In London, maybe. For most of the rest of the country? No, plenty of folk in normal salaries are still able to buy.
UK home ownership – 65.2% France home ownership – 64.7% Germany home ownership – 49.5% “euronews” might want to look closer to home.
Young 30 something millenial living in the South.
Every single one of my friends is now a homeowner.
How did they do it? They got partners, spent a few years accumulating savings on a joint income, and then had enough for a deposit.
It’s not rare. It’s not unreachable. And this sub needs to stop pretending that everyone else in the UK is a single humanities graduate working part time at Pizza Hut.
Most people still end up comfortable, it just takes a few years longer because people start their careers later.
I’ve been saving money the past 10 years and not buying nice things. I’ve rarely had 2 pairs of trainers, or jeans.1 pair of work trousers. I bulk cook. I rarely go out for food. I have been a home owner the past 6 weeks and i’m 35. I am not privileged, I’ve earned this
Edit: even being a home owner can upset some redditors it seems…accusations being flung all because I said I’ve earned this lol…
Considering the average home is 10x the average salary, yes
Certainly not in the North of England, large parts of Scotland. People in Glasgow I know have bought on a hospitality wage.
And social housing is a privilege for the asylum seekers.
Read up on your Victorian history so you can give your kids and grandkids an accurate idea of what their future holds
Only in some parts of the UK. It’s not as impossible as people are constantly making out, and I feel that a lot of it is very London-centric. I think it also heavily depends on the makeup of the family, too. (Single/kids etc).
Up North and probably in the midlands a lot of working people will be able to buy a home if they really wanted to.
Elsewhere in the South, you might need to buy with a partner but you can still do it. I’m 32 and we bought in the South East. Our first home was a flat, we worked our way up to a house. We couldn’t have done it on either of our single wages. If we had kids, it would have been more difficult too. It’s a stretch and we’d have a much bigger house in the North, but it’s doable. We’re less than an hour on the train into London too.
But actually in London or near the outskirts? Very little chance there.
Wow I didn’t realise I was an “elite” in my 1 bed flat for which I struggled years to save up a deposit. How privileged I am! /s
Not all home ownership is equal, and nobody should be struggling for their own patch on this god forsaken land.
Imagine being in a supposed 1st world country where being able to meet one of the most basic needs (secure shelter) make you an elite. Why does it feel that our country is in terminal decline.
House prices are falling – let’s wait and see what happens. In real terms they are falling by around 14%. Payments are rocketing, seems this type of rhetoric is a desperate attempt to control a vested interest narrative
As a Londoner, housing in most the country seems pretty affordable if you ask me.
In Germany they’re a lot less obsessed with home ownership. Probably because they have strong rental laws.
money is privilege for the elite.
“It’s fair” they say, as they sign NHS to their friends, cut taxes for themselves and dump everyone’s poop in the river. Then they take a private jet to beaches you’ll never see to eat food you’ve never heard of, while you debate buying eggs or another case of brewskis
​
Money is gold stars for obedience, but for adults.
As someone who is a fairly recent homeowner but not a member of the ‘elite’…. no?
Unfortunately, I think this is right. When I bought my first house 20 years ago, it was £15k. It was a crap house in a crap place, but it was at least affordable. Now, even crap houses in crap places are beyond the reach of most unless they save for years, have a relative die and leave them money or some other windfall comes their way. Unless of course they have family who can help them out, which automatically puts them into a different societal category.
Hyperbole thread on r/uk? Say it ain’t so!
Either the article needs to be specific where they mean, or somehow the elite has now become anyone with a professional salary on upwards of 40k. A joint couple bringing 80k gross can easily reach home ownership.
I could afford a mortgage right now, but why would I burn my money on some insane interest rate when I can just enjoy myself? As long as you have a good relationship with your parents life is just better without that stupid expense.
prediction: eventually they’ll jack up Council tax to ridiculous, heretofore UNIMAGINABLE levels, and when people can’t pay, the state will confiscate their houses
in the end, nobody but the richest 5% will be able to own any property
the rest of us will have to comply with all mandates, in order to be housed and fed
As things stand and keep on going. It will be harder and harder for people to get on the ladder.
