Home purchase is so much harder for young people than it was 20 years ago

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Too right.

The properties are all crowded in with cheap brick builds and every room has laminate flooring. They look decent enough on the drawing board and yet the experience of living in them is often a disappointment and claustrophobic for families.

If the govt had allowed people to choose any properties these mini-homes would have been bottom of the list. No thanks!

a reply to: Kandinsky
Agreed. My home is of similar modern box square footage, but nothing is square or plumb, just quirky curves and natural stone. Maybe there is some undiscovered energy of 200+ year old buildings, or maybe it's just the lack of uniformity which makes it a personal sanctuary, I don't know.
But I do know I feel boxed in at friends homes around England which are essentially the same square boxes just different furniture and fittings.
...and the amount they charge for those new uniform boxes is way more than it costs to construct them, shockingly more.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

...and the amount they charge for those new uniform boxes is way more than it costs to construct them, shockingly more.

Yeah that's my issue really. If they'd sold them with reasonable margins, it'd be fair play on the dimensions.

Just recently it was in the news about one of the big firms doing bonuses of £100 million for their main guys. IIRC they generously agreed to cuts in the bonuses to £75 million after media negativity. That stinks of profiteering to me and exploiting the first time buyer's markets. All of which was A-OK because the govt. created the ideal conditions for boning the buyers.

The same thing's happened with the UK used car market. People are being funneled into leasing cars and hire-purchase which artificially stimulates the debt problem here. All thanks to the govt scrappage scheme which removed the affordable cars from the markets. Sure, there's still used cars out there, but they're more expensive than they used to be.

a reply to: Kandinsky

I'm with you! Like the 'affordable' new build homes which really aren't affordable, and make a good 40% mark-up on the costs of construction, using the cheapest materials, and even making more profit than the homes which are not classed as 'affordable'.
It is a total scam.
...what went wrong, and why, since the golden days of the 90's? SMH

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Yeah we are planning to buy a place with an acre or so and also buy some land to hunt on in the next few years (about 50-70 acres or so) that borders a wildlife management area - just waiting to go in on that with my pops when he retires...

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

God knows what went wrong, but it's been going wrong in other Western countries too. It's tough to be young these days and doesn't look like it's getting better soon. Real shame mate

a reply to: SonOfThor
Ah, genuinely good luck with that...jealous not lol!

a reply to: Kandinsky

Too true, and with all the talk I see online bashing young adults I get saddened for them because it is a different more difficult world than when I was that age.

The average house in my area is 340,000 while the average family income is 75,000. I live in one of the more affordable states in the US.

Not in areas like NYc or SF Bay Area. Still rising and out of control. But that's different than Kansas. a reply to: Farlander

originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14
Not in areas like NYc or SF Bay Area. Still rising and out of control. But that's different than Kansas. a reply to: Farlander

I'm seeing different perspectives on the US housing scene in this thread.
Some places seem to be like the UK where property prices have outstripped wages in the race, but other areas are claimed to have seen drops in property prices even after a couple of years.
Your nation is huge though so prob not unexpected.

originally posted by: lordcomac
meanwhile in the us, 8 years back I was making 32k (before tax) and borrowed 180k to buy a two bedroom house with nothing down- about 8k in up front costs.

my mortgage was about 1100 a month.

rent in that same area for a small apt with no basement, attic, or garage would have cost me 1200.

I sold that house last summer for 250k, but easily put 100k in improvements into the place in that time frame.

housing costs are out of control. now I'm am hour outside the city renting... for 1100 a month. living in a dump.

In the Bay Area, where I grew up, and NYC, where I live, # is insane. Even the worst ghetto has expensive rent.

For example, in Brownsville Brooklyn, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods, a run down home might run you $500,000.

I live in a gentrifying hood, Crown Heights bk. My rent for a small 2 bedroom is $2200 and that was the median rent for the same in my neighborhood a year ago. It's more now.

