Inspired by a post in the Cost of Living thread. Be interested to know how this shakes out with age!
I don't. My house is nice, and I am eternally grateful to be a homeowner at all, but it's a small 2 bed terrace in a cheapish area (er, of an expensive city).
Of the friends I can think of, I reckon maybe 11 out of 12 live in less nice houses than their parents did/do. We're all in our mid 40s, and some of these people are fairly solidly middle class too.
Are we just a bunch of outliers? Or are the 40-somethings the generation where it starts to tip back?
NB - there is to be no generational fighting in this thread 😆
55 years old, more demanding job than my parents, no way I have ever been able to afford a home comparable to the one my parents brought me up in, not even close.
I definitely do. But they both downsized from family houses when they got older. I’d say my place is fairly equivalent to the last family house we lived in as a family.
Definitely less stressed than my Dad was in his job… but I am literally half a world away.
Well, technically - we own our modest semi, whereas my mum (now passed) and step dad live(d) in a council house.
However, that house is undoubtedly worth more than ours, being bigger and on the edge of a Peak District village
My parents lived in MOD married quarters for most of my childhood, and we settled in Buckinghamshire when my dad left the RAF. There's is no way I could afford to live in that part of the world. The house I own is a mid-terrace in Chorlton Manchester, it's nice, but value-wise compared to where they are...No chance.
Nice is subjective. So i'll use the term 'bigger' - physically bigger/more expensive.
Yes, mine is bigger than my (Silent Generation) parents. Of my other Gen X cohort friends, 75-80% fit that description. Their houses are bigger that their parents.
No, and we lived in a council house my mum later bought. Those houses worth over £500 000 now, my house is worth about £350 000 at best.
No. I live in a two bed flat, they have lived in a bunch of lovely houses. Im 65 they are in their 90s and now in a posh bungalow in a posh suburb
No. Small 3 bed semi here, they live in a huge 5 bed detached.
But, that's a decision on our part to keep a tiny mortgage and have lots of spare income (and have no kids).
Nicer is a bit "in the eye of the beholder" to me.
I live in a small, one bed old house out in the forest, but it has a decently large garden and fits me and the cat well enough. I don't need anything bigger and could probably go smaller, but compared to where I grew up it's a smaller house with a smaller garden.
I'm glad I have this place though. Living in a town would give me better access to work, facilities, social life (I guess), but would mean a big compromise on living space and economy. I've just had a look at the local housing website and all of the places that I could afford with a mortgage are either small, in town or not nice. Prices in town seem to be between 30 and 70k SEK/KVM and the nicest thing I can say about that is that at least it is cheaper than Stockholm.
Nah, I'm happy here. I'll probably leave in a box.
I just looked up, when my parents bought their "family" home in 1980 it was about 20,000 (which was quite expensive at the time and I think was very close to the maximum mortgage they could get even taking into account they were upsizing) according to inflation figures it should now be about 110,000. According to Rightmove, similar houses on that street have sold for 400,000+.
Nope - never even lived in a detached house as an adult (57 now).
My parents built 3 houses through the 70s and 80s and my dad still knocks around in a large 4 bed house on his own.
I'd love to be getting a cracking inheritance but they had a live-for-today lifestyle and there is equity release on his house now so there won't be a fat lot left to inherit!! 🙂
BUT - I'm mortgage free at 57 - my dad (via equity release) is still paying 'the-man' well into his 80's.
So I consider I'm winning.
My house is worth more due to its location, but it is definitely not as nice. Parents also have a better garden.
I do have a bigger garage though....
Nope. Nor does my other half. And we never will.
No. Nothing wrong with my house that a couple of extra rooms wouldn't fix but I always lived in bigger houses growing up. Saying that, we had a large family and my parents went without other things to provide a suitable home for us. Thinking about it though, only my dad worked while we were growing up (Education Officer so good salary without being well off) where as both my wife and I do and we couldn't get close to affording the houses I grew up in.
On my wife's side her parents house is also way past what we could afford although her mum was a teacher and dad made decent money in sales.
Nope, I live in a small 3 bed terrace (but big garden), grew up in a 4 bed semi detached house.
