non - can't believe no-one else on here picked up this?

SlowDownDerek said:
But all these factors feed into the market in which younger people are operating in. Effectively it all boils down to higher prices relative to wages. Yes there are many different societal factors that cause this but ultimately it boils down to the same thing.

Your mention how two people can afford a house if they play their cards right (and even then probably not a house in most parts of the country) yet go back 40 years and one person could afford a house. That's a huge difference.
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most parts of country? probably areas of every part that has affordable housing.

generally, the reliance is that 2 people buy a house. more women are now employed and earning higher wages compared to 40 years ago.
 
SlowDownDerek said:
I don't think it's mean as a definition of working or middle class but simply a way of distinguishing the poorest children. Although I wouldn't describe myself as working class these days I would probably fit most definitions yet I also wouldn't have come under this definition.
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As in Fritter's post, we were all poor on Waterloo Estate. Back then, families lived form Thursday to Thursday. Everyone paid their rent on Mondays and put coins in the gas and electric. Savings account? No-one ever had much left over to save.

At the time, I wondered just how poor a family would have to be for those kids to get free school meals.
 
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MB1980 said:
most parts of country? probably areas of every part that has affordable housing.

generally, the reliance is that 2 people buy a house. more women are now employed and earning higher wages compared to 40 years ago.
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Well take this part of the country. Entry level house around £300k. Max mortgage for a couple on £40k is, say, 4.5x salary therefore £180k. They'd therefore need £120k deposit which would take 20 years to save up using your £500 per month. Obviously wages will grow in that time but not as fast as house prices.

I'm not sure what your second para means tbh. In 1980 people on single incomes could afford houses is my point.
 
ErikthViking said:
As in Fritter's post, we were all poor on Waterloo Estate. Back then, families lived form Thursday to Thursday. Everyone paid their rent on Mondays and put coins in the gas and electric. Savings account? No-one ever had much left over to save.

At the time, I wondered just how poor a family would have to be for those kids to get free school meals.
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I can feel a four Yorkshiremen sketch coming here....

.... "we dreamed of being poor on the Waterloo Estate..."
 
ErikthViking said:
I would suggest that a different definition is/was needed.

This is purely anecdotal, of course, but here were only half a dozen free school mealers when I attended Hillbourne Junior School and 90%+ of the kids came from Waterloo Estate. Did that make us all middle class? Can't recall anyone on Waterloo having a management job and very few true white collar workers. There was only one Volvo estate on the whole Estate!
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Off topic, but I delivered 40 children’s hard hats to Hillbourne primary school yesterday.
They’re building a brand new school next door and are planning visits for the kids during the build process.
I thought it was great.
 
MB1980 said:
Check your first response for assumptions...

Why do you not feel it's possible given the numbers I've suggested ?(which again, are below the median wage in every county).
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This was my first response:

"And yet first-time buyers are really struggling to get 'on the ladder'.

Perhaps, as part of a more nuanced discussion, they need to donate to the Conservative Party. ;-)"
 
SlowDownDerek said:
People on this very site are guilty of prejudice against working class people. Anyone from a working class background who's actually managed to make it will be ridiculed for their accent because apparently we're all supposed to try and sound as much like David Cameron or Boris Johnson as possible. Doesn't matter that they were/are shite at their jobs they sounded posh and that's all that mattered. Thatcher and Major had to change their accents to succeed for this very reason.
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Wtf are you on about??
 
SlowDownDerek said:
Well take this part of the country. Entry level house around £300k. Max mortgage for a couple on £40k is, say, 4.5x salary therefore £180k. They'd therefore need £120k deposit which would take 20 years to save up using your £500 per month. Obviously wages will grow in that time but not as fast as house prices.

I'm not sure what your second para means tbh. In 1980 people on single incomes could afford houses is my point.
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an entry level house or flat is cheaper than that in this area. you get on the ladder and then move up.

it's be only a small % of people earning 20k each, one or both probably earning more.

plenty of lenders are x5.

yes its different compared to years ago, a lot of things are - many better. but its possible to get on the ladder if thats your main concern/focus.
 
RobTrent said:
I didn't say it was impossible. But I do think rising house prices are squeezing out first time buyers, added to the fact that us Boomers have snaffled up the market.
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maybe they are, its not as 'easy' as decades ago, but if it's your main concern/priority its certainly possible.
 
MB1980 said:
an entry level house or flat is cheaper than that in this area. you get on the ladder and then move up.

it's be only a small % of people earning 20k each, one or both probably earning more.

plenty of lenders are x5.

yes its different compared to years ago, a lot of things are - many better. but its possible to get on the ladder if thats your main concern/focus.
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Yes I was deliberately talking about a house as opposed to a flat to make the point. A single income family could afford a house in 1980 and now two earners will only be able to afford an entry level flat. This is a problem.
 
SlowDownDerek said:
Yes I was deliberately talking about a house as opposed to a flat to make the point. A single income family could afford a house in 1980 and now two earners will only be able to afford an entry level flat. This is a problem.
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why is it a problem? plenty of people live in flats, including places like London, New York, Tokyo.
 
MB1980 said:
why is it a problem? plenty of people live in flats, including places like London, New York, Tokyo.
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It's a problem because people cant afford family homes in their 20s. What they can afford is a half share of a flat and even then they are likely to be older before they can get on the ladder. Not only is their quality of life compromised in terms of their options to raise a family at a younger age but their wealth accumulation is drastically reduced.

Wealth at age 30 is falling for every generation. The primary driver of wealth is now inheritance rather than earnings, which is not a good thing for society.
 
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