First time buyers cannot afford houses?

[sobrique]

Well, the BBC is running an article titled First-time buyers face price woe
Basically, according to a survey from Halifax, first time buyers cannot afford houses in 92% of UK towns.
The compared the average house price with the average salary, and used the 'unaffordable' threshold at 4.27x salary.

Which really isn't news to anyone who's looking at the market at the moment.

Coventry, the situation looks like this:

Coventry
Average Cost: £130,325
Detached: £250,721
Semi-detached: £145,542
Terraced: £108,801
Flat: £91,466

So if you want to go and buy your own flat, you're going to need to be earning around £26k a year (assuming 3.5x salary mortgage). Oh, and will need a little over £4.5 grand up front for the deposit. OK, so if you're a couple, things get a little easier, but ...

Of course, the best bit, is if you get a morgage for your £130k, (at 5%) it'll cost you £768 a month.
But don't worry, a flat will only cost £538.

This is of course, for an 'average' house. I'm not quite sure what the baseline for 'average' is in and around Cov.

So, Scotland then?

Comments

[girl-working.livejournal.com]

Meh. At that maths, me & Tristan couldn't even afford the morgage on a flat atm with our incomes... :/

That sucks...

[jambon-gris.livejournal.com]

tell me about it dude

[jorune.livejournal.com]

You're right to point out the average price is a very misleading term. An average house is usually someone's second or third property in their lifetime. Very Very few people can buy an 'average' house. That's why everyone starts with a flat or 2 bedroom house.

That's why lots of people rent out spare rooms to help with the mortgage. You're in a very fortunate position. You could get a house and easily find people you know to cover the mortgage.

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

Yes. Problem is, 'entry level' is also a bar that's getting very high indeed.

And yes, letting out rooms is an option, but really not if you're living in an 'entry level' flat.

Oh well, I guess that's why the average age of first time buyers is now about 35.

[jorune.livejournal.com]

This housing market blows goats for first time buyers. It must really chug the cheese in the south east.