Owning your own home

Surely the other 50% are footballers and the like

That can't be unusual.

The other aspect in play may be people expecting a hefty inheritance at some point. Although there aren't any guarantees a lot of people will come into a fair whack of money in their fifties/sixties, which might well pay off any outstanding mortgage.

How many bankers, lawyers, accountants, management consultants are there in London? Starting salary at Clearly Gottlieb, for example, is over £100k. I guess even junior bankers could be halfway towards a £240k deposit in a good bonus year.

I'm not convinced it is all folks behaving with reckless financial abandon. Simple fact is that demand outstrips supply right across the spectrum. For the houses we are enviously eyeing, there are probably many more eyeing ours and asking the same questions about affordability.

Yeah that's true. Junior to mid Accountants, MCs, lawyers don't earn enough. The senior guys do. Bankers do. Some tech bros do. Fucking instagram influencers do. I could believe there's enough of those types but I just question why any would buy a two up two down in Kensal Rise. But maybe they don't, it's only mugs like me who are 'forced' in to it after being priced out of somewhere else.

East Ham I'm coming!

Right, but what happens if one of the people lose their job? The remaining salary might cover the mortgage but maybe not.

I’m fortunate that I could technically pay a fairly large mortgage (probably around 4K/month), and still have some pocket money. But- the prospect terrifies me, as there’s no way I could save enough at the same time to have a decent cushion in case I lost my job.

I could of course simply count on always being employed with no gaps- but I don’t think that’s realistic these days.

Maybe I should roll the dice and YOLO, but the prospect makes me uncomfortable.

I’m fortunate that I could technically pay a fairly large mortgage (probably around 4K/month), and still have some pocket money. But- the prospect terrifies me, as there’s no way I could save enough at the same time to have a decent cushion in case I lost my job.

That's exactly the case for an offset mortgage.

(Well, it depends on how much you have beyond that £4k/month. If you're right on the limit then you're not going to be putting much else into the savings part of the offset, it's going to be all repayment. An interest-only offset would be ideal but probably hard to come by at those levels.)

I guess most of these people don't intend to stay in London forever do they? So as long as you can get a long fix and remortgage once or twice and your LTV will of improved by houseprice growth you are laughing and then bounce to the Shires to start a family or career change so it never needs paying off

So as long as you can get a long fix and remortgage once or twice and your LTV will of improved by houseprice growth you are laughing and then bounce to the Shires

Yep suspect this is largely it.

So currently brokers can't offer 95% or 90% LTV mortgages it seems and only a few banks offering them direct, that must be screwing up the bottom of some chains

Not with a hefty deposit. A couple who bought a flat each 10 years ago and are now settling down together are possibly going to have £500-600k of deposit or so. That gives a monthly mortgage of something like £1,800 - £2k a month which is pretty affordable in the grand scheme of a £1m house.

Only if they are young enough to get a 25-30 year mortgage.

This place - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-93060317.html

Mediocre house, mediocre location

£1,100,000
SDLT: £53,750
Budget £15k moving costs / furniture whatnot
Assume they sell a flat and have £450,000 after they've paid EA fees

Still need to borrow £700,000 - at 1.4% on a 15 year repayment that's £4k a month

Would take a household income of around £170k to achieve it. If they have that, fine, £4k a month is shrug, but then if they have that, they wouldn't buy that property.

Aren't all of these mediocre million pound three beds in mediocre locations going to implode in value if 60-80% remote working becomes a viable option for many? Doesn't matter how shit your commute is if it's only two days a week.

My mind is blown by that. Stop looking in Kensal Rise.

But it's everywhere.

Except East Ham. And SE6.

OK exaggeration. It's not everywhere. But I've been looking all over the map inside the north / south circular and it feels bad, like really bad. Feels like you need £800k minimum for a viable family house in an area that isn't a massive gamble - if you even remotely picky (i.e. you want a garden that isn't a concrete patch or off street) t

I could imagine some convergence between London and the Home Counties but hard to know whether that’s from London actually going down or a whole load of cash pumping up less commutable places outside. Either way I don’t envy those living in the SE not on London professional salaries (said without malice).

Aren't all of these mediocre million pound three beds in mediocre locations going to implode in value if 60-80% remote working becomes a viable option for many?

Depends how much you want to pay for the option of a quick cycle ride to Portobello Road or South Ken for the Natural History Museum. The culture stuff that's unmatchable is important to some.

Obvs. that's largely irrelevant at the moment, but pre C19 it was something we were thinking about.

You would be amazed...

Feels a bit weedy to say it, but I'd quite like a place to live that I like which doesn't mean that my life implodes if I get made redundant.

I think my current (shared) mortgage of £500/month has spoiled me, maybe if I'd been paying £2,500/month for the last ten years I'd be inured to it.

How many people of 35 and under earn 160k a year?

You could survey the forum anonymously, but I'm not sure we have any members who are under 35 anymore.

SE6, cant be that bad surely? There is a 3 bed house on the market, near Forest Hill (admittedly its other side of the tracks) for £500k, needs about £50k spending on it then it'll be fine.

@Dammit - definately YOLO. What are these things savings you're talking of?

It's a good point, I'm waiting to see what my company decide is "normal" post-COVID, if I'm only expected in the office a couple of days a fortnight, sure, a shire commute would be bearable. But am I ready for shire life? Stewart Lee did a great bit about leaving London and living in the country.

As someone already living the shire life with a (pre-covid) five day commute, I'm hoping for an even more rural move + car & train two day commute next year and cashing in our current place to some affluent London first time buyers looking to escape. Not sure how I get to the million pound house yet but it's progress.

Its funny we're all talking about upping sticks, I flirted with the idea of moving down to Folkestone - a few industry people have ended up there, but then thought about the winter and being in Folkestone. Any forumers from those parts? Mrs' Matt is very up for it.

The bang for buck down there is pretty epic.

Mediocre place was sold for £156k in 1998 and £630k in 2012

CBRE wrote an article that house prices have increased on average 10.9% per year if within 5-10 mins of a tube line since 1998.

Take mediocre house, that increase is inline with the current price.

Want cheaper, don’t buy near the tube.

I've only visitied (in the summer) when taking a bike on the Eurotunnel and that didn't make me want to move there.