Mum now has a 4 bed detached house that is empty most of the year as she spends majority of her time in Turkey in a 5 bed detached with a pool.
I just looked up, when my parents bought their "family" home in 1980 it was about 20,000 (which was quite expensive at the time and I think was very close to the maximum mortgage they could get even taking into account they were upsizing) according to inflation figures it should now be about 110,000. According to Rightmove, similar houses on that street have sold for 400,000+.
From memory when we moved in 1986 the house sold for 40k. It was on the market the other year for over ten times that.
Yes, but...
They split up, no chance I would have got near the family home I was brought up in, in terms of value. I had to move to a cheaper part of the country.
I'm 47 and have 18 years left on my mortgage, they were both nearly mortgage free by 50.
just looked up, when my parents bought their "family" home in 1980 it was about 20,000 (which was quite expensive at the time and I think was very close to the maximum mortgage they could get even taking into account they were upsizing) according to inflation figures it should now be about 110,000. According to Rightmove, similar houses on that street have sold for 400,000+.
Yes, the house my parents bought - also in 1980 - for £12k recently went on the market for £525k. It's had some fancy work done on it in the meantime (big open plan living area now) but still!
No.
Also, whilst my parents struggled to pay mortgage and make ends meet, they did this whilst their house price hugely increased in value, by something like 400-500%.
That's very unlikely to happen to this generation.
No my house is smaller not as nice garden is about one tenth the size of my parents garden. However I there's few places in the world that can match the location of my house for biking canoeing etc so I am happy
Also, whilst my parents struggled to pay mortgage and make ends meet, they did this whilst their house price hugely increased in value, by something like 400-500%.
That's very unlikely to happen to this generation.
You never know! 😆
This one of the things that often gets left out of the generational economics argument. Inflation was insane in the early 80s, and my folks were absolutely skint and came very close to losing the house they'd bought in 1980. It was a tough few years for all of us. But one upshot of that was that within a decade, the mortgage was absolute buttons. A £10k mortgage was a lot in 1980. But not so much in 1990!
In comparison, my house cost about 8 years of my salary in 2015. That 2015 purchase price is now about 5.5 years of my 2026 salary - still a solid chunk.
But who knows what inflation and interest rates are about to do next....
Interesting - I was the one who mentioned that in the other thread. Obviously I see things through "my lens" and perhaps it is the case that I had a particularly "poor" upbringing and then "did well" but here's some context:
My mother very much comes from a middle class family (she and her siblings went to private school). My father's family were probably more working class although my paternal grandparents owned their own home by the time the retired and were reasonably comfortable. Neither of my parents went to university, although they did go to college and were not at the bottom of the barrel jobs wise. My mum worked till my older brother was born and then part time from when I was about 10. They had three sons in a small house (a four in a block or "cottage flat" as they are known in Glasgow), the area contained a lot of what would now be housing association properties but they bought it as newly weds: single glazing, coal fire etc. I remember when we got a freezer and the revelation of an automatic washing machine. They sold that place in 2002 after we had all left home for just under £50k - so that will give some perspective. By then it had double glazing and central heating. Neighbouring properties go for about £100-120k now depending on condition. They moved out of the city to a semi-detached that cost about £90k (funded with inheritance) and is probably worth about double that now.
My wife's parents definitely came from working class backgrounds, started in council housing, which they bought under right to buy and sold when she was about 14 and bought a nicer house that is probably worth about £200k now maybe a bit more. Its a small 3 bed detached in a town close enough to Edinburgh to cost a bit more but sufficiently inconvenient and type of area that its rarely mentioned here when someone asks "where should I buy".
I'm not trying to humble brag - but my wife and I live in a property which is worth a bit more than either of theirs now, certainly larger and I think in a more desirable area. Compared to where we both grew up its a leap. Its downside is not having much garden but for us that was actually not a negative. Its probably a £320k house. I do occassionally wonder if we'd gone back to those "roots" how much more cash we'd have to play with - not that we are on the breadline.
