Why Are Uk Houses So Expensive?

[Jack8991]

So I’m a teacher earning around £30,000 a year, 23 years old living at home with parents. My grandma was saying that when she dies (which hopefully isn’t for a very long time), I could buy her house, which is a semi detached estimated between £190-200K. I’ve been told by a family friend who is in banking that on my salary I’d be leant roughly £90-100K for property, so I always tell my gran there’s no way I could afford it as I’d have to put a deposit down of about £90-100K just to be loaned the rest. Even a lot of terraced houses are out of my price range. I just find it frustrating that I’ve worked hard since being at school to go on to get a degree and a career to not even be able to afford my own home. I know there’s renting but I don’t want to be paying out for a house I’ll never own until I die. Thanks

[rowanwitch]

It's always been so expensive, what has changed is the days of the big multiple mortgages being in the past, combined with a demand for houses out of the big urban areas due to people wanting a better quality of life combining with working from home so previously cheaper areas ,small towns and villages are 'hotting up'. With a reluctance to allow houses to be built in rural areas, and demand far outstripping supply. This could mean that there will be a slight reduction in the rate of increase in prices in the now less desirable urban areas but this will take time to take place if it happens at all.

You are lucky in that you have a profession that will give you a degree of flexibility as to location. You may however have to weigh up the opposing virtues of proximity and desirability of location.

[Jack8991]

Jenny- But I don’t lack common sense at all, lacking common sense would be me saying that I could afford a house like my mums now, which I’m not, I’m clearly saying that I can’t. I’m aware of exactly what sort of housing I can afford, and common sense tells me again and from what I’ve witnessed with my own eyes, that rougher areas with very cheap housing, usually will come with very low class people (not everyone who lives there of course, but a lot). I’m sorry if that sounds snobbish but when you’ve been brought up in a middle class area, looking at these rough areas is very depressing. The people behave differently and their social norms are quite different. Another thing that has been misunderstood is that I never said I want a semi detached right now, I said that I’ll be saving for years from now and still won’t have enough, and that is what I’m frustrated about

[jennyjoan]

well then do what somebody suggested and I have known a couple who have did this. They bought a house in not a very nice place - sorta lived in it for a little while but rented it out and moved up to another nicer place. So the rent from the old place helps to pay the mortgage of the new place. That's an alternative.

[barnaclebill58]

It's in part a trickle down effect. Overseas buyers buy up the really expensive parts of London so even partners in Solicitors and Accountants have to buy in a cheaper area which means Doctors and Dentists have to buy in a cheaper area and so on.
Outside London you get a lot of flats bought off plan by overseas investors who then rent them out .
There's a lot of buy to let as it is seen rightly or wrongly as the road to riches. Watch an edition of Homes under the Hammer and you will see people with a portfolio of properties adding to it.
Then you've got legal and illegal immigration. The population of the UK has grown about 10m over the last twenty years and house building can't keep pace leaving aside that if it did there would be less and less green fields around.
Finally teaching is not well paid though secure and sometimes rewarding . Look at salaries -you'd get more as an accountant or solicitor if you can bear the training period . At 23 it's not too late to change .

[THECORBYLOON]

I heard on the radio the other day that prices fir second-hand cars are going up.

Perhaps you could sell the 2009 two-litre Jag you bought two year for £4,000, buy a cheaper car and put any money left over into your savings?

[Jack8991]

Thecorbyloon - Dude, my car is the only physical thing I own that gives me joy, I ain’t getting rid of that

[Jack8991]

Thecorbyloon- also, contrary to what many people think, my big 2 litre Jaguar is very economical providing 43mpg and costs only £60 to fill up, so it hardly breaks the bank

[THECORBYLOON]

It might be your pride and joy but it cost you £4,000 to buy two year ago and you're wondering now why you're struggling to save enough for a deposit on a house.

[Jack8991]

Thecorbyloon- you clearly haven’t read my description properly. I was saying that they would lend me roughly £90k for a house. I can easily afford a deposit for a house of that price, but, a house of that price is going to be in a rougher area which I don’t want to reside in. For a semi detached in a nicer area even after saving for years taking me up to 30 years old + I’d still not have enough. Selling my £4K car which would now probably sell for £2.5K and buy an old banger which will cost me more in constant repair jobs isn’t going to make a scrap of difference.

[bednobs]

but that's just like me moaning about the price of houses with swimming pools. I really want one and both me and my husband earn good mney, but i'm never going to be able to afford one, why is life so unfair?

[Jack8991]

Bednobs- not really as a house with a swimming pool is an extremely extravagant house, I’m not talking about that, just a bog standard semi that is in a quiet neighbourhood

[Boto]

Well, if you’re as intelligent as you say you are you must know that you have a choice - either lower your expectations or stay living with your parents and not buy your own property until you are 30+ (so old, nearly pension age).

[jennyjoan]

My nephew and wife when they got a new baby had to lower their expectations and downsized their car - the grand car was too high to run. You may save a few bob there Jack.

[Jack8991]

Boto- why does everyone keep saying I’m not aware of my options, of course I am, that’s why I find them frustrating. A choice between going living in a scrubber area and living with my parents until I’m 30 odd, well, both are pretty crap let’s be honest

[Jack8991]

Jenny Joan- but my car is cheap as chips to run, it may have a jag badge, but it’s old so it was cheap to buy and it’s dirt cheap to tax and fill up. Why would I get rid of that to buy an old banger with 101 problems on it, because let’s face it, you’ll be hard pressed to find a car cheaper than mine without problems

[THECORBYLOON]

I should have made it clear that I was referring to a deposit on the house you want.

"a house with a swimming pool is an extremely extravagant house, I’m not talking about that, just a bog standard semi that is in a quiet neighbourhood"

If folk are very well-off, a "bog-standard semi that is in a quiet neighbourhood" is likely to be regarded as below the standard of house they would look be looking for.

Your bog-standard semi is outwith the reach of thousands of folk who are grateful to be living in any house or flat they have.

[bednobs]

Jack, houses with swimming pools ARE extravagant to some, but i want one. Semis ARE extravagant to some people but you want one. Just like i have to "put up" with a bedroomed semi, you have to "put up" with a flat.

[bednobs]

snap with TCL but he said it better!

[MONEILL45]

Ban buy to let and build more council houses for rent.The blue witch destroyed the housing structure in this country.

[Jack8991]

Bednobs- yeah but a semi isn’t extravagant to me as I’ve always lived in one my whole life, so that is what I’m used to. You’re not used to a house with a swimming pool and have probably never lived in one, that’s the difference.