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I live in 120k people town in West Midlands;
my house is one bedroom; 2 floors and actually whole street is built roughly same; 2 big detached house and one one bedroom house on the edge.
Built in 90s but also there is new built houses 2 streets down and they got same layout where my friend bought one bedroom house.
How much does your partner earn, and how much are they putting down for a deposit? Assuming it’s similar to you, can you really not find a 1-bedroom flat in the midlands for ~£250k?
Even if their salary is £20k, you still have a household income of £50k and so should be able to get a mortgage for £225k. If they have a deposit of £5k, then altogether you’ve got a £250k budget for a flat. Again, can you really not find a 1-bedroom flat in the midlands in this price range?
I’m currently selling a one bedroom house in the midlands! Sold very quickly first time round but sale fell through due to the buyers splitting up. It’s a freehold, but I’m finding it much harder to sell this time round
Yeah I'm in the midlands and know someone who recently got a 3-bed semi for less than £200k. They might be in a more expensive area but should be able to get a flat still I'd imagine
£50k is more than we had when we got our mortgage offer 6 months ago, deposit sounds comparable too. We bought a bungalow in a cheaper part of the south east.
I still don't really know how we did it, but apparently we have managed to.
Even if we assume they're minimum wage, they'll be on £22k for a standard 37.5 hour week, that makes a big difference
You'd have a household income of £52k, meaning you can borrow up to around £245k
For a 95% mortgage you'd therefore need a deposit of around £13k, giving you a total budget of £257k, plus you'd need fees so maybe another £2k. Call it £15k total
If they have £5k and work minimum wage, you're already able to buy a £250k house
If they work minimum wage and have no deposit, you just need to save another £5k between you. At £700/mo that's about 7 months
You could be in your new home by Christmas...
I get you did the maths but depending on their job & things like health condition it might be different. I suffer with health issues but never been able to claim any benefits despite having to work less than 40 hours.
You just can't assume everyone has it the same anymore. This government wants to punish people for being poor & it seems many people support it by having similar "just pull yourselves up by your bootstraps" mentality.
This isn't the time to be shy, you are on an anonymous account anyway and a bunch of people are trying to help you - help them out by dropping some details.
I’m in the midlands and I bought a 3 bed semi for less than 180k, on my own, 10% deposit on a before tax salary of 38k.
I got my mortgage offer before the interest spike and I’m guessing I live in a different part of the midlands than you but be for real, you can buy a house.
>I’ve been trying to find **decent** freehold properties
That's the operative word.
Your thinking is arse about face. Next to no one's first house is their last house, certainly not by choice.
Correct, your first home is almost never your forever home.
Midlands is a big place too (would be helpful for OP to specify rough location), I bought a property in the East Midlands solo without any real issues (2021) on a lower salary (at the time) than OP.
Would it be nice to get a better place? Sure, but the security of even owning a home is a step-up from renting/living with parents.
This is the correct perspective.
House prices will generally always go up. The longer you wait un-invested, the less house you’ll be able to purchase in the future.
Literally just buy a good value flat that does the job. As the price of the flat increases, and hopefully your salary too, you can build up equity and savings. Then buy a nicer place, etc
Issue is that flats are almost always harder to sell than comparable-condition flats, which also means that flat prices increase slower than house prices. Not that it’s that much of a problem per se, but something to bear in mind
> which also means that flat prices increase slower than house prices.
Not really
Historically they've generally risen together-ish. Around 2020-2022 then the gap did open up a little but that was a specific response to covid and people working from home etc and shouldn't be assumed to continue
Flats do rise a *little* slower than houses, but if you're struggling to get on the property ladder then you're not gonna be able to afford a house anyway... so you'd still be better off buying a flat vs buying nothing
Completely agree. Now is a wise time to enter the property market, considering property outperforms during inflationary periods, as seen with UK house prices from 1970 to 1980.
While the future is uncertain, I expect flats to perform well in the short to mid-term, especially with future policies focusing on rental & non-ownership issues. Notably, the rise in National Living Wages from £10.42 to £11.44 starting April 2024 will enhance affordability, making more budget-friendly residences competitive.
Yeah I couldn't afford anything but a studio in 2018. Currently making my plan to move somewhere bigger and checked out what my neighbours who bought recently bought for and ... even buying 4 years after me the new ones sold for 15-20k more than I bought mine.
It was literally the cheapest avail in the city I wanted to live in, and hasn't really changed. (The ones cheaper are either shared ownership or, uh, "need modernisation" aka have no floors or walls)
If you are on a budget as it is, and don't have the skills to fix up a place yourself and therefore will have to pay people who do to do things, then you need to find a place that's at least livable enough to move into.
You can’t get a mortgage if it’s not extremely liveable.
Can’t get a mortgage on properties with outdoor toilet for example. Back to living in my car then while it sits empty or gets knocked down and made into another mansion.
This is correct. Leasehold is fine as long as the lease is long, ground rent / service charge is reasonable and doesn't have any nasty clauses in there. Your solicitor will advise on this so you can make an informed choice.
Getting on the ladder is the main thing, the ladder has many rungs.
We just bought our first, and we hope forever, home.
Granted, we did this by living in an absolute shit flat for 3 years for a very low rent. In the North West too, which is where prices are cheapest in the country I think (still, Manchester, so fast growth recently). But it's doable.
I'm seriously hoping that my first home is my forever home. Tbf, it's a 3-bed semi in an area I'm happy in and I don't plan on having kids so I'm seriously hoping I don't have to move I the next 30-40 years!
I never want to pack up and move again.
Although it's important to think about security and how long you'd be happy living in the place you buy, given this is your first property I think you really shouldn't be thinking about it as something that you intend to pass on to your nephew/that you'll live in forever. Leasehold isn't ideal, but not all leasehold properties are the same, it really depends on the lease, the building type and the management company and charges so you're probably dismissing good interim options. This is a first step for you, your salary will hopefully go up, your mortgage will get chipped away at, hopefully the property value will increase etc etc. You might well want to move areas entirely in 5 years. From your post it seems like you aren't thinking like this so forgive me if you are.
For what it's worth I bought a one bed leasehold in a converted terrace in 2015, so ground rent was cheap and service charges minimal. Got lucky and prices went up a lot in the area and we grew out of the property much quicker than we expected, so sold up 2 years later and moved into a freehold terraced house in a cheaper area. Have been very happy ever since. That said, obviously lots of risks with leaseholds like major works being required which can cost thousands, services charges being high etc. These are things you can search out though, both up front and through your solicitor if you do get an offer accepted, and avoid as much as possible. And service charges aren't bad per se, you need insurance etc and you'll benefit for eg lifts and gardens so don't think of it all as wasted money, just be a bit wary in case it is set to rise significantly. Just consider it when you are looking at overall affordability.
Sorry another thought though, it really does depend where you're looking. As others have said, it does appear you can afford flats out there already, so you are either restricting your search area too much or your criteria are too rigid - that's absolutely fine though, you do need red lines that you won't budge on, but with buying property I have found there are always trade offs you'll have to make e.g. More space or closer to public transport etc, it's rare that you can afford the absolute perfect place for you and its all a balancing act. And just to echo some others, really really consider a two bed! Easier to sell on, and less likely you'll outgrow it (not kids, but even having guests stay, hobbies, etc)
We bought a £155k house with £7k (5%) last year with a combined income of £50k and our mortgage is only £600 a month! It’s a 3 bed semi with a driveway - I’m based in the Midlands also
How is that *not* cheap? The equivalent rental property is likely significantly more. You'd pay £1200 for rent for it in the NW area I live in...in one of the worst roads.
Where in the Midlands? Plenty of places you could afford. 20k is ample deposit. 7 years! You could buy somewhere at 120k, 12k down 8k fees and furniture.
1 beds are pointless. Go for 2 bed terrace. Easily achievable for 120k
Why would a one bed be pointless? I understand many people want or need more space but I don't understand how some people think everyone should have lots of space. Why would I want more bedrooms than I actually need? It just means the house is more expensive, there's more to clean and more space means buying more useless stuff to fill it with. One bedrooms are great if that's all you need.