The same place in a nice part of Manhattan would be probably $4-5000 a month. Just to buy property in a gentrifying or decent neighborhood can easily put you into the millions for even a small place.

The houses around my parents' house between Silicon Valley and SF now are around $2 million.

Brothers two bedroom nearby in the hood is over $3000 a month.

To be comfortable you have to basically either have roommates long into adulthood, which is most people, or be a banker/Doctor/lawyer etc.

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy

originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14
Not in areas like NYc or SF Bay Area. Still rising and out of control. But that's different than Kansas. a reply to: Farlander

I'm seeing different perspectives on the US housing scene in this thread.
Some places seem to be like the UK where property prices have outstripped wages in the race, but other areas are claimed to have seen drops in property prices even after a couple of years.
Your nation is huge though so prob not unexpected.

Def depends on state and city. Any major center it's rising. And for the cities I already mentioned, housing costs have risen far faster than wages.

a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

It continues to rise disproportionally to wages in my part of the UK, I genuinely worry for the next generations.

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy
a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

It continues to rise disproportionally to wages in my part of the UK, I genuinely worry for the next generations.

Yeah it's a real problem. I've heard London is like that in regards to the wage to housing cost ratio.

originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14

originally posted by: lordcomac
meanwhile in the us, 8 years back I was making 32k (before tax) and borrowed 180k to buy a two bedroom house with nothing down- about 8k in up front costs.

my mortgage was about 1100 a month.

rent in that same area for a small apt with no basement, attic, or garage would have cost me 1200.

I sold that house last summer for 250k, but easily put 100k in improvements into the place in that time frame.

housing costs are out of control. now I'm am hour outside the city renting... for 1100 a month. living in a dump.

In the Bay Area, where I grew up, and NYC, where I live, # is insane. Even the worst ghetto has expensive rent.

For example, in Brownsville Brooklyn, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods, a run down home might run you $500,000.

I live in a gentrifying hood, Crown Heights bk. My rent for a small 2 bedroom is $2200 and that was the median rent for the same in my neighborhood a year ago. It's more now.

The same place in a nice part of Manhattan would be probably $4-5000 a month. Just to buy property in a gentrifying or decent neighborhood can easily put you into the millions for even a small place.

The houses around my parents' house between Silicon Valley and SF now are around $2 million.

Brothers two bedroom nearby in the hood is over $3000 a month.

To be comfortable you have to basically either have roommates long into adulthood, which is most people, or be a banker/Doctor/lawyer etc.

Bay Area is insane. Many of the tech companies are looking at relocating or opening second HQ offices in cheaper cities. They are having a harder time recruiting talent as it is getting too expensive to live in the Bay Area. My wife has turned down job opportunities in the Bay Area because the cost of living is too high relative to the nominal increase in salary for the position. It wasn't worth it. I am convinced the people that live there now just do so thinking they are going to hit the IPO lottery, otherwise the math doesn't work imho. A $400-$500k household income in the Bay Area is barely enough to buy a typical $2 million house which is nothing special.

a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

London people are making the problem worse in the SW of England, buying second homes or retiring here because their million GBP will buy much more than a 3 bedroom town house in a concrete jungle.
Local government are actually trying to find ways to legislate against our housing stock being bought up by city traders and pricing locals out.

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy
a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

London people are making the problem worse in the SW of England, buying second homes or retiring here because their million GBP will buy much more than a 3 bedroom town house in a concrete jungle.
Local government are actually trying to find ways to legislate against our housing stock being bought up by city traders and pricing locals out.

They did the same to parts of Spain, i.e. wealthy Brits buying homes in Spain and driving up local costs.

Absolutely. I always say the same thing for both locations. One shouldnt live in NYC or the bay long term unless it's their home or have all their family there, or they are in an industry where one has to be in such a location. My sister transferred to Baton Rouge to EA's second headquarters there, and has a much better standard of living. a reply to: Edumakated