It breaks my heart to talk to my mum and have her not understand that I'm over 30 and straight up cannot afford to buy property. "Why don't you sell your car for a down payment?" as if that would be anywhere near enough. I think part of what makes her said, is it felt _so easy_ for folks born in the post-war boom to get in on some of that increased productivity, and she's devastated that I have seemingly missed out on that boat.
It just depends on WHERE you try to buy property. Yes of course it's going to be hard to buy a house in a popular area because you are competing with lots of rich people who also want to live there.
But there are still tons of places with extremely cheap land in the developed world.
Judging by your use of the word "mum" I'd guess you're in the UK. And yes, things are way harder in the UK since people get paid way less than America, the government takes way more from you in taxes, and the cost of basic things like food are higher. But I think you could still do what your mom is suggesting in some places in the UK. I can find plenty of starter homes in Scotland for 80k pounds for example.
I just think it's silly to expect houses to be cheap exactly where you want to live, because odds are tons of people also want to live there too and you have to compete with them. But if you are willing to be flexible, there is still plenty of space for the next generation to own property.
You can find houses for 30K in Liverpool, because the UK outside of London is poorer than a random Eastern European country (which is one of the many reasons why Eastern Europeans are running away from the UK). How much do you think you are going to make in a place such as Scotland or northern England?
>UK outside of London is poorer than a random Eastern European country
Yeah that's true, I think a lot of people in the US don't understand this at all. Everything British seems fancy and expensive, and we assume they all live like Londoners.
But you are right that wages are not going to be great in Scotland or northern England. But a great strategy that works well in the US, and I suspect would work well in the UK, is to just spend a few years living as cheaply as possible in a big city like London. Hoard as much money as possible, then take that and buy a house in a cheaper area.
In the US it is possible to live in a place like San Francisco for a few years, and if you live with roommates and don't fall for all the trappings that Californians go for (like ordering DoorDash every day or buying Teslas), you can easily save enough to buy a house for cash in a cheaper area. This strategy even works for tradespeople like plumbers/carpenters.
Once you own a house outright, most other things are relatively cheap living on local wages and you can live any kind of life you want.
There's no hoarding or saving. The wage/rent ratio is insanely skewed. This isn't a 'be smart' situation it's a 'something has to change before the bottom falls out' situation.
I did this in the Bay Area (one of the most expensive areas in the world to live). I lived with 5 roommates in a house. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it wasn't horrible either. The fact that there were 5 of us in one house meant we got the rent down to a very reasonable amount. I lived like this for many years and was able to save enough to buy a house for cash in a cheaper state.
Anyone can do this same strategy, it works well. Maybe they won't earn enough to buy an _entire_ house somewhere else, but they can earn enough to afford a large portion of one.
Aiming for a world where anyone can live wherever they want for peanuts is just not a realistic concept. Even when you build densely like in New York City, there will always be droves of people competing for the space in whatever system you build.
Sounds like you live in a privileged environment. Vast majority of people have never owned any property, nor anything else of real value actually. It's perfectly ok to not own.
I don’t think you understand the UK somewhat unusual and reasonably unique relationship with housing property.
Our entire social system is built around the idea that people own property, and that’s the primary driver of wealth generation. Not owning property in the UK means giving up to 70% of your salary each month on rent, and getting a shoe box in return, because renters are second class citizens in the UK with little protection.
It’s simply impossible to build any kind of wealth or security in the UK without owning property. You will forever find yourself living paycheque-to-paycheque, or waiting for the moment you get no-fault eviction which can be served to you after only 6 month from the start of your let. (And it happens, even to those with high earnings).
The UK has a strange, and incredibly unhealthy, obsession with home ownership and property prices. Millennials and GenZ pay every day for this unjust social folly.
If you rent in the UK, you experience a form of poverty that has been unknown in continental Europe since the 60s. Regular evictions and rent hikes, pest infestations, mould, damp, etc…
You would fall under the definition of a homeless person in a more serious country.