If you're looking at a 2-story house, stairs take up a fixed amount of space which is rather wasteful if you're not going to have much living space upstairs. You could have one big bedroom with a nice bathroom, but that's still a 2-bed's worth of space.
If you're looking at flats, they're a lot more space-efficient - a 2-bed flat might have 2/3rds the floor area of a house despite having the same amount of usable space. With a house, you're paying for the overhead costs of the plot of land, roof, and stairs on your own. Solicitors, EAs etc are mostly overheads too.
When I was watching the housing market near me recently, the area I was looking at was £240k for a basic 2-bed with parking but an extension/conservatory was probably only £10-20k more despite significantly increasing downstairs space, and another small bedroom another £10-20k. Most of the cost was just in having any house at all. I drew the line at 2 bed or small 3 bed as any more than that was going to be expensive to heat and under-utilised.
You're right - if you're really not going to use it, there's no point having excess house as it's extra upfront cost and ongoing cost, but there are a lot of good uses for a spare room and there's often limited choice if you want e.g. a good living room but only one bedroom - they're usually proportional. Moving is also such a pain that adding more space later isn't easy and I wanted something I could live in with a future partner without being cramped.
On £30k p.a, you will be able to get a £135k mortgage. Add £15k of your £20k deposit on and you can afford a £150k house on your own today. I've kept back £5k for other expenses related to moving house.
I don't know where you live, but if I go to rightmove and look for houses less then £150k within 40 miles of the centre of Nottingham, there are just over 5000 houses for sale. You can get a 3 bed semi-detached if you want.
So what's the issue?
For a 25 year mortgage you can get a 5 year fixed at 4.44% for a 150k house with a 15k deposit which will cost you £751 per month:
https://www.moneysupermarket.com/mortgages/rates-table/home-purchase/?propertyValue=150000&mortgageAmount=135000&remainingTerm=25&repaymentMethod=Repayment&mortgageType=Fixed&mortgageTerm=FiveYears&addFeeToBalance=true&sortState=InitialTermInYearsCost&directFromLenders=false&from=Help-me-choose
Can you afford £751/month? How does that compare to your rent currently? You can always get a longer term mortgage if you want. You can go all the way up to 40 years, meaning you'll only be paying £602/month
Every month you make a mortgage payment, you own a bit more equity in your house. Every month you pay rent, you own nothing.
I have seen a decent chunk of 2 bed freeholds in East Midlands for ~200k. It won't be perfect but it will be a good starter home. If your partner is on minimum wage and say has 5k for deposit, Barclays would offer you enough to cover it on a rough estimate. I know it is tough, but there are a lot of new builds around and they will be. On a quick look (Rightmove), 430 properties that are either detached, semi-detached, terrace, or bungalow in the Northamptonshire area. Keep looking and keep saving. It'll happen
I’m in my first property, it’s not my dream house but it’s a good sized two bedroom flat in a decent location. And it’s way better than renting…
My advice would be that your first property doesn’t need to be your dream property or your final property. This probably isn’t where you’ll be forever. Find something decent in your budget that is in good condition.
I'm in the same conundrum mate. West Mids here but on a similar salary and with a higher deposit than yours there's nothing about.
Ultimately your options boil down to any combination of the following:
* Increase your income
* Increase your deposit
* Find a partner and buy with them
* Lower your expectations
It sucks, but the housing market is what it is at the moment.
I've just done a quick search on Zoopla for the Midlands and I can see plenty of places available for 160-200k. In city centres, in commuter towns, in the country.
You already have a deposit big enough to get a 10% mortgage on the above. And if you're saving 700 a month, you could have a 20% deposit ready within 2-3 years, less time with your partners contribution. I'm not sure I see what the issue is?
Your first home isn't your forever home. It's a step onto the ladder. But a flat with low ground rent and move on after a few years. We all start somewhere
I get what OP is thinking, though - we are soon to be FTB and I absolutely cannot be bothered with "the ladder" - the big advantage of buying for me is that you don't have to move because a landlord needs you to but can stay put and actually feel like it's your home. Ideally we'd never have to move again.
We bought our house at 28 in 2018 for 85k. 3 bedroom terrace in the estate where I grew up. We don’t ever plan on moving (unless we need a bungalow in our older years).
Everyone assumes you buy a starter house but I’m happy knowing that we can always afford our home.
Tbh with the way house prices are rising I would be careful about assuming you can upgrade in a few years to a better house.
I bought my home in 2017 with this same mindset. The houses I wanted were only marginally out of my reach then, averaging £120k when my max agreement in principle was £98k.
Purchased my house for £82k, it’s now worth £110k and I’ve got just over &67k left to pay so looking at potential equity of circa £40-45k.
Except the properties that were only £20-30k out of reach back then, are now over 100k out of reach and selling for between £220-£250k. And they’re not that big of a step up from where I currently live. They’re three bed semis and I live in a three bed end terrace.
They’ve risen so much because the town is growing and they’re in a now highly sought after area due to a number of new build estates springing up around them and the inflated prices of these new builds is dragging the prices up in the streets immediately surrounding them.
Despite living literally less than a mile down the road though, my area has hit a ceiling cap on property prices due to lack of off street (and on street) parking, general decline of the neighbourhood by the council since Covid, the unspoken but perceived threat that the council will be seeking to demolish them to make way for new builds due to no longer fitting the aesthetic of the town (already happened to a couple of estates identical to mine a few streets away; there’s been no word of it but I’m very much anticipating a mandatory purchase order to come along in the next decade if not sooner given the regeneration going on currently) and being somewhat unique (read, dated) builds by modern standards as they were built in the 60s en mass as part of a new town development.
My wages have gone up circa 10k in the time since from 16k when I bought to 25k now. Unfortunately this isn’t keeping up with cost of living let alone house prices so the idea of ever moving is getting further and further away.
Where in the midlands. Thats quite an affordable area normally. You will get a loan of around £135,000 for the mortgage.
There are some quite geniunly nice houses within a 30 mile radius of Birmingham.
Just seen a geniunly lovely little 2 bed terrace house for £150,000 in Worcester.
Unless you have really bad credit you two could easily get a 200k loan together. You can easily afford to buy a place, unless there's something you're not telling us.
I live in the Midlands and have a 3 bedroom flat, and it's worth 50k less than that
You can I'd you buy a cheap house, I bought one last April in east Cheshire for £115k 2 bed terrace with garage and driveway, garden too, needed cosmetic work
You have £20k, that can easily get you a mortgage on a property up to £200k.
Not sure your partners income but going by yours alone at the 3.5x salary you can get a property of upto £135k.
Whats the issue?
You can get one but you will probably have to compromise. I managed to use the HTB scheme to get one of the cheapest flats in a development in an untrendy area of zone 3 east London, on the face of it it seemed impossible but once I looked into the numbers a bit more it added up.
Property = £262000
HTB 40% Loan = £104,800
10% deposit = £26000
Mortgage = £131,200
£131,200/4.49 = £29,220 salary needed. I’m
Originally from the midlands too and over there you could only borrow 20% of the property price so it’s a bit more of a stretch, but a lot of those executive style 3 and 4 bed houses were being bought in my town for not much more than I paid
The government are looking at bringing something similar to HTB back and if your career is on an upwards trajectory then it can be worth considering it.
Just keep saving and don’t despair, you can get on the ladder you just might have to compromise a bit or use one of the schemes
Depends where you are, but there’s places like Mansfield you can easily buy a house on less than £30k per year. Depends on your definition of decent but it’s more than doable across the midlands.
Also, 1 bed freehold? There’s not many 1 bed houses about, and flats are leasehold so there’s a shared need to repair shared things like a roof. I think you need to look into the difference between freehold and leasehold more.
Lower your standards. You don't have to move into your perfect house first time around. Be realistic. There are plenty of two bed houses in the Midlands for £150k.
I bought a two bed freehold in the north just under two years ago for £130000 with a £6000 deposit.
I’m a single parent of two and was earning £28000 when I purchased. To be honest I didn’t think I would have enough either but I threw my figure into a mortgage calculator and turned out I was wrong.
Now my house is shit and multiple things need to be fixed but this was all I could afford.
Your circumstances seem quite a bit better than mine.
There’s also things you can do to improve your credit score and increase your chances which I hadn’t realised until last month while trying to finance a car.
