Roughly what deposit would this hypothetical home buyer be asked for?

Cry whilst you **** into a sock?

Lol

Who earns more than 100K under the age of 35?

A little internet research shows that 300,000 people earn over £100k in London and 68% are under 45.

I know of at least 8 people under 35 earning over £80k, 3 of them over £100k – it is very doable if you invest your time in the right work.

jhw – if you are saving £23k a year, I would hold on for a bit get a bigger deposit together and you will be on to a winner, also if you meet a lucky lady you may find the burbs are the place you want to be as you get that space everyone in London craves after a while.

there must have been a problem to begin with, for people to need to get married to afford somewhere

I think it was the other way around. As in the traditional stay-at-home wife type family changed to both parents working. This forced house prices up as people could afford more. Rather than house prices rising forcing the second parent into work.

We are now in the position where it is hard to afford a home on one income.

You seem to think you have a right to a big house in a nice area. Plenty of houses in London for less than you are on about plenty of flats for far less. You can’t expect to have the same style and size house in London as you could in a medium sized town even counting for the cost difference do to the fact you are in a large world city, let alone for your first property. Try Westcombe park, (zone 3) nice area, close to Greenwich and Blackheath, quick train or ride into the city. Other good suggestions above.

I’ve lived with my girlfriend in a shit part of London (zone 3 / boarder so further out than any of your suggestions) for the past few years so that she could afford to buy a flat as a teacher, (I have an unstable income so pay her a small rent) we scarified were we wanted to live for a first step. If she can do it on a teachers wage you can do it on your wage with £80k deposit. Your expectation is just unrealistic to beable to afford a house straight off in posh area of a world city.

Thank yourself lucky you are in such a good job. Like you I’ve worked all though my 20s sacrificed going travelling or buying nice bikes, studding hard at some of the best institution in the world and I’ve been put into a awkward situation where I have been unable to get a full time job for over a year. Even when I do get a full time job I would be pleased with £30k even if I moved back into London.

You have so many options open to you to buy a property within inner London (Zone 3 or less) and I don’t just mean in some really horrible area, you just seem to want it all straight away.

Ta for the helpful comments immediately above: these are useful.

I bet you £8 that whoever put “baseless sense of entitlement” at the top of this thread is a Sc*t or a Nor****ner. Joking aside, the comment misunderstands the point I’m making in this thread. You’re damned right I’ve got a sense of entitlement, and it’s not “baseless”. Or rather if it is, then the only people who can buy at my age are inheriteds and marrieds, which indicates something fundamentally wrong with the system.

So come on jhw, what’s your profession???

You said earlier that you would move out of London if you could. Maybe you can.

london tour guide?

Legal…but acting for a London-centric type of client

Beefeater?

Ah so lawyer then?

Acting for a group with London based businesses?

so what area can you not buy a flat in with your 350k budget, outside of maybe kensington?

I would have thought lawyers in london would be on a better wage. seems like you’re not a very good one?

space everyone in London craves after a while.

People only live in the London burbs as a horrid compromise because they can’t afford t olive more central but still need to be nr London for work, still busy and congested but worse public transport and further to commute. I can understand why he would not want to live in the London suburbs, worst of both worlds. Zone 3 is max to get any of the benefits of living in London.

By my calculation according to the figures given in the first few posts above, the budget is in fact £250K. If I could stretch to £350K that would obviate the issues discussed in this thread.

I would have thought lawyers in london would be on a decent wage. seems like you’re not a very good one?

I think that’s unfair as Law like many jobs can take a long time to be come established in and £60k is still not bad.

Are there not other companies in other places you could work for??

Doesn’t sound like you are really trapped tbh

Yeah, probably. I’m over-dramatising it. Would be a significant (huge) upheaval though, and probably irreversible. Move of last resort.

Standard rates for someone at my level are about £60K, unless you’re at a US firm in which case it’s £80K – £100K plus bonus, but the hours are (generally) unsustainable.

But jhw you could earn say 40k in another part of the uk and have a nice place near to your work.

Have you ruled this out?

Edit: sounds like you need to have a proper think about what matters to you. Man did not descend from the trees in order to go to work that’s for sure.

My sister earns around 60k per annum and works in Picadilly. Lives in Frien Barnet…

Man did not descend from the trees in order to go to work that’s for sure.

Yeah! Ne’er a truer word was said.

Thinking about splitting the UK in general actually, if I leave London.

if you’re earnings are going to increase in the next 10 years, then if you want to live centrally, just buy a flat. its not like (as a batchelor) you need the space a 3 bed semi will give you – in fact you might find the additional space a little lonely to kick around in.

Ah, thanks, sorry – I should’ve been more clear – I’m assuming a flat. It would indeed be baseless entitlement to expect to be able to buy an entire house.

Standard rates for someone at my level are about £60K, unless you’re at a US firm in which case it’s £80K – £100K plus bonus, but the hours are (generally) unsustainable.

Are you newly qualified?

NQ’s at my firm earn £67k per year.

Seriously, if you are an NQ, chill for a bit, don’t go tying yourself into a massive mortgage just yet. You’ve just come through a long and tiring process to get where you are now, enjoy yourself for a bit without the burden of a £300k debt.

You’re going to get shafted for the rest of your career, so wait until the money picks up before you start worrying about mortgages. Don’t listen to Thatcher, cocktails and cocaine are better for you than home owning at this stage in your life 😀

Loads of flats in Docklands developments for less than £350k

You’re going to get shafted for the rest of your career

Yup