We aren't the anomaly in the family, her sister is living in a huge 4 bed new build that cost over £400k. My siblings both went on to nicer houses in nicer parts of the country than where they grew up. Rough ball park my brothers' houses will be similar to mine - certainly more than even where my parents live now. I get the impression from their life partners that these were also a "step up" for them. I'm not particularly close to cousins - but there are losts of them and all seem to be in similar boats, except for one of my wife's cousins who's never had a job until he was 40 and never formed a stable relationship.
Now it might be that we are a perfect example of social mobility. There was no bank of mum and dad to help us out. Its likely that is and when any inheritance comes this way it will basically skip a generation to help my children get on the ladder but they might need to check their aspirations for doing better than the generation before!
No.
I have a three bed flat with a small garden in the Tweed Valley.
My parents still have the house they bought in 1987. Four bed farm house, with a two bed cottage, holiday rental, in a converted barn, and four acres, in Lincolnshire.
My dad was 46 and my mum was 30 when they bought that. I'm 44 now. Theirs is worth about eight times what mine is.
As an aside, my dad bought the house across the road from where they are now in 1976 for £12k, about three times the average wage at the time. It sold last year for £495k, thirteen times the average wage (it's had an extension with one more bedroom since but even so)
I prefer my location though (as in I like being in the hills, their village is nicer, they aren't on a main road like me either)
My sister has a three bed new build about twelve miles from my parents at 42, worth about a quarter of what theirs is. She works much harder than me though
Dad was a vicar, so grew up in a very nice house... Image fail - only one house mind & it didn't belong to us. Suffice to say I don't live in a nicer house than that but mine is worth 20x what my dad could have bought the above one for in the mid 1960s
Yes and no.
My parents house was definitely nicer in my view, but in terms of resale...
Yes, but.
Our house is bigger than either of our families, and more along with it in terms of space/land etc. in a similar area to my folks.
however, we don't have kids and we both work full time with above average income so not necessarily apples with apples. Our expenditure is probably the same percentage wise, but ours goes on mortgage etc rather than family living costs.
Neither our families or us have had finance for cars or big expensive holidays etc. We're both mid 40's.
Pointless random fact. My parents sold the house they had when I was born for 76 times what they paid for it.....
Yes, by a long way. Parents were working class (lorry driver dad, part time various jobs mum) and we lived in a 3 bed semi in a fairly rough area. My mum still lives in the same house.
My house (thatched cottage with very large garden in a village in the New Forest) is worth 3-4 times the value of my parents house.
I suppose this is largely based on firstly how well off your parents were in their time and secondly how lucky you have been in your life.
I suppose this is largely based on firstly how well off your parents were in their time and secondly how lucky you have been in your life
Yup - example, my youngest son & partner had their first house bought for them by her parents, north of £600k & no requirement to pay them back, so already in a pricier house than me or my ex.
Brought up in a 3-bed semi (moved to a 4-bed detached when I was in my later teens). Bought my own 2-bed terrace, then a nicer 2/3 bed terrace. Then my parents both died, I inherited a modest sum (shared with two siblings) and bought a 4-bed detached (slightly larger/more valuable than my parents' house).
I really wish I'd kept the first house as a rental – I could have afforded to, as the second house was bought with my wife so we had significantly more (mortgage) buying power. If I'd have kept it, I could be thinking about early retirement.
Yes on size, features and garden space but it's in the centre of a city. Places I lived as a child included an island in the south Atlantic, various officers quarters in Germany, small villages in Cumbria and Yorkshire. All of which easily had better locations.
No.
Parents - 7 bed, 35 acres of land.
Me - 3 bed semi
(though in terms of value there's probably only 3-fold difference)
I'd say yes. After my parents split up my 2 sisters and I lived with my mum and grew up in a council house in a shit hole estate in Leicester, which is still not much better 30/40 years on. That was after spending a while crammed into my grandparents house...
My dad now has a modest detached house but my semi nr Leeds is bigger and in a better location so worth more. My mum rents a small 1 bed cottage, which is nice but again mine is bigger and better.
For my wife it slightly different, her parents were better off than mine but also split up and her mum downsized to a small 2 bed terrace and her dad has a nice detatched place that is on par with ours, but he's down sized from bigger nicer properties than ours.