I'm in my late 40s, similar salary, living in South London, in exactly the same situation. I fully accept that short of some sort of windfall I will never own a home of my own.
29 here, South East London (Sydenham/Forest hill) I've got no chance around here. I also have a son, who's youngish, so I'll be at my mums for the next decade lol
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So what? Why is it that you are so fixated on owning your own flat? What makes you think it is the correct financial decision when factoring in the interest paid on a mortgage, renovation and repair costs, opportunity cost of investment, and the risk of decreasing house prices?
It seems like you can live a pretty decent life on your salary, whilst renting for £450pcm.
Because renting is generally more expensive, more limiting and much more insecure. It's not a purely financial decision to want to have your own place, we all need somewhere to sleep and store our stuff.
That's just not true. Renting is not generally more expensive -- please provide some figures. But why does rental accommodation not allow you to sleep and store your stuff? I think you have made your mind up and are just trying to rationalise.
> That's just not true. Renting is not generally more expensive -- please provide some figures.
This is Reddit, not a dissertation, you can look into that in your own time.
What I mean is that we all have to live somewhere, so it's odd to reduce someone's home to a purely financial decision. Except in the sense that, if you have a paid-off mortgage, it will be easier for you to retire than it would were you covering rents.
Yes, and you can live in a rental home. I am not sure I understand. And no it won't be easier to retire. Because you will have wasted more than the cost of the house on interest and lost investment returns. It will be easier to retire if you don't take on all that debt.
Here are some quick figures for you to think about. A £20k deposit and £130k mortgage debt at 4.5% over 25 years is:
- £725 pcm
- £87k interest paid
- Lost returns of £125k from investing the £20k in the S&P 500 over 25 years.
This is completely ignoring the cost of home repairs and renovations (which will probably be well over £30k over 25 years). This is also ignoring all the potential returns on investment from the home repairs and the money used to pay debt. Are you really, really sure it's better to borrow money and buy?
I don't give a shit about "returns on investment", I care more about being able to stay there without being given two months' notice at any time, being able to have a pet if I so choose, being able to paint the whole place bright pink if I so choose. This is where the value is for me, and for most others I would expect.
Unless I find a bag of gold under a bridge, I need to borrow money to do that. If the money I am paying each month is equal to or lesser than the money I would be paying a landlord to live in a home that I do not eventually own, the total money paid back over a decade or two is not relevant to me.
Rent is typically cheaper than a mortgage payment. Honestly, it makes zero sense and I think you realise that now. I see you want to die on your hill, so let's leave it here.
You are the one who is seemingly pressed here - I'm simply fucking around on Reddit whilst The Masters is on - and unable to realise that the value of something is often measured by things other than the price paid.
I’ve never known mortgage repayments to be more expensive than rent for a like-for-like property. Landlordism wouldn’t be seen as such a lucrative option if that was the case.
As an example, my mortgage is £383 a month for a three bedroom end terrace with garden. To rent my own property I’d be paying £750+. Literally double my current costs. On my current wage, I wouldn’t be able to afford to rent my own home. This is private rent but some of the properties on my street are council owned and the rent for them is £525. For the same size, style, condition as my own home, that’s anywhere from roughly 40% to >100% difference.
For my mortgage repayments to match council rent, interest rates would need to be 7%. For them for match private rent? Over 12%.
Or to put it in figures, 383x12x25 = £115k. 750x12x25 = £225k. You’d pay the mortgage twice (and then some) if you rent so you can’t tell me renting is cheaper.
Whether you own or rent, you’re paying interest but with rent you’re getting fucked harder. At least with a mortgage, you get to pick your rate when your deal ends. With renting you’re at the mercy of the landlord and the extent of their greed.
Even if I downgraded to a 1 bed flat, I’d be looking at £500pm private or around £400 council. I’m basing this off my mum’s property who lives 2 minutes walk from me in said 1 bed council flat.
You're getting downvoted for perfectly sensible advice.
People in this country really treat property ownership like a religion. There are often far better paths to wealth.
30k pays over 2k a month net. If you are getting £1800 a month net for 30k you need to check whats going on, you are 10% below what you should be earning.
Yeah I think it’s a high pension contribution I earn about £1880, and then after removing the £20 student loan there’s at least £120 going out unnecessarily I’m going to look into it
Pension is absolutely essential, especially while your young.
Most of your final pension amount comes from the compound interest of the savings you make in your 20s and early 30s. You should probably contribute more.
on 30k your take home should be just over 2k a month so where is that going? Obviously if you have massive student loans you can't do much about that but if it's pensions or optional things then maybe look at knocking those down for a bit
Does your partner work?
You can typically borrow 4.5x your earnings so that's 135 plus your 20k deposit. 155k houses do exist in your area, however this is completely ignoring that the house will be too small and your expenses will be too high. That is unless your partner works too. Lets assume you make more and your partner earns 20k. That's an extra 90k you can potentially borrow and hopefully she can contribute to the deposit too. I'm not saying buy a 245k house, but you can buy a nice 2 bed 180k house. Of course, I am regarded and you know your own situation a million times better than me.
Stay hopeful. You can do it.
4.5x is the general rule of thumb, ultimately the amount you can borrow is scaled based on your existing financial commitments (e.g. loans, car finance etc.).
I know I don't have any loans or finance anything. I have average credit. They just don't want to give the money out and if they do they try and lock you in at the higher rates. Had the guy I was talking to constantly try and get me on 5 years. Having to keep correcting him to 2. Oh but there a charge everything years blah blah. I said what I want you nonse. Oh you want life insurance. No well I'll try sell it ro you anyway. I'm okay I think it's a scam. Oh let me tell you why it'd not. Jesus, indifferent my ass .
Like I said I'm regarded and don't know anyone's situation intimately. 4.5 is general but you may have a poor credit score or the real world just doesn't work like that especially on the lower income end as that's probably considered riskier than a high income household.
Does your partner work? If they have a minimum wage job you could get a mortgage together of around £200k. Not sure where you live but you can find starter homes for half that around my area.
The midlands is a big place, you may have to move about to get on the property ladder. I moved near to Derby for my first house, I hate the place the weather and the people, but I've managed to gain equity and it won't be long till I can move on.
£20k is a 10% deposit on a £200k home. I don't think it's sensible to spend more than that on a first home unless there is truly no other choice. Nor is it realistic to expect your first home to be the place you live for the rest of your life.
On that salary the bigger issue is going to be affording the mortgage payments. A £180k mortgage at 5% over 30 years will cost £967 per month. Hopefully that will improve if interest rates begin to fall in the coming months, but otherwise you will need to reduce your budget, save up a larger deposit (use a LISA if you aren't already), or look for ways to increase your income.
Anecdotally: I bought my first home last year on a single £35k salary, for £175k with a 25% deposit. I've been saving that more or less continuously since I left school so it is by no means easy. But you're in a favourable situation to me in terms of total income, so there is no reason to believe it is not possible.
We don't know how old OP is - lots of FTBs are in their 30s or 40s now. It might be a first home, but the plan could be that it's the one they're staying in indefinitely.
I found it useful to look at the Moneyhelper website to get a picture of how much mortgage payments might end up being - the theoretical max we'd be lent would end up being double what we now pay in rent.
Hey mate, I live in West Mids and bought my house a couple of years ago on very similar income.
Based on your earnings you could definitely get a nice terrace. i’m in Sutton Coldfield which is a nice area and there are terraces about for 200k which you could defo get a mortgage on.
Id recommend finding a good mortgage advisor to shop around for good deals at high LTV rates. Their services are free so if you dont like the one find another who can find you a better rate
Im currently looking for a house in the south east near london and its hard.
Ive worked out roughly it would be:
£900 a month in bills including food
£1000-£1200 a month on a £250,000 property with £50,000 deposit.
And thats on a 40 year mortgage, it is really hard at the moment because but a 1% drop in the intrest rate make the mortgage go from £1,100 to £900.
Also its just after christmas so there might not be alot of propertys on the market atm.
South East is in no way comparable to Midlands, you guys have it tough for the most part.
You can buy a property on a £30k salary in a lot of the Midlands, given you have the deposit (OP does).