No, quite frankly, people just need to move out of London and Major cities. People are buying and owning homes just fine elsewhere in the country.
What’s that, bring in millions of migrants to keep wages down, don’t build many houses driving up prices and now everyone feels like they can’t buy anymore? How strange.
I inherited a bit as all my grandparents (all 4) died within 2 years of each other. It enabled me to have a head start on edposit, my wife and I saved, and we were able to buy, in London, a little flat.
We sold it and moved up north, where we’ve borrowed even more to afford the renovations the place so badly needed, we’re now paying a mortgage way over what we ever wanted to but we have a house we love and will stay here for as long as it serves us.
Being in loads of debt to own a 3 bed mid-terrace sure as shit doesn’t sound like I’m a member of the elite.
For a full-time minimum wage employee it is completely unobtainable. Perhaps just about doable as a couple.
It’s all well and good saying they should just get better jobs. But the reality is that millions of people do go their whole working lives earning minimum wage or close to it. They work in care homes, call centres, warehouses and shops.
We live in a society where home ownership is unobtainable for care workers.
I think people are are forgetting that choosing to buy where you currently live (or would likw to live) might be a privilege. There’s plenty of more affordable places to live, but it’ll require some sacrifice.
Short answer: no.
It’s very tough if you aren’t a dual income household. It’s very, very tough in the South Coast (South East especially) and select other parts of the country. You likely won’t get a home quite as good as you’d like early on.
But it’s not exclusively a ‘privilege for the elite’
What people always seem to overlook is that yes, for now, a low end house in an undesirable area tends to be affordable for a couple, so long as they manage to somehow save a deposit or get gifted the money for one.
However, people used to be able to afford better houses on single incomes. A 60+ year old colleague always tells people of the woes be has faced, which are laughable by today’s standards. When he and his ex-wife separated, he moved out and bought his own place (3 bed detached in an okay area) and after all of his bills came out he had to halve the amount he put into savings, and couldn’t go the pub as much.
That would be near impossible today for the average person.
Certainly not just for “the elite”. That’s a little dramatic.
Homeownership is certainly becoming increasingly out of reach for the average person, however. It’s not uncommon to hear of people saving for a deposit for a decade, whilst forgoing nice things. That’s problematic. It shouldn’t be a struggle.
I’d say no. I started an electrical apprenticeship at 17 and bought my first house at 22 – I was lucky to find a job that payed pretty decent at that age but I’m hardly elite
Yes in the South East but it’s a privilege for the old
Who can pay lobbyists to tell us they are poor
No elsewhere
So many people parroting the old ‘move out of London and you’ll be fine’ fallacy. Maybe London is the epicentre of the madness, but house prices have gone nuts everywhere and affordability is at an all time low.
Just because YOU are sorted doesn’t mean there aren’t millions of people struggling, watching their quality of life get worse and worse with absolutely no one in Westminster looking out for them.
Depends what you mean by home ownership? Do you mean living in a property for which you are paying mortgage payments. Or do you mean living in a house which you own and have the deeds in your pocession?
I worked out when I was about 19 that I would never own a house I didn’t inherit or buy with money from a lottery win or something.
Absolutely not. The issue is that *lots* of people want to live in the same areas and that’s driving costs up.
Not if you live in the Midlands, even the most basic salary can buy you a small 2-bed home.
Yeah, my old colleague (age 24) bought a house with her partner, her salary was about £22k and I don’t believe his was much higher. It’s possible if you have a deposit and don’t live in the south east. Unfortunately, I’m from the south east 🙃
I can’t remember the specifics but a ridiculously small % of the worlds population own property, homeownership will always be a privilege for the elite. Most people just don’t realise how good they have it in the grand scheme of things
The elephant in the room is changing household sizes, and the emergence of a lot more single people wanting to buy alone, which is always going to be more challenging than a couple.
If we had the multi generational households of other countries our housing market would look a lot different.