We could have had bigger, but we've always tried to be sensible. I'd rather go on holiday than have a bigger house.
I definitely do.
Grew up in a one bedroom mining cottage with 5 of us in it.
I now live in a 5 bedroom house with 2 of us in it!
Yes - but only because my parents then my dad downsized twice.
I'm using nicer as size of property and garden. My dads house is in much better condition that mine whereas mine is larger and has much more garden space.
Neither of our houses are a patch on where I grew up. That place was beautiful and had plenty of room/garden/outbuildings.
I was brought up in a really nice house - modern 4 bed detached on a modern estate etc etc etc.
Would I class it as "nice" now? Nope. I couldn't live where they live - it'd drive me nuts. I live in a 30s semi on a really nice tree lined road with a back garden triple the size of most new builds. Its a place with character. Money wise its probably worth a bit more than my parents place but how I view "nice", its 100x better.
Probably. But not by much.
Parents lived in several places in England over the years including apartments in London, service accommodation, 1970s semis and detacheds, Victorian stone terrace, coastal bungalows, and sheltered accommodation
I suppose our Victorian detached in a south manchester ‘village’ has a similar, possibly bigger, area to my parents’ Victorian end terrace ‘peak house’ in a most desirable West Yorkshire town. Allowing for the passage of time I’d say they’re similarly appointed. Maybe ours has fancier wallpaper and more art? We have more garden though. Looking online the prices of that house and ours are similar.
We don’t have a view of the moors out of our bedroom windows though.
Yes we do have a nicer (more expensive) house but we bought it after two decades of earning as dinkies with two solid professional jobs whereas they had 3 children to raise on one salary and still managed to buy a pretty nice big 4-bed.
nope we are in a semi rural 3 bed semi - explicitly with the aim of keeping costs low and being more self sufficient.
My parents lived in the town provosts old house - a 4 bed.
and latterly the dentists house in France
Of course - Dad was a builder and made both houses what they were from dilapidated shells with value add - They worked hard for nice things - Both were energy sinks and high costs.
Once dad passed - we sold up and drastically downsized mum into a small 2 bed in the next village to us.
Not for comparable points in our lives, no. But they took a different approach with housing goals.
My 22 year old son and his GF have just bought what is arguably a better house than this one. But we are mortgage free.
Mine never owned a house, always rented a two up, two down in what's now a nice, gentrified Birmingham commuter village (was a middle-of-nowhere farming village when they were growing up and moved in). So although theirs is now probably worth more than the three bed Birmingham suburban semi we live in, ours is much nicer - it's bigger, handy for doing things and actually has a garden, rather than a patch of grass backing onto a pub car park. 🙂
Yes. The house that we have is bigger than the one I was bought up in and in a more rural location*
Thats more to do with my partner’s job before she retired than mine.
* In 1963 when my parents moved into the house that my Dad still lives in it was brand new and cost £5000. Because of where it is it’s probably worth £400000 +
It was in a semi rural hamlet in a parish with 2500 people. It is now surrounded by 2000+ new build houses which have spread between three villages which also have new housing estates around them and the parish has about 35000 people.
If my parents were to sell their house today it would be worth 2.5 times mine - mainly to do with the area having massively gentrified. The one they now live in now their new country, is much bigger than mine now too.
They don't have an airfryer though.
I have all the deeds and conveyancing for my current house. built in 1884 the mortgage was £100.00. At each successive buy/sell -turn of the century, the thirties, and than the fifties, when it was sold for death duties the mortgage value was at about the £200-£400 mark In the seventies it's thousands for the first time and gets sold a bunch of times, until we bought it, when it was valued at £400,000.
wild ride.
Yes. Bigger, better insulated, better heated. It helped that both my wife and I were working full time, whereas my mother mostly didn't work while bringing us up. I don't think my 30 yo daughter will be able to say the same, even if we copped it now and she inherited this one.
Yes, but I'm substantially better off then my parents ever were due to a thing that used to be called "social mobility"
I grew up in a 3 bed semi-detached council house in a pretty rough part of North Ayrshire. My parents never owned the house.