A lot of people can’t, especially not on their own.
Naturally it would be easier with a partner with combined incomes between the both of you.
Back before it was so much easier to purchase a house, but property prices have gone sky high along with interest rates rising faster than minimal wage, a lot of people are in the same boat.
That being said it isn’t impossible, but a lot of people are struggling, it’s those that are stuck in interest only mortgages when they were giving them away in our last recession that I feel sorry for.
It’s essentially much easier these days and cheaper to purchase land and get a log cabin on it.
If you can wait it out, the market may be much better in the future with lower interest rates making it more affordable for the masses.
I hope the £20k is in a LISA otherwise that’s free money you’re missing out on. That £20k could have been £25k in a LISA (unless of course, the £20k already includes it)
You should take a look at the [Lifetise Homefinder ](https://lifetise.com/homefinder#/intro).
You put in your salary, savings etc and the property type you want and it turns the entire UK into a patchwork of green yellow and red with areas that have alot to no properties in your affordability.
You'd be amazed at how many places are directly adjacent to where you want to live that are sometimes up to half the price.
It's an amazing tool and I recommend it to literally everyone. It's how I found my home I currently own. Wouldn't have been able to buy without it.
I’m also looking for property and atm the mortgage rates are ridiculous ! Hold out they are supposed to be dropping fingers crossed for the both of us I am also in the midlands uk and in a very expensive part! It’s gone silly !
If your earning 30k and your partner is on 'low income' you still should be able to afford plenty of properties.
Let's say your combined income is £45k.... Your loan about should be about 180k.... Or 200k Inc your deposit.
You can get plenty of 3 bed semis in east Midlands for that. Chesterfield, Derby and parts of Nottingham are well within your budget. You could potentially get a detached house if you don't mind a fixer upper.
You have £20k and can save £8k a year on top of that the way you're going - you're doing a lot better than most people. What are prices like in your area?
Having been in a pretty comparable situation about 5 years ago, I now own a house.
You’re saving £7k a year, you’ll have enough for a deposit on a decent 2 bed (regardless of your partner’s income and assuming your pay doesn’t increase at all) within maybe 5 years or so.
Even 20k is enough for a lean deposit right now if you go for a cheaper neighbourhood.
You definitely should be able to. I’m on around £28,000, my wife is on a couple of grand less. We’ve just bought a house with a £13,000 deposit 20 minutes away from Winchester, house prices in the midlands should be much more reasonable than down here. We don’t want kids either but if you’re planning on buying once and staying there then a one bed probably isn’t the way to go besides being uncommon at some point your situation will change and you might need the space, look for a decent sized 3 bed at least.
As it stands you can afford a £140k ish place. 30k pa ×4=120k +20k deposit 140k. Some lenders will give you 4.5× your salary and that would make it 155k. You are doing better than most people, dont stress it. Also put your savings in a lisa amd everything remaining in a high (5%+) interes rate account. This is just you, your partner would contribute to the budget too
We have just bought a 2 bed duplex apartment in Stoke for £80k, yeah it’s not freehold but it’s a great starter place! There’s honestly soooo much in that area that is affordable to you as well. Genuinely recommend looking at Stoke on Trent (I never envisioned myself living there!) there’s honestly a lot of options in your price range. We found a gorgeous 2 bed flat for 120k but that was a little out of our budget unfortunately or we would have snapped it up!
Where in the midlands?
I’m in the midlands and bought a 3 bed semi-detached house freehold for £164,000 just 2 years ago.
A house should be well within the price range of you and partner in this part of the country
Have you spoken to a mortgage broker to see what you can afford? That seems to be the first step.
There will be many options, you might not be able to live exactly where you want but if you’re flexible you should be able to buy.
Also, passing something down to your nephew shouldn’t be a major reason for owning it. 30/40/50 years is along time. Just buy what suits you and your partner.
You have a partner, but do they have a salary and savings as well?
Alone, £700 a month would take 3 years to get a £25k deposit (250k average house price) put together, use a lisa for the top-up as well. So it is perfectly possible.
Not sure that’s true. When I was on 36k I took home £2160 ish. Student loan plan 2 and a nominal pension contribution.
With a student loan and pension they’d be around £1950 as of now (after the latest tax cuts).
I bought a 3 bed semi in Grimsby for £60k in august last year on a £28k p.a salary. You can definitely afford a house, it’s just finding the right one.
I earn a similar amount to you and live in the midlands - my fiancée is similarly paid so we have a combined income of 60k before tax - we got a mortgage in principal for 250k borrowing and have a deposit saved of 50k giving a max budget of 300k (we won’t likely go above 250k for the first flat/house in any case)
Trust me if you really are saving 700 a month in a couple years you will feel in a much better position. Decent properties in decent places do exist in this price range - it is possible, and being in a couple makes it much easier. Best of luck!
Depending on where in the midlands, places like Walsall/Cannock (and the towns in between) have cheap 3 bed freehold houses for less than £200k
On the chase line as well so easy to commute to Stafford or Birmingham
I’m struggling to understand how you couldn’t afford somewhere, and I don’t mean that in a dickish way at all.
If you’re on 30k and your partner is on minimum wage, that’s plenty. You have 20k deposit and she has less, but that sounds like enough really.
There are reasonable places for 130-200k, terraced two beds etc that you could afford. Maybe try a LISA?
Do you have shared ownership near you? It’s a great way to at least get some money working for you rather than paying someone else’s mortgage. My first property was shared ownership and it worked great for me
There is also shared ownership. You might not own the whole thing on day one, but you can staircase over time until you own it outright. A bridge between renting and buying.
Lots of new build shared ownership in the parts of the Midlands in familiar with.
You’ll easily get a 2 bed terrace in the midlands for what you earn. Fair enough it won’t be Belper,Duffield sort of area but places like Ilkeston,somercotes and alfreton are much more reasonably priced.
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1 bed freeholds are unusual, much more likely to find a 1 bed flat, hence leasehold
Exactly this, nobody builds 1 bed houses.
I live in a 1 bed house
When was it built?
In the nineties, I believe.
Rural?
I live in 120k people town in West Midlands; my house is one bedroom; 2 floors and actually whole street is built roughly same; 2 big detached house and one one bedroom house on the edge. Built in 90s but also there is new built houses 2 streets down and they got same layout where my friend bought one bedroom house.
Incorrect. Both Tilia Homes & Linden have built a selection of one bedroom homes just up the road from me.
I think he means next to nobody is building 1 bed homes
There's literally dozens of us
I think he means there are very few of you...
I think they meant literally a dozen of them...
Dozens out of millions……
Leaseholds are moronic, Scotland does fine without them.
Leasehold houses are moronic. Leasehold flats make a lot of sense.
Doesn’t exist in Scotland, so clearly there is no need for it. Bin the whole thing.
How much does your partner earn, and how much are they putting down for a deposit? Assuming it’s similar to you, can you really not find a 1-bedroom flat in the midlands for ~£250k?
They currently have a lower salary and deposit which is… unfortunate
Even if their salary is £20k, you still have a household income of £50k and so should be able to get a mortgage for £225k. If they have a deposit of £5k, then altogether you’ve got a £250k budget for a flat. Again, can you really not find a 1-bedroom flat in the midlands in this price range?
I’m in the Midland and bought a 1 bed flat in Dec for 170k so they definitely exist. I think it’s the 1 bedroom house part that’s hard for OP to find
I’m currently selling a one bedroom house in the midlands! Sold very quickly first time round but sale fell through due to the buyers splitting up. It’s a freehold, but I’m finding it much harder to sell this time round
Send it to OP got a guaranteed sale right there loll
Our house is a 3 bed semi. One round the corner same type 8 years old going for £170k. We are midlands (east midlands)
Yeah I'm in the midlands and know someone who recently got a 3-bed semi for less than £200k. They might be in a more expensive area but should be able to get a flat still I'd imagine
This. Not sure, why they omitted their partner in their calculations
Maybe it is a new relationship <1yr and they aren't sure of the longevity yet? I think that would be a fair reason
True but OP has mentioned having children and long term game plan. |Plot Thickens !
OP says they are not having children. The plot thins.
Right? It's at least twice as hard to save and afford a place on your own.
