[churchill]

I have this pet theory that no matter what goes wrong in the world - whether it's a pandemic, climate change, or the threat of nuclear annihilation, HNers will find a way of blaming it on housing prices.

Do you all live in California?

[user-extended]

I don't live in California, I work at a non-IT company in a country of Europe in a non-major city.

It's a global problem, it doesn't matter where you go. People and companies have an absolute fetish with real state that makes young people like me give up with hope. What is work good for if you're just a slave to the system?

Right now, it'd take me 7 years of salary JUST to afford the initial down payment for a house. If we're talking about purchasing it out-right after basic expenses, 40 years. Is this normal? Well, in the fucked up we live in, yes!

Start working in your 20s, own your house in your 60s. Nice.

[gambiting]

My sister just bought a house in Manchester(one of the larger UK cities) for £150k - she only needed a 5% deposit(so £7.5k) - she was able to save that within two years, working as a (rather poorly paid) photographer.

I myself bought a house in Newcastle(not major, but not a tiny city) two years ago for £180k, we needed a 10% but me and my wife are in IT so we saved that in a year.

My point is that yes - it's a global problem, but I honestly don't think everyone everywhere needs to save up for 7 years just to get a deposit. Maybe if you live in London you do, but elsewhere? Meh. Basic 3 bed houses are not so crazy expensive in most places, at least here in UK.

[user-extended]

>she only needed a 5% deposit(so £7.5k)

LMAO, this is not normal anywhere else in Europe. Also, I bet she either has a lot of money saved up somewhere else, had her mortgage cosigned by someone else with a lot of income, etc. this is not normal at all.

I am not from Germany, but take Germany as an example: https://n26.com/en-eu/blog/cost-of-buying-a-house

"A good rule of thumb is to have at least 35% of the estimated cost. Germany: German residents can generally borrow up to 80% of the assessed property value, but non-residents usually get the short end of the stick. They have to put up 40–45% of the property value as down payment."

>two years ago for £180k

The average UK price house is 256k... https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/117DF/production...

You lucked out, arguably.

>My point is that yes - it's a global problem, but I honestly don't think everyone everywhere needs to save up for 7 years just to get a deposit. Maybe if you live in London you do, but elsewhere? Meh. Basic 3 bed houses are not so crazy expensive in most places, at least here in UK.

I make 12k after taxes and before other expenses... what are you talking about. And I am lucky not to pay rent with a terrible commute because I live with my parents.

[gambiting]

>>LMAO, this is not normal anywhere else in Europe. Also, I bet she either has a lot of money saved up somewhere else, had her mortgage cosigned by someone else with a lot of income, etc. this is not normal at all.

In UK 5% mortgages are readily available to first time buyers. It's a completely normal thing here in UK. And I can assure you she doesn't have a lot of money and the mortgage wasn't cosigned by anyone else lol.

>>A good rule of thumb is to have at least 35% of the estimated cost.

Well now that's absolutely nuts. Here in UK 10% deposit is normal, 15% is high, and I don't know anyone who paid 20% or more - and everyone in my group of friends(we all just turned 30) bought a house recently.

>>The average UK price house is 256k

Yes, because London destroys the averages completely. Like I said, my sister just bought a 3 bed house with a garden and driveway for £150k, and it wasn't particularly cheap, neither for the street nor for the area .

[user-extended]

From this map, no:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/dk-graph...

[gambiting]

I'm confused - it clearly shows the prices have actually gone down in the North East, but still says 4.8% increase? How?

[vladvasiliu]

You don't have to live in California. Housing in major European cities has attained ridiculous prices. Maybe not as high as in California in absolute terms, but surely when you consider the difference in income. And no, the difference isn't made up by social security, not by a long shot.

[ManlyBread]

In my country it would take 17 years of minimum wage salaries or 10 years of average national salary to buy an apartment. Mind you, this is a calculation where the assumption is the 100% of the salary for that time goes only into housing and that the house prices stay as these are today.

It is ridiculous.

[laserdancepony]

Rural Germany, where until a few years ago no one except the indigenous would have wanted to live. Now foreign investment firms, mainly chinese, are buying up everything they can get a hold of. Prices for a single family home before the rush about 350k, now 1.5m.

Thanks globalization to make it possible for a chinese billionaire to own property in Schneizlreuth, BY.

[user-extended]

And remember, it's gonna be like that forever from now on. The genie is out, people will cling into housing forever and ever. Unless thermonuclear war happens, housing is and will be the number 1 investment forever.