My Dad had a skilled trade (mechanical fitter) but was in and out of work. My Mum left school at 16 and had various retail jobs. I think they looked at "Right to Buy" but never did.
They divorced when I was in my early 20's and at University. Dad stayed in the council house and my Mum managed to buy a tiny flat for about £15k back in 2000.
I bought my first house in 2007 when I was 30, a two bed terrace on the outskirts of Glasgow, I bought it with my soon to be wife. We moved to a bigger 4 bed detached in a newish estate not far from our first house 7 years later. We kept the first house and my Mum now lives in it.
Unlike my parents we are both graduates, so rather than getting lucky with the low property prices I guess we got lucky with education and opportunity. I worry that a similar leap in living standards is probably never going to be seen by my daughter though.
My mum grew up in a council house in Airdrie, my dad a tenement in Glasgow. They worked hard and brought me up in a 3 bed detached they bought on 1971. I have had a similar house myself the last 24 years here in Ireland after buying our 2 bed flat in Edinburgh in our mid 20s back in the mid 90s.Dont fancy my kids chances of buying an Edinburgh flat in their 20s.
Yes, but similar to @richmtb except my folks did own their own house.
Bit of a weird one because my parents never had a mortgage as my Dad's Dad passed when he was young and left enough cash for my parents to buy a house outright. I suspect that wasn't a great long term move for my inheritance 🙂
Social as well as geographical mobility has worked well for me - grew up in a nice ish part of Bolton (yes they do exist) but I've spent all my working life in Scotland.
We do, just about.
My parents still live in the home they brought us up in which they bought for 20k back in 1980, 70's build, 4 bed detached in a relatively nice area, suburbs, 1700sqft.
My mum was a stay at home mum, my dad was a contractor in oil and gas as an instrument design technician and we had a pretty good upbringing, I remember seeing one of his payslips in 2007 when he was based up in Aberdeen and it was circa 5k a month and supported all 5 of us both parents myself and two sisters.
For comparison me and my wife live in a 70's build, 4 bed detached, just over 2000sqft in a sometimes described as "up & coming" yorkshire village with the beach just over 250m from my front door. We paid 430k and had to do a load of renovations and TLC. Next door sold late last year for 470k and there is one up for sale over the road about 2400sqft for 650k.
My wifes university educated and in the NHS on band 8d, I work in infosec and tech in the fintech sector with no uni education, we bring in together substantially more than what my dad earned back then, and we have no kids to pay for either.
We definitely do. We were lucky enough to be the first people (no student loans) in either of mine or MrsG family to go to Uni and we’ve had good careers.
Still it’s more about being happy where you are than size of house. How many of us have know people with terrible neighbours or problems with their houses/flats etc..
My mum grew up in a council house in Airdrie, my dad a tenement in Glasgow. They worked hard and brought me up in a 3 bed detached they bought on 1971. I have had a similar house myself the last 24 years here in Ireland after buying our 2 bed flat in Edinburgh in our mid 20s back in the mid 90s.Dont fancy my kids chances of buying an Edinburgh flat in their 20s.
My son and his Mrs live in Edinburgh both teachers, he's a head of department they're only just able to afford a doer up in an okayish area
Not even close. 3 bed ‘90’s semi that’ll be mortgaged until I retire vs 4 bed executive detached on a small exclusive development in the most expensive part of town. If I was mortgage free the value of my house wouldn’t even be enough to buy my two brothers out!
Yes. I live in a nice detached that backs directly on to the South Downs. They live in a terrace in an estuarinal essex/greater London hell hole suburb. Theirs is quite possibly worth more though, because it's in a Greater London hell hole suburb.
My parents lived in a three bedroom suburban semi with a large garden which was worth less (probably 2-300k less) than our two bed Victorian terrace with a small backyard three miles from them in SW London, due to location. Not sure which is the nicer of the two; I have no need for three bedrooms or a large garden and liked being in town.
Currently we're living in a two bedroom former farm house in Ireland with two acres of land which cost less than a one bed flat in London and is nicer than my parents house or our place in London.