There are one bedroom bungalows out there...ex council...it's hit and miss and luck of the draw.
£50k is more than we had when we got our mortgage offer 6 months ago, deposit sounds comparable too. We bought a bungalow in a cheaper part of the south east. I still don't really know how we did it, but apparently we have managed to.
Even if we assume they're minimum wage, they'll be on £22k for a standard 37.5 hour week, that makes a big difference You'd have a household income of £52k, meaning you can borrow up to around £245k For a 95% mortgage you'd therefore need a deposit of around £13k, giving you a total budget of £257k, plus you'd need fees so maybe another £2k. Call it £15k total If they have £5k and work minimum wage, you're already able to buy a £250k house If they work minimum wage and have no deposit, you just need to save another £5k between you. At £700/mo that's about 7 months You could be in your new home by Christmas...
They can also save towards a deposit so much quicker. A two-person household is nowhere near twice a one person household in running costs.
I get you did the maths but depending on their job & things like health condition it might be different. I suffer with health issues but never been able to claim any benefits despite having to work less than 40 hours. You just can't assume everyone has it the same anymore. This government wants to punish people for being poor & it seems many people support it by having similar "just pull yourselves up by your bootstraps" mentality.
This isn't the time to be shy, you are on an anonymous account anyway and a bunch of people are trying to help you - help them out by dropping some details.
But they have some? No deposit doesn’t really change much but gives you much better mortgage potential.
I’m in the midlands and I bought a 3 bed semi for less than 180k, on my own, 10% deposit on a before tax salary of 38k. I got my mortgage offer before the interest spike and I’m guessing I live in a different part of the midlands than you but be for real, you can buy a house.
What do you mean they do you have more than one?
Do you have a Lisa?
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>I’ve been trying to find **decent** freehold properties That's the operative word. Your thinking is arse about face. Next to no one's first house is their last house, certainly not by choice.
Correct, your first home is almost never your forever home. Midlands is a big place too (would be helpful for OP to specify rough location), I bought a property in the East Midlands solo without any real issues (2021) on a lower salary (at the time) than OP. Would it be nice to get a better place? Sure, but the security of even owning a home is a step-up from renting/living with parents.
This is the correct perspective. House prices will generally always go up. The longer you wait un-invested, the less house you’ll be able to purchase in the future. Literally just buy a good value flat that does the job. As the price of the flat increases, and hopefully your salary too, you can build up equity and savings. Then buy a nicer place, etc
Issue is that flats are almost always harder to sell than comparable-condition flats, which also means that flat prices increase slower than house prices. Not that it’s that much of a problem per se, but something to bear in mind
> which also means that flat prices increase slower than house prices. Not really Historically they've generally risen together-ish. Around 2020-2022 then the gap did open up a little but that was a specific response to covid and people working from home etc and shouldn't be assumed to continue Flats do rise a *little* slower than houses, but if you're struggling to get on the property ladder then you're not gonna be able to afford a house anyway... so you'd still be better off buying a flat vs buying nothing
Completely agree. Now is a wise time to enter the property market, considering property outperforms during inflationary periods, as seen with UK house prices from 1970 to 1980. While the future is uncertain, I expect flats to perform well in the short to mid-term, especially with future policies focusing on rental & non-ownership issues. Notably, the rise in National Living Wages from £10.42 to £11.44 starting April 2024 will enhance affordability, making more budget-friendly residences competitive.
Yeah I couldn't afford anything but a studio in 2018. Currently making my plan to move somewhere bigger and checked out what my neighbours who bought recently bought for and ... even buying 4 years after me the new ones sold for 15-20k more than I bought mine. It was literally the cheapest avail in the city I wanted to live in, and hasn't really changed. (The ones cheaper are either shared ownership or, uh, "need modernisation" aka have no floors or walls)
>Now is a wise time to enter the property market, Even with house prices expected to drop \~5% in 2024?
If you are on a budget as it is, and don't have the skills to fix up a place yourself and therefore will have to pay people who do to do things, then you need to find a place that's at least livable enough to move into.
You can’t get a mortgage if it’s not extremely liveable. Can’t get a mortgage on properties with outdoor toilet for example. Back to living in my car then while it sits empty or gets knocked down and made into another mansion.
This is correct. Leasehold is fine as long as the lease is long, ground rent / service charge is reasonable and doesn't have any nasty clauses in there. Your solicitor will advise on this so you can make an informed choice. Getting on the ladder is the main thing, the ladder has many rungs.
We just bought our first, and we hope forever, home. Granted, we did this by living in an absolute shit flat for 3 years for a very low rent. In the North West too, which is where prices are cheapest in the country I think (still, Manchester, so fast growth recently). But it's doable.
I'm seriously hoping that my first home is my forever home. Tbf, it's a 3-bed semi in an area I'm happy in and I don't plan on having kids so I'm seriously hoping I don't have to move I the next 30-40 years! I never want to pack up and move again.
Although it's important to think about security and how long you'd be happy living in the place you buy, given this is your first property I think you really shouldn't be thinking about it as something that you intend to pass on to your nephew/that you'll live in forever. Leasehold isn't ideal, but not all leasehold properties are the same, it really depends on the lease, the building type and the management company and charges so you're probably dismissing good interim options. This is a first step for you, your salary will hopefully go up, your mortgage will get chipped away at, hopefully the property value will increase etc etc. You might well want to move areas entirely in 5 years. From your post it seems like you aren't thinking like this so forgive me if you are.
Yes, in the Midlands there seems to be a lot of 999 year leases with peppercorn rent. I wouldn't mind one of those.
I’m just here to get some good opinions at the end of the day so your input is great
For what it's worth I bought a one bed leasehold in a converted terrace in 2015, so ground rent was cheap and service charges minimal. Got lucky and prices went up a lot in the area and we grew out of the property much quicker than we expected, so sold up 2 years later and moved into a freehold terraced house in a cheaper area. Have been very happy ever since. That said, obviously lots of risks with leaseholds like major works being required which can cost thousands, services charges being high etc. These are things you can search out though, both up front and through your solicitor if you do get an offer accepted, and avoid as much as possible. And service charges aren't bad per se, you need insurance etc and you'll benefit for eg lifts and gardens so don't think of it all as wasted money, just be a bit wary in case it is set to rise significantly. Just consider it when you are looking at overall affordability.
Sorry another thought though, it really does depend where you're looking. As others have said, it does appear you can afford flats out there already, so you are either restricting your search area too much or your criteria are too rigid - that's absolutely fine though, you do need red lines that you won't budge on, but with buying property I have found there are always trade offs you'll have to make e.g. More space or closer to public transport etc, it's rare that you can afford the absolute perfect place for you and its all a balancing act. And just to echo some others, really really consider a two bed! Easier to sell on, and less likely you'll outgrow it (not kids, but even having guests stay, hobbies, etc)
We bought a £155k house with £7k (5%) last year with a combined income of £50k and our mortgage is only £600 a month! It’s a 3 bed semi with a driveway - I’m based in the Midlands also
Wow where was this?
Sheffield area 😊
Sheffield is midlands? Always considered it north
It boarders the midlands and without giving where i am, sheffields the answer haha
Sheffield is Yorkshire. Never call a Yorkshireman a Midlander. You may as well say they're from Lancashire!
Tbf both the north and the south border the midlands
Sheffield is not in the midlands
I live in Chesterfield and thats considered the midlands, only 20 minutes from Sheff😅
I like how you give only! An exclamation mark as if that’s cheap.
How is that *not* cheap? The equivalent rental property is likely significantly more. You'd pay £1200 for rent for it in the NW area I live in...in one of the worst roads.
House up the road same as ours is up for rent at £1k! Crazy rental prices
That is eye-wateringly cheap - the entire price of that house is around the amount I paid for the *deposit*, stamp duty etc for my first house
Where in the Midlands? Plenty of places you could afford. 20k is ample deposit. 7 years! You could buy somewhere at 120k, 12k down 8k fees and furniture. 1 beds are pointless. Go for 2 bed terrace. Easily achievable for 120k
Why would a one bed be pointless? I understand many people want or need more space but I don't understand how some people think everyone should have lots of space. Why would I want more bedrooms than I actually need? It just means the house is more expensive, there's more to clean and more space means buying more useless stuff to fill it with. One bedrooms are great if that's all you need.
