Much has been written of the market bouncing back but where on earth are the first time buyers?
I can answer that question…. saving saving saving, with hardly any interest being paid on those savings, thanks to Mr Brown our beloved leader and former chancellor.
If they don’t save up a whopping 10, 15 or 20% deposit (even 40% for the best rates) then there is NO ENTRY to the UK housing market.
A VERY frustrating time for first time buyers.
SO! What can you do if you are a first time buyer? Firstly, you can win the lottery, but if that doesn’t work, STOP buying those darn tickets and save the cash! With savings rates running at 2.5% (at best) and inflation running at 3.4% – you are losing money buy saving it – but save it you must.
There will come a time when the markets return to “normal”. This either means that the lenders will stop their panic that there is a property crash coming and lower the deposit requirements (lets face it we’ve had an uptick in house prices whether people like it or not)…. OR the house prices WILL start to drop and they’ll meet you half way. Without that deposit though, you have no chance, so stop buying those fancy trousers and start sewing patches on your knees – austerity will get you your deposit, but you’ll need patience!
I really feel sorry for the first time buyers in the country at the moment. When I bought my first house it cost me £50k for a large three bed semi with a 140ft garden – and people were still telling me I was crazy to pay that amount of money – and a housing crash is coming! Well, we’d just come out of the last crash, so people were nervous. I bought at the perfect time, so I could pat myself on the back – but actually I just think of my daughters and the impossible position they will be in if house prices remain where they are – and where they have been going for 14 or 15 years.
Tomorrow I’ll try and make some posts about house sharing (god send or living hell?) and government part ownership schemes….
Until then,
Mr E. Mortgage (see what I did there… mystery mortgage… OK it’s rubbish)
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