39 comments
In London, maybe. For most of the rest of the country? No, plenty of folk in normal salaries are still able to buy.
UK home ownership – 65.2% France home ownership – 64.7% Germany home ownership – 49.5% “euronews” might want to look closer to home.
Young 30 something millenial living in the South.
Every single one of my friends is now a homeowner.
How did they do it? They got partners, spent a few years accumulating savings on a joint income, and then had enough for a deposit.
It’s not rare. It’s not unreachable. And this sub needs to stop pretending that everyone else in the UK is a single humanities graduate working part time at Pizza Hut.
Most people still end up comfortable, it just takes a few years longer because people start their careers later.
I’ve been saving money the past 10 years and not buying nice things. I’ve rarely had 2 pairs of trainers, or jeans.1 pair of work trousers. I bulk cook. I rarely go out for food. I have been a home owner the past 6 weeks and i’m 35. I am not privileged, I’ve earned this
Edit: even being a home owner can upset some redditors it seems…accusations being flung all because I said I’ve earned this lol…
Considering the average home is 10x the average salary, yes
Certainly not in the North of England, large parts of Scotland. People in Glasgow I know have bought on a hospitality wage.
And social housing is a privilege for the asylum seekers.
Read up on your Victorian history so you can give your kids and grandkids an accurate idea of what their future holds
Only in some parts of the UK. It’s not as impossible as people are constantly making out, and I feel that a lot of it is very London-centric. I think it also heavily depends on the makeup of the family, too. (Single/kids etc).
Up North and probably in the midlands a lot of working people will be able to buy a home if they really wanted to.
Elsewhere in the South, you might need to buy with a partner but you can still do it. I’m 32 and we bought in the South East. Our first home was a flat, we worked our way up to a house. We couldn’t have done it on either of our single wages. If we had kids, it would have been more difficult too. It’s a stretch and we’d have a much bigger house in the North, but it’s doable. We’re less than an hour on the train into London too.
But actually in London or near the outskirts? Very little chance there.
Wow I didn’t realise I was an “elite” in my 1 bed flat for which I struggled years to save up a deposit. How privileged I am! /s
Not all home ownership is equal, and nobody should be struggling for their own patch on this god forsaken land.
Imagine being in a supposed 1st world country where being able to meet one of the most basic needs (secure shelter) make you an elite. Why does it feel that our country is in terminal decline.
House prices are falling – let’s wait and see what happens. In real terms they are falling by around 14%. Payments are rocketing, seems this type of rhetoric is a desperate attempt to control a vested interest narrative
As a Londoner, housing in most the country seems pretty affordable if you ask me.
In Germany they’re a lot less obsessed with home ownership. Probably because they have strong rental laws.
money is privilege for the elite.
“It’s fair” they say, as they sign NHS to their friends, cut taxes for themselves and dump everyone’s poop in the river. Then they take a private jet to beaches you’ll never see to eat food you’ve never heard of, while you debate buying eggs or another case of brewskis
​
Money is gold stars for obedience, but for adults.
As someone who is a fairly recent homeowner but not a member of the ‘elite’…. no?
Unfortunately, I think this is right. When I bought my first house 20 years ago, it was £15k. It was a crap house in a crap place, but it was at least affordable. Now, even crap houses in crap places are beyond the reach of most unless they save for years, have a relative die and leave them money or some other windfall comes their way. Unless of course they have family who can help them out, which automatically puts them into a different societal category.
Hyperbole thread on r/uk? Say it ain’t so!
Either the article needs to be specific where they mean, or somehow the elite has now become anyone with a professional salary on upwards of 40k. A joint couple bringing 80k gross can easily reach home ownership.
I could afford a mortgage right now, but why would I burn my money on some insane interest rate when I can just enjoy myself? As long as you have a good relationship with your parents life is just better without that stupid expense.
prediction: eventually they’ll jack up Council tax to ridiculous, heretofore UNIMAGINABLE levels, and when people can’t pay, the state will confiscate their houses
in the end, nobody but the richest 5% will be able to own any property
the rest of us will have to comply with all mandates, in order to be housed and fed
As things stand and keep on going. It will be harder and harder for people to get on the ladder.