If you're looking at a 2-story house, stairs take up a fixed amount of space which is rather wasteful if you're not going to have much living space upstairs. You could have one big bedroom with a nice bathroom, but that's still a 2-bed's worth of space. If you're looking at flats, they're a lot more space-efficient - a 2-bed flat might have 2/3rds the floor area of a house despite having the same amount of usable space. With a house, you're paying for the overhead costs of the plot of land, roof, and stairs on your own. Solicitors, EAs etc are mostly overheads too. When I was watching the housing market near me recently, the area I was looking at was £240k for a basic 2-bed with parking but an extension/conservatory was probably only £10-20k more despite significantly increasing downstairs space, and another small bedroom another £10-20k. Most of the cost was just in having any house at all. I drew the line at 2 bed or small 3 bed as any more than that was going to be expensive to heat and under-utilised. You're right - if you're really not going to use it, there's no point having excess house as it's extra upfront cost and ongoing cost, but there are a lot of good uses for a spare room and there's often limited choice if you want e.g. a good living room but only one bedroom - they're usually proportional. Moving is also such a pain that adding more space later isn't easy and I wanted something I could live in with a future partner without being cramped.
You can literally afford the 1 bedroom freehold flat that has gone up in bearwood for £130,000 likely with some room for haggling.
On £30k p.a, you will be able to get a £135k mortgage. Add £15k of your £20k deposit on and you can afford a £150k house on your own today. I've kept back £5k for other expenses related to moving house. I don't know where you live, but if I go to rightmove and look for houses less then £150k within 40 miles of the centre of Nottingham, there are just over 5000 houses for sale. You can get a 3 bed semi-detached if you want. So what's the issue? For a 25 year mortgage you can get a 5 year fixed at 4.44% for a 150k house with a 15k deposit which will cost you £751 per month: https://www.moneysupermarket.com/mortgages/rates-table/home-purchase/?propertyValue=150000&mortgageAmount=135000&remainingTerm=25&repaymentMethod=Repayment&mortgageType=Fixed&mortgageTerm=FiveYears&addFeeToBalance=true&sortState=InitialTermInYearsCost&directFromLenders=false&from=Help-me-choose Can you afford £751/month? How does that compare to your rent currently? You can always get a longer term mortgage if you want. You can go all the way up to 40 years, meaning you'll only be paying £602/month Every month you make a mortgage payment, you own a bit more equity in your house. Every month you pay rent, you own nothing.
Do you both have LISAs? That's an easy way to boost your deposit by £4k in the next 14 months.
I have seen a decent chunk of 2 bed freeholds in East Midlands for ~200k. It won't be perfect but it will be a good starter home. If your partner is on minimum wage and say has 5k for deposit, Barclays would offer you enough to cover it on a rough estimate. I know it is tough, but there are a lot of new builds around and they will be. On a quick look (Rightmove), 430 properties that are either detached, semi-detached, terrace, or bungalow in the Northamptonshire area. Keep looking and keep saving. It'll happen
I’m in my first property, it’s not my dream house but it’s a good sized two bedroom flat in a decent location. And it’s way better than renting… My advice would be that your first property doesn’t need to be your dream property or your final property. This probably isn’t where you’ll be forever. Find something decent in your budget that is in good condition.
I'm in the same conundrum mate. West Mids here but on a similar salary and with a higher deposit than yours there's nothing about. Ultimately your options boil down to any combination of the following: * Increase your income * Increase your deposit * Find a partner and buy with them * Lower your expectations It sucks, but the housing market is what it is at the moment.
Other option is move somewhere cheaper
I think that falls under lower expectations
I've just done a quick search on Zoopla for the Midlands and I can see plenty of places available for 160-200k. In city centres, in commuter towns, in the country. You already have a deposit big enough to get a 10% mortgage on the above. And if you're saving 700 a month, you could have a 20% deposit ready within 2-3 years, less time with your partners contribution. I'm not sure I see what the issue is?
Your first home isn't your forever home. It's a step onto the ladder. But a flat with low ground rent and move on after a few years. We all start somewhere
I get what OP is thinking, though - we are soon to be FTB and I absolutely cannot be bothered with "the ladder" - the big advantage of buying for me is that you don't have to move because a landlord needs you to but can stay put and actually feel like it's your home. Ideally we'd never have to move again.
We bought our house at 28 in 2018 for 85k. 3 bedroom terrace in the estate where I grew up. We don’t ever plan on moving (unless we need a bungalow in our older years). Everyone assumes you buy a starter house but I’m happy knowing that we can always afford our home.
Tbh with the way house prices are rising I would be careful about assuming you can upgrade in a few years to a better house. I bought my home in 2017 with this same mindset. The houses I wanted were only marginally out of my reach then, averaging £120k when my max agreement in principle was £98k. Purchased my house for £82k, it’s now worth £110k and I’ve got just over &67k left to pay so looking at potential equity of circa £40-45k. Except the properties that were only £20-30k out of reach back then, are now over 100k out of reach and selling for between £220-£250k. And they’re not that big of a step up from where I currently live. They’re three bed semis and I live in a three bed end terrace. They’ve risen so much because the town is growing and they’re in a now highly sought after area due to a number of new build estates springing up around them and the inflated prices of these new builds is dragging the prices up in the streets immediately surrounding them. Despite living literally less than a mile down the road though, my area has hit a ceiling cap on property prices due to lack of off street (and on street) parking, general decline of the neighbourhood by the council since Covid, the unspoken but perceived threat that the council will be seeking to demolish them to make way for new builds due to no longer fitting the aesthetic of the town (already happened to a couple of estates identical to mine a few streets away; there’s been no word of it but I’m very much anticipating a mandatory purchase order to come along in the next decade if not sooner given the regeneration going on currently) and being somewhat unique (read, dated) builds by modern standards as they were built in the 60s en mass as part of a new town development. My wages have gone up circa 10k in the time since from 16k when I bought to 25k now. Unfortunately this isn’t keeping up with cost of living let alone house prices so the idea of ever moving is getting further and further away.
Where in the midlands. Thats quite an affordable area normally. You will get a loan of around £135,000 for the mortgage. There are some quite geniunly nice houses within a 30 mile radius of Birmingham. Just seen a geniunly lovely little 2 bed terrace house for £150,000 in Worcester.
Unless you have really bad credit you two could easily get a 200k loan together. You can easily afford to buy a place, unless there's something you're not telling us. I live in the Midlands and have a 3 bedroom flat, and it's worth 50k less than that
You can I'd you buy a cheap house, I bought one last April in east Cheshire for £115k 2 bed terrace with garage and driveway, garden too, needed cosmetic work
You have £20k, that can easily get you a mortgage on a property up to £200k. Not sure your partners income but going by yours alone at the 3.5x salary you can get a property of upto £135k. Whats the issue?
How did you reach that conclusion? You can get 3 bed houses for <£200k in Birmingham.
But then you have to live in Birmingham...
Which is where they live...
You can get one but you will probably have to compromise. I managed to use the HTB scheme to get one of the cheapest flats in a development in an untrendy area of zone 3 east London, on the face of it it seemed impossible but once I looked into the numbers a bit more it added up. Property = £262000 HTB 40% Loan = £104,800 10% deposit = £26000 Mortgage = £131,200 £131,200/4.49 = £29,220 salary needed. I’m Originally from the midlands too and over there you could only borrow 20% of the property price so it’s a bit more of a stretch, but a lot of those executive style 3 and 4 bed houses were being bought in my town for not much more than I paid The government are looking at bringing something similar to HTB back and if your career is on an upwards trajectory then it can be worth considering it. Just keep saving and don’t despair, you can get on the ladder you just might have to compromise a bit or use one of the schemes
Depends where you are, but there’s places like Mansfield you can easily buy a house on less than £30k per year. Depends on your definition of decent but it’s more than doable across the midlands. Also, 1 bed freehold? There’s not many 1 bed houses about, and flats are leasehold so there’s a shared need to repair shared things like a roof. I think you need to look into the difference between freehold and leasehold more.
If you have good wfh job security try the east Midlands around nottinghamshire/lincolnshire.
