat for less than 250,000... Hence the thread
How do people afford house??