For me, yes and no. My parents house is probably larger than ours in terms of floor area, but its a terrace that just happens to go a long way back. Ours is a semi-d in a nicer area with off street parking. Now worth about twice my parents place, and 30% more than we bought it for 15 years ago. My parents paid £7k in the early 70s (having been turned down for a mortage on a place twice the size and half the price a few months earlier when inflation was very volatile). Now around 30-35x that...
My other half was brought up in a huge rambling 15th century onwards farmhouse on a big plot of land, outbuildings etc, which her dad ran his company from for many years. We both do OK, no kids etc, but there's no WAY we could afford to run that place! Where we currently live is definitely a downgrade for her, although I think we both agree that our location is much better.
Certainly not the house before their OAP bungalow. It was a lovely 3 bed semi council house with a massive garden. Sadly they were too timid to buy it when the opportunity arose.
My toilet isn't out in the porch though.
For us yes, but not by a massive margin.
Parents small 3 bed in an OK but not posh bit of Leeds, but amazing size garden.
Us… well we never went for a trophy home but have a nicer, bigger 3 bed semi in a nice bit of Leeds.
Have always seen a house as somewhere to live in rather than a trophy, growing up and helping my dad as he visited houses to do work I always saw that the happiest people were not the ones with 5 bed and stretched to the limit, bur with OK houses in OK areas. My dad used to call those in the big houses baked bean familys…. Nice car, nice house but couldn’t afford more than baked beans in the pantry.
As a result have always kept house costs to well within means.
In reality no. I grew up on the Chilterns and because it's the South even though my house is bigger my childhood house is worth more. Looking at sold prices the old 4 bed (3 really) family home sold for 450k ten years ago. Our 5 bed (4 really) is probably worth 400k tops today.
But I'm an easy ride into the Peak District so that's a win.
Way better in every single respect. But then my mom refused to work, lived in a council house in a not nice part of Wolves, and spent her whole life on single parent benefits enjoying a drink or two. So any kind of house would have been better.
5 bed Victorian terraced townhouse* vs
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They didn't have the mortgage i do though......
*downsized since then but peak was....
Nicer than their first house, but probably not nicer than Mum's current one - hers is bigger, bigger garden too, but a semi. Ours is a small detached. However, we could easily afford to move to somewhere much bigger and nicer, but no pressing reason to and it's really really hard to find somewhere that meets all we want within likely budget.
Nope, the typical council built (now housing association owned) 1980’s 1bedroom semi detached bungalow has been my home for 30 odd years, parents (now just 69yr old mum, dad died) own their home in town but growing up in 70s/80’s we lived in 10+ cottage’s/caravans/mobile homes in Argyll (Achnamara/crinan/ardrishaig/dalavich) till we finally moved back in 1988 down to kirkcudbright (where I was born and spent first 6 years of my life) where they bought their first house and where mum still lives
edit - damn iPhone editing with fat numb fingers
Yes. No ifs, not buts, just yes and that’s on both sides of the family.
We also have more kids and less support, but by golly have we had to work for it over the past 15y. 12y without a holiday, at one point crippling debt, massive work hours, aggressive career moves and more compromises than the European Commission.
It’s sill not amazing by many standards, but it’s hard to equate with where I come from.
No. Folks in a large 4 bed bungalow on one of the poshest streets in the area. Me, three bed semi, normal street. We haven't moved as we like the house. Mum and dad only moved once. Our house is similar to their first house.
Dad also retired at 55, I'm 56. Going to do a few more years, but not much after 62.
My parents are still living in the semi-detached bungalow on the south side of Glasgow they bought in 1971.
Up until 6 years ago was living in a detached Edwardian 4 bed house in Fleet, Hampshire and now living in a 2-bed house in Tobermory.
Yes. Brough up in a then brand new 1970’s three bed BOVIS home in south Devon. Live in a four bedroom victorian house in a silly expensive area with the King as my neighbour. If/when I move back, it will be to a nicer house in Devon. And another house in another country. The house price differential is enormous.
the same really, but i own my 3 bed semi.
my mum was a single parent, and we always lived in a 3 bed semi council house.
on a side note, never understood people wanting big flash houses.
you can only shit in one loo.
got a couple of mates my age who have recently moved into 4 bed semi's with big mortgages and no kids at home.
i find this strange.