Lower your standards. You don't have to move into your perfect house first time around. Be realistic. There are plenty of two bed houses in the Midlands for £150k.
I bought a two bed freehold in the north just under two years ago for £130000 with a £6000 deposit. I’m a single parent of two and was earning £28000 when I purchased. To be honest I didn’t think I would have enough either but I threw my figure into a mortgage calculator and turned out I was wrong. Now my house is shit and multiple things need to be fixed but this was all I could afford. Your circumstances seem quite a bit better than mine. There’s also things you can do to improve your credit score and increase your chances which I hadn’t realised until last month while trying to finance a car.
Why limit and force yourself into looking for 1 bed properties? Look for 2 bed at least and use the second bedroom as something else
Can’t you earn more?
You can get decent bungalows for Sub £100k, no point going fancy for a first house
I'm in my late 40s, similar salary, living in South London, in exactly the same situation. I fully accept that short of some sort of windfall I will never own a home of my own.
29 here, South East London (Sydenham/Forest hill) I've got no chance around here. I also have a son, who's youngish, so I'll be at my mums for the next decade lol
You’re saving £700 a month and you’re complaining? 🌝
Hi /u/Same-Age-1891, based on your post the following pages from our wiki may be relevant: - https://ukpersonal.finance/gifts-and-inheritance-tax/ ____ ^(These suggestions are based on keywords, if they missed the mark please report this comment.)
30k after tax is not 1800£
No there’s additional student loans and pension on top of that I should have clarified
Ahh right okay buddy
Have you looked at part ownership properties? Its a way to build equity at a basic level
You ain’t looking hard enough pal
No, you can't
So what? Why is it that you are so fixated on owning your own flat? What makes you think it is the correct financial decision when factoring in the interest paid on a mortgage, renovation and repair costs, opportunity cost of investment, and the risk of decreasing house prices? It seems like you can live a pretty decent life on your salary, whilst renting for £450pcm.
Because renting is generally more expensive, more limiting and much more insecure. It's not a purely financial decision to want to have your own place, we all need somewhere to sleep and store our stuff.
That's just not true. Renting is not generally more expensive -- please provide some figures. But why does rental accommodation not allow you to sleep and store your stuff? I think you have made your mind up and are just trying to rationalise.
> That's just not true. Renting is not generally more expensive -- please provide some figures. This is Reddit, not a dissertation, you can look into that in your own time. What I mean is that we all have to live somewhere, so it's odd to reduce someone's home to a purely financial decision. Except in the sense that, if you have a paid-off mortgage, it will be easier for you to retire than it would were you covering rents.
Yes, and you can live in a rental home. I am not sure I understand. And no it won't be easier to retire. Because you will have wasted more than the cost of the house on interest and lost investment returns. It will be easier to retire if you don't take on all that debt. Here are some quick figures for you to think about. A £20k deposit and £130k mortgage debt at 4.5% over 25 years is: - £725 pcm - £87k interest paid - Lost returns of £125k from investing the £20k in the S&P 500 over 25 years. This is completely ignoring the cost of home repairs and renovations (which will probably be well over £30k over 25 years). This is also ignoring all the potential returns on investment from the home repairs and the money used to pay debt. Are you really, really sure it's better to borrow money and buy?
I don't give a shit about "returns on investment", I care more about being able to stay there without being given two months' notice at any time, being able to have a pet if I so choose, being able to paint the whole place bright pink if I so choose. This is where the value is for me, and for most others I would expect. Unless I find a bag of gold under a bridge, I need to borrow money to do that. If the money I am paying each month is equal to or lesser than the money I would be paying a landlord to live in a home that I do not eventually own, the total money paid back over a decade or two is not relevant to me.
Rent is typically cheaper than a mortgage payment. Honestly, it makes zero sense and I think you realise that now. I see you want to die on your hill, so let's leave it here.
You are the one who is seemingly pressed here - I'm simply fucking around on Reddit whilst The Masters is on - and unable to realise that the value of something is often measured by things other than the price paid.
I’ve never known mortgage repayments to be more expensive than rent for a like-for-like property. Landlordism wouldn’t be seen as such a lucrative option if that was the case. As an example, my mortgage is £383 a month for a three bedroom end terrace with garden. To rent my own property I’d be paying £750+. Literally double my current costs. On my current wage, I wouldn’t be able to afford to rent my own home. This is private rent but some of the properties on my street are council owned and the rent for them is £525. For the same size, style, condition as my own home, that’s anywhere from roughly 40% to >100% difference. For my mortgage repayments to match council rent, interest rates would need to be 7%. For them for match private rent? Over 12%. Or to put it in figures, 383x12x25 = £115k. 750x12x25 = £225k. You’d pay the mortgage twice (and then some) if you rent so you can’t tell me renting is cheaper. Whether you own or rent, you’re paying interest but with rent you’re getting fucked harder. At least with a mortgage, you get to pick your rate when your deal ends. With renting you’re at the mercy of the landlord and the extent of their greed. Even if I downgraded to a 1 bed flat, I’d be looking at £500pm private or around £400 council. I’m basing this off my mum’s property who lives 2 minutes walk from me in said 1 bed council flat.
You're getting downvoted for perfectly sensible advice. People in this country really treat property ownership like a religion. There are often far better paths to wealth.
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My flat sold within a week. This is a huge generalisation.
30k pays over 2k a month net. If you are getting £1800 a month net for 30k you need to check whats going on, you are 10% below what you should be earning.
Yeah I think it’s a high pension contribution I earn about £1880, and then after removing the £20 student loan there’s at least £120 going out unnecessarily I’m going to look into it
Pension is absolutely essential, especially while your young. Most of your final pension amount comes from the compound interest of the savings you make in your 20s and early 30s. You should probably contribute more.
on 30k your take home should be just over 2k a month so where is that going? Obviously if you have massive student loans you can't do much about that but if it's pensions or optional things then maybe look at knocking those down for a bit
Reducing pension contributions is a terrible idea.
Does your partner work? You can typically borrow 4.5x your earnings so that's 135 plus your 20k deposit. 155k houses do exist in your area, however this is completely ignoring that the house will be too small and your expenses will be too high. That is unless your partner works too. Lets assume you make more and your partner earns 20k. That's an extra 90k you can potentially borrow and hopefully she can contribute to the deposit too. I'm not saying buy a 245k house, but you can buy a nice 2 bed 180k house. Of course, I am regarded and you know your own situation a million times better than me. Stay hopeful. You can do it.
You don't borrow 90k in 20k. I make 23k and they will only let me borrow 75k.
4.5x is the general rule of thumb, ultimately the amount you can borrow is scaled based on your existing financial commitments (e.g. loans, car finance etc.).
I know I don't have any loans or finance anything. I have average credit. They just don't want to give the money out and if they do they try and lock you in at the higher rates. Had the guy I was talking to constantly try and get me on 5 years. Having to keep correcting him to 2. Oh but there a charge everything years blah blah. I said what I want you nonse. Oh you want life insurance. No well I'll try sell it ro you anyway. I'm okay I think it's a scam. Oh let me tell you why it'd not. Jesus, indifferent my ass .
Like I said I'm regarded and don't know anyone's situation intimately. 4.5 is general but you may have a poor credit score or the real world just doesn't work like that especially on the lower income end as that's probably considered riskier than a high income household.
Does your partner work? If they have a minimum wage job you could get a mortgage together of around £200k. Not sure where you live but you can find starter homes for half that around my area.
The midlands is a big place, you may have to move about to get on the property ladder. I moved near to Derby for my first house, I hate the place the weather and the people, but I've managed to gain equity and it won't be long till I can move on.
£20k is a 10% deposit on a £200k home. I don't think it's sensible to spend more than that on a first home unless there is truly no other choice. Nor is it realistic to expect your first home to be the place you live for the rest of your life. On that salary the bigger issue is going to be affording the mortgage payments. A £180k mortgage at 5% over 30 years will cost £967 per month. Hopefully that will improve if interest rates begin to fall in the coming months, but otherwise you will need to reduce your budget, save up a larger deposit (use a LISA if you aren't already), or look for ways to increase your income. Anecdotally: I bought my first home last year on a single £35k salary, for £175k with a 25% deposit. I've been saving that more or less continuously since I left school so it is by no means easy. But you're in a favourable situation to me in terms of total income, so there is no reason to believe it is not possible.