No, quite frankly, people just need to move out of London and Major cities. People are buying and owning homes just fine elsewhere in the country.
What’s that, bring in millions of migrants to keep wages down, don’t build many houses driving up prices and now everyone feels like they can’t buy anymore? How strange.
I inherited a bit as all my grandparents (all 4) died within 2 years of each other. It enabled me to have a head start on edposit, my wife and I saved, and we were able to buy, in London, a little flat.
We sold it and moved up north, where we’ve borrowed even more to afford the renovations the place so badly needed, we’re now paying a mortgage way over what we ever wanted to but we have a house we love and will stay here for as long as it serves us.
Being in loads of debt to own a 3 bed mid-terrace sure as shit doesn’t sound like I’m a member of the elite.
For a full-time minimum wage employee it is completely unobtainable. Perhaps just about doable as a couple.
It’s all well and good saying they should just get better jobs. But the reality is that millions of people do go their whole working lives earning minimum wage or close to it. They work in care homes, call centres, warehouses and shops.
We live in a society where home ownership is unobtainable for care workers.
I think people are are forgetting that choosing to buy where you currently live (or would likw to live) might be a privilege. There’s plenty of more affordable places to live, but it’ll require some sacrifice.
Short answer: no.
It’s very tough if you aren’t a dual income household. It’s very, very tough in the South Coast (South East especially) and select other parts of the country. You likely won’t get a home quite as good as you’d like early on.
But it’s not exclusively a ‘privilege for the elite’
What people always seem to overlook is that yes, for now, a low end house in an undesirable area tends to be affordable for a couple, so long as they manage to somehow save a deposit or get gifted the money for one.
However, people used to be able to afford better houses on single incomes. A 60+ year old colleague always tells people of the woes be has faced, which are laughable by today’s standards. When he and his ex-wife separated, he moved out and bought his own place (3 bed detached in an okay area) and after all of his bills came out he had to halve the amount he put into savings, and couldn’t go the pub as much.
That would be near impossible today for the average person.
Certainly not just for “the elite”. That’s a little dramatic.
Homeownership is certainly becoming increasingly out of reach for the average person, however. It’s not uncommon to hear of people saving for a deposit for a decade, whilst forgoing nice things. That’s problematic. It shouldn’t be a struggle.
I’d say no. I started an electrical apprenticeship at 17 and bought my first house at 22 – I was lucky to find a job that payed pretty decent at that age but I’m hardly elite
Yes in the South East but it’s a privilege for the old
Who can pay lobbyists to tell us they are poor
No elsewhere
So many people parroting the old ‘move out of London and you’ll be fine’ fallacy. Maybe London is the epicentre of the madness, but house prices have gone nuts everywhere and affordability is at an all time low.
Just because YOU are sorted doesn’t mean there aren’t millions of people struggling, watching their quality of life get worse and worse with absolutely no one in Westminster looking out for them.
Depends what you mean by home ownership? Do you mean living in a property for which you are paying mortgage payments. Or do you mean living in a house which you own and have the deeds in your pocession?
I worked out when I was about 19 that I would never own a house I didn’t inherit or buy with money from a lottery win or something.
Absolutely not. The issue is that *lots* of people want to live in the same areas and that’s driving costs up.
Not if you live in the Midlands, even the most basic salary can buy you a small 2-bed home.
Yeah, my old colleague (age 24) bought a house with her partner, her salary was about £22k and I don’t believe his was much higher. It’s possible if you have a deposit and don’t live in the south east. Unfortunately, I’m from the south east 🙃
I can’t remember the specifics but a ridiculously small % of the worlds population own property, homeownership will always be a privilege for the elite. Most people just don’t realise how good they have it in the grand scheme of things
The elephant in the room is changing household sizes, and the emergence of a lot more single people wanting to buy alone, which is always going to be more challenging than a couple.
If we had the multi generational households of other countries our housing market would look a lot different.