Complainypants Housing, London Edition

[zephyr911]

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/still-dreaming-of-owning-your-own-home-unless-youve-got-wealthy-parents-forget-about-it-10072876.html

[NykkiC]

IMO, the reason that articles such as these get run semi-regularly in most newspapers (aside from filling space on a slow news week) is that so many people click on them so that they can be told "no, its not your fault. Its not that you're spending like crazy, or that you've bought so much on credit that half your income is spent on interest payments. Its the fault of [immigrants/the banks/spoilt rich kids spending Daddy or Mummy's money/headless chickens/the price of tea in China]. Really, its not your fault, you little angel you."

Its validating the blame shifting of spendypantses, plain and simple.

[capital]

Point out to me where there are family-sized dwellings in a safe neighborhood with a commute less than 30 minutes to the CBD affordable on the median household income, or even twice it, in London, or New York, or San Francisco, or Los Angeles.

Obviously one can move away, or to a dangerous neighborhood, or accept a brutal commute. But when one is from such a city, or can only find work in their chosen industry there, the distress is understandable. Many big cities have housing policy sufficiently bad that there are no good choices for the middle class, or even those significantly above it.

[crazylemon]

Standard Londoner complaint these days. Most of my friends who are working in london are not Saving much/any and complain they can't afford too while eating out for lunch most days and at least one evening a week. Plus the nights 'out' the expensive food at home etc. Plus the large double bedroom/nice area. They could even with a slightly better attitude be able to get to a deposit on an ok flat in a not super desirable area.

Only one couple I know in london are saving enough to be able to buy within the next few months and that is a household income of ~£75k ($115k).

There are others who will no matter how frugal never be able to buy. But what do you expect when your salary tops out at £15k?

[Avidconsumer]

To be honest, this is very true. Housing is very expensive in these cities and yes you can save a lot and get on it, but salaries are not proportionate to house prices, and the cost of living is very high. It can be done, but its not easy as the rest of the country.

[nlips]

If you were pointing out that wanting to live in London is daft, I'd be happy to agree.  However, when the article says that housing is too expensive some commenters have said that's just down to the prospective buyers' spending habits rather than prices.

A quick search on rightmove.co.uk (probably the largest property site for the UK) shows the cheapest properties in a few categories:

house with 2+ bedrooms within 3 miles of the centre http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48871358.html at £425k ($650k)
house with 2+ bedrooms within 5 miles of the centre http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50711177.html at just shy of £300k $450k)
apartment with 3+ bedrooms within 5 miles of the centre http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33596238.html at £230k ($350k).

This is partly why my wife and I never plan to buy a home here - it's a rip-off!  But saying the young can't afford to buy in London is because they're eating out all the time, is somewhere between naive and wilfully ignorant.

[pancakes]

Ignoring the perhaps false idea that young people can't afford to own a home, I do think the author is right and we put too much emphasis on home ownership as a measure of success. Even if you can afford to, it doesn't automatically mean that you should.

I don't know too much about the rental market in the UK. I know (from the snide comments that my in-laws make) that in Australia renting is largely seen as an undesirable living arrangement that you'd only partake in if there is no other option. My co-works cannot comprehend why I haven't bought a house yet (In case you are wondering, I haven't bought a house because we'd be looking to move in 3-5 years and I believe there is a real risk of us being worse off financial if we wanted to sell at that point, I'm also not really into managing a rental 4000km away from home).