I'm going to discount the married quarters from my younger years, they were mostly in Germany and bloody massive but not my parents.
The house they brought me up in that they bought when my father left the Army was small 3 bed, the sort were the third bedroom was a cupboard.
My home is a simple 1950's 3 bed semi, perfect size for the two of us and the hound, a little larger, much cleaner and well looked after.
The added plus is there's no violence or conflict. The foster home I spent the latter part of my teens in was massive, I could never afford one of that size, I'd love to be able to own that home.
No but then we chose to shun the rat race and live in a van.
However, before jumping ship we were renting and unless either of our parents died early leaving us a chunk of inheritance we would be destined to rent if we wanted to stay near to where we were. That's despite each earning above the (German) national average.
Do I resent living in a van? No.
Was back in the UK last month due to the old man's I'll health. There's no way I would want the house he has. Despite its large garden it's in the middle of beige suburbia.
Think it will have to be something special (be that house/land or a life changing injury/ailment) that pushes us back to a sedentary lifestyle surrounded by bricks.
My parents had a 3 bed terrace with a small-ish garden, no garage.
I've got a 3 bedroom terraced of about the same size, with no garden and a reserved parking spot.
So, broadly equivalent.
But my house is "worth" just short of 3 times what my parents house is/was worth because I live in a much nicer place on earth (though it is a stupidly expensive part of the world to live)....
Same - I bought their house while I was still living in it. 3-bed semi ex-council house. I’d never have been able to afford a house otherwise; Chippenham is an expensive area, just because of its location, on the A350, A4, A420, A429, the main London-Bristol railway line, and the M4 is above 3miles north.
PS, there is no inheritance money or anything on my side. My slightly younger sister never had a mortgage as her husband's mum died soon after they were married, so they got a nice 4 bed detached. My other two siblings are in nice big 4 bed detatched with mortgages that will take them to retirement.
My mortgage was gone before I was 50, and we manage on just my salary now. MrsF sort of retired at 53, but hasn't taken any money out of her pension. We manage OK. What's the point of a flash house sometimes.
Yes for both me and my wife though its quite a bit closer for my wife's parents house. A uni education, good job, working hard and also some luck and fortunate timing means that our house is bigger, nicer and more expensive by a good way from what my parents had. They however afforded that on my dad working full time and my mum part time at most which would not be an option for us.
I fear that my kids will struggle to match our mobility and plan to downsize in order to help them when that is needed.
For most of our adult life, we were in a very similar house...a mid terraced 3 bed...ours in a proper village, my parents in what was a village in 1960 when they paid £1600 for it...then they filled all the gaps so it became a sort of village suburb of the nearby town. It sold in 2017 for £170k so about 105x what they paid...shame that the vast majority of their lifetime finances ended up paying for 5 yrs care...such is life. Were now in a far bigger detached house in the country...probably twice as big...however, it is in SW France so is worth about £4.50. About to move back to the UK and will have a similar sized (area) house as my parents and we had previously...but in a different location and it's detached and better designed (It won't be better built than the 1880s-1910s stone terraced properties I previously lived in.)
No for me
Yes for my wife
Dad had a high paying job. His pension is way more salary. He has a 4 bed detached.
We have a weird semi. 3 bed semi with an extra room. Could be an office or bedroom.
But I’ve never been bothered by ever we live and never aspired to more. It’s in a small town we love. The kids had bedroom each plus space to escape to. It needs smartening up inside. But that’s our lack of effort not funds
Yes, in my opinion, but my parents didn't have the degree or opportunities I've had.
I grew up in a flat above a shop in Watford, no garden, rented and not in any way luxurious. They later bought a 3 bed end of terrace in Watford, but never really paid off much of it before splitting up and selling it.
I own a 2 bed semi in a village out of Cambridge, has a garage and garden and I like it, although I need to spend some more money on updating it really.
I've just moved to a house that is better than I ever expected to own.
It's still worth 30% less than the last two homes I grew up in, and I would never have seen able to own such a costly house.