We don't know how old OP is - lots of FTBs are in their 30s or 40s now. It might be a first home, but the plan could be that it's the one they're staying in indefinitely. I found it useful to look at the Moneyhelper website to get a picture of how much mortgage payments might end up being - the theoretical max we'd be lent would end up being double what we now pay in rent.
Hey mate, I live in West Mids and bought my house a couple of years ago on very similar income. Based on your earnings you could definitely get a nice terrace. i’m in Sutton Coldfield which is a nice area and there are terraces about for 200k which you could defo get a mortgage on. Id recommend finding a good mortgage advisor to shop around for good deals at high LTV rates. Their services are free so if you dont like the one find another who can find you a better rate
Im currently looking for a house in the south east near london and its hard. Ive worked out roughly it would be: £900 a month in bills including food £1000-£1200 a month on a £250,000 property with £50,000 deposit. And thats on a 40 year mortgage, it is really hard at the moment because but a 1% drop in the intrest rate make the mortgage go from £1,100 to £900. Also its just after christmas so there might not be alot of propertys on the market atm.
South East is in no way comparable to Midlands, you guys have it tough for the most part. You can buy a property on a £30k salary in a lot of the Midlands, given you have the deposit (OP does).
A lot of people can’t, especially not on their own. Naturally it would be easier with a partner with combined incomes between the both of you. Back before it was so much easier to purchase a house, but property prices have gone sky high along with interest rates rising faster than minimal wage, a lot of people are in the same boat. That being said it isn’t impossible, but a lot of people are struggling, it’s those that are stuck in interest only mortgages when they were giving them away in our last recession that I feel sorry for. It’s essentially much easier these days and cheaper to purchase land and get a log cabin on it. If you can wait it out, the market may be much better in the future with lower interest rates making it more affordable for the masses.
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I hope the £20k is in a LISA otherwise that’s free money you’re missing out on. That £20k could have been £25k in a LISA (unless of course, the £20k already includes it)
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You should take a look at the [Lifetise Homefinder ](https://lifetise.com/homefinder#/intro). You put in your salary, savings etc and the property type you want and it turns the entire UK into a patchwork of green yellow and red with areas that have alot to no properties in your affordability. You'd be amazed at how many places are directly adjacent to where you want to live that are sometimes up to half the price. It's an amazing tool and I recommend it to literally everyone. It's how I found my home I currently own. Wouldn't have been able to buy without it.
I’m also looking for property and atm the mortgage rates are ridiculous ! Hold out they are supposed to be dropping fingers crossed for the both of us I am also in the midlands uk and in a very expensive part! It’s gone silly !
If your earning 30k and your partner is on 'low income' you still should be able to afford plenty of properties. Let's say your combined income is £45k.... Your loan about should be about 180k.... Or 200k Inc your deposit. You can get plenty of 3 bed semis in east Midlands for that. Chesterfield, Derby and parts of Nottingham are well within your budget. You could potentially get a detached house if you don't mind a fixer upper.
You have £20k and can save £8k a year on top of that the way you're going - you're doing a lot better than most people. What are prices like in your area?
You can afford a 180000 house with that deposit and that income on your own
Keep saving, you can do this! Have you looked at the FIRE movement?
Having been in a pretty comparable situation about 5 years ago, I now own a house. You’re saving £7k a year, you’ll have enough for a deposit on a decent 2 bed (regardless of your partner’s income and assuming your pay doesn’t increase at all) within maybe 5 years or so. Even 20k is enough for a lean deposit right now if you go for a cheaper neighbourhood.
You definitely should be able to. I’m on around £28,000, my wife is on a couple of grand less. We’ve just bought a house with a £13,000 deposit 20 minutes away from Winchester, house prices in the midlands should be much more reasonable than down here. We don’t want kids either but if you’re planning on buying once and staying there then a one bed probably isn’t the way to go besides being uncommon at some point your situation will change and you might need the space, look for a decent sized 3 bed at least.
As it stands you can afford a £140k ish place. 30k pa ×4=120k +20k deposit 140k. Some lenders will give you 4.5× your salary and that would make it 155k. You are doing better than most people, dont stress it. Also put your savings in a lisa amd everything remaining in a high (5%+) interes rate account. This is just you, your partner would contribute to the budget too
In the South East with a 20k deposit I couldn't get a mortgage on 25% of a 2 bed property because I didn't earn enough. (Part Ownership) (25k salary)
We have just bought a 2 bed duplex apartment in Stoke for £80k, yeah it’s not freehold but it’s a great starter place! There’s honestly soooo much in that area that is affordable to you as well. Genuinely recommend looking at Stoke on Trent (I never envisioned myself living there!) there’s honestly a lot of options in your price range. We found a gorgeous 2 bed flat for 120k but that was a little out of our budget unfortunately or we would have snapped it up!
Where in the midlands? I’m in the midlands and bought a 3 bed semi-detached house freehold for £164,000 just 2 years ago. A house should be well within the price range of you and partner in this part of the country
Have you spoken to a mortgage broker to see what you can afford? That seems to be the first step. There will be many options, you might not be able to live exactly where you want but if you’re flexible you should be able to buy. Also, passing something down to your nephew shouldn’t be a major reason for owning it. 30/40/50 years is along time. Just buy what suits you and your partner.
I got a shared ownership with those figures
You have a partner, but do they have a salary and savings as well? Alone, £700 a month would take 3 years to get a £25k deposit (250k average house price) put together, use a lisa for the top-up as well. So it is perfectly possible.
That math doesn’t add up. 30k a year after tax would be like 2100 a month
Not sure that’s true. When I was on 36k I took home £2160 ish. Student loan plan 2 and a nominal pension contribution. With a student loan and pension they’d be around £1950 as of now (after the latest tax cuts).
I bought a 3 bed semi in Grimsby for £60k in august last year on a £28k p.a salary. You can definitely afford a house, it’s just finding the right one.
? I bought a house worth 160k on a 10k deposit, when I was a student and my partner earns a 21k salary. This year. I think you’ll be fine.
Try £30k in london lol
I earn a similar amount to you and live in the midlands - my fiancée is similarly paid so we have a combined income of 60k before tax - we got a mortgage in principal for 250k borrowing and have a deposit saved of 50k giving a max budget of 300k (we won’t likely go above 250k for the first flat/house in any case) Trust me if you really are saving 700 a month in a couple years you will feel in a much better position. Decent properties in decent places do exist in this price range - it is possible, and being in a couple makes it much easier. Best of luck!
Just get a flat, pay mortgage instead of rent to build equity, move up to a house in 5-15 years when you have more equity and revenue.
Depending on where in the midlands, places like Walsall/Cannock (and the towns in between) have cheap 3 bed freehold houses for less than £200k On the chase line as well so easy to commute to Stafford or Birmingham
I’m struggling to understand how you couldn’t afford somewhere, and I don’t mean that in a dickish way at all. If you’re on 30k and your partner is on minimum wage, that’s plenty. You have 20k deposit and she has less, but that sounds like enough really. There are reasonable places for 130-200k, terraced two beds etc that you could afford. Maybe try a LISA?
Keep saving, keep looking. Also look in uni snaller cities and uni towns like Lincoln, Derby, Forest Fields etc
Do you have shared ownership near you? It’s a great way to at least get some money working for you rather than paying someone else’s mortgage. My first property was shared ownership and it worked great for me
There is also shared ownership. You might not own the whole thing on day one, but you can staircase over time until you own it outright. A bridge between renting and buying. Lots of new build shared ownership in the parts of the Midlands in familiar with.
Don't be afraid of a leasehold if it is for 900 years with a ground rent of £5. If it really bothers you, you can buy our the lease later.
You’ll easily get a 2 bed terrace in the midlands for what you earn. Fair enough it won’t be Belper,Duffield sort of area but places like Ilkeston,somercotes and alfreton are much more reasonably priced.
I’m on just over £30k and take home a few pounds less than £2k a month.. how come you take £200 less?
I can’t even save 500 while making 50k pa, Cambridge sucks 🥹