Cost of living

[Blaze]

This is a subject that seems to crop up all the time. The French took to the streets a few days ago moaning about their lack of spending power (among other things) yet encouraged by the government to spend, spend, spend.

Today this article appeared on the BBC website :
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq65m95gqdjo
It's all about young people having to move back or continue living with their parents because they can't afford to have their own place ... get out the violins, it's time they lived in the real world where things aren't handed to you on a plate. You have to make choices and sacrifices.

I wonder where people on this forum were living when they were 21 ? At home ? In digs ? Renting a bedsit ? Sharing a rented flat ? In your own property and paying a mortgage ?

The data shared exclusively with the BBC suggested nearly 98% of adults living with their parents could not afford to pay what the average first-time buyer pays for a house in their area.
Even if they could afford a deposit, nine in 10 would face mortgage or rent payments, council tax, utility bills, insurance and maintenance costs that would use up nearly half of their income. If they bought a flat, that figure falls to eight in 10.

Well, blow me. Living costs using up nearly half their income ??????? Welcome to the real world where not everything is handed to you on a plate. It was ever thus for the average person. The young woman (21) was moaning about not being able to afford her own place and having to move back with her parents.
How many people here had their "own place", whether rented or owned, at 21 ?
The expectations of young people today are sometimes mind boggling. It doesn't occur to them that many of us worked for years to get what they seem to think they have a right to immediately. Many haven't the slightest notion that sometimes you have to choose whether to upgrade your smartphone or pay you electricity bill.

One thing that has changed since my youth is that younger people are in relationships and want to live together. They don't want to share with others so naturally they are going to have bigger outgoings. But whether they buy or rent carries costs and responsibilities and they have to decide on their priorities which would probably mean sacrifices .....

Sorry about the rant, folks, but realistically, how many people today earn enough dosh at 21 to have a mortgage on a property ?

[Lori]

At 21, I had recently married and we were living in a dumpy apartment FAR from either of our parents. Both working.

[demi]

But, I remember when I was first married (1985) that between us we were earning a\bout £20k and the cost of a 3 bed house (detatched) where we lived was £28k. Not nearly such a gap between income & house prices as there is now.

[Headers]

When we married in 1977 I was earning £1000 a year and OH £2000.
Our house was a total wreck that we paid 9500 for and we had a mortgage. We drove a 15 year old VW that we bought for 325 quid.No holidays away - always working on the money pit house! Always skint. But finding and holding onto a job was much easier. No student debt. Much lower expectations. Second hand everything. No gadgets. Life was a lot simpler. AND we had no idea what was going on apart from what the press and news chose to tell us.

[exile]

At 21 I was still in university provided accommodation. When I left at 25 and started a proper job, I had a very healthy salary in excess of £4k pa. Our house that we bought with a mortgage was somewhat less than 3 times my salary. OH was also working.

Today the same houses in the same town costs more than 20 times what we paid. I am sure that salaries for new starters out of uni are not at above £80k.

While I am sure that you have some real points about expenditure and aspirations of todays youth, I do have some sympathy for them. The world has changed and availability and cost of housing has worsened significantly.

[exile]

I will just amend my post above. We bought an end of terrace house in a small development. All the houses were essentially identical as built with the only difference being mid or end terrace. I just checked out of curiosity with the land registry and the highest price achieved in the street in last 10 years was £465,000. Near as damn it 40 times what we paid rather than the 20 I suggested.

The gardens were a reasonable size but hardly big enough to build a granny flat, outside Gym and swimming pool and jacuzzi.

So we are looking at starting salaries for new starters at £160,000.

Note to self: You F'ing idiot. Why did you sell this when you moved to the North? You could have been a property magnate.

[widge]

I think kids these days have both too much but also not enough money, not enough to get on the property market or even rent, so stay at home cheaply therefore have loads of money in their pockets, which they can't be bothered to save, as they dont see the possibility of ever getting on the property lader.

[Bayleaf]

Bit of a generalisation there Widge! I know many youngsters who work really hard to achieve their homes and dreams, and save. My own children have very different situations, but they're both doing their best to get on in a very different world to what we all grew up in. Naturally the article on the OP is going to take a small cross-section of probably the worst cases - makes a better story.

The world is a very different place, cost of living has rocketed but wages haven't. I know many youngsters who live with their parents (not so long ago three generations were under one roof, no?). They have full time jobs, and pay rent to their parents, as the parents also struggle with all the bills. Why pay rent to a stranger when you can help the family? What's the rush to start paying out on a hefty, if not impossible, mortgage? I'll say it again, the world is a VERY different place and it's not going to improve. Youngsters didn't ask for all the techie stuff being shoved in their faces, many of them don't know any different.

Cut them some slack I say - I wouldn't want to be a youngun starting out today.

[Wilbro]

Our daughter saves like crazy but as she saves the houseprices keep moving away from her. The 1970's when I bought my first house it was much easier and the cost of purchase was in low single figures compared to income. Now the house prices are just ridiculous.

[MAD87]

I agree with all of the above, inc. Blaze's original post.
Times are indeed different, but children do expect more - I've seen it with my own, x 4. Only my daughters have been able to spend freely and have nice homes, due to hard work and good career choices. Still, three are mortgaged up to the hilt, which frightens me somewhat.
At 21 I was stiill a student, but 4 years later I had my first child and first house, a big Edwardian doer-upper. Baby in one hand, paintbrush in the other. And there's something - doing up seems less attractive to the young, despite the French being the first to have discovered DIY

In those days, you could only borrow 2.5 x your income. That wouldn't go too far these days, even in France. Not to mention the cost of renting, especially in the cities.