[mike-cardwell]

I live in the East Midlands in the UK. You can grab a reasonable first house here for less than £150k quite easily. So you'll need a 5% deposit, £7,500 for one of those. One person on an average salary for the area would be able to afford a mortgage for a house like this on their own. But Nick has a girlfriend, who can hopefully work, so should be able to afford it easily.

But half of people earn less than the mean salar though. So what about those on minimum wage? Well, one person with a full time minimum wage job should be able to get a mortgage for close to £100k, so wouldn't be able to afford a £150k house on their own. They could scrape by and get a house close to £100k though. There are plenty of these. Again, two people on minimum wage should have no problem.

I recognise that people have all sorts of different circumstances, so this is not meant to minimise the difficulty of affording property, but I'm just not recognising this claim from the outset that you need a £100k deposit or high paid job to get on the property ladder. It's hard, but it's doable for most.

And on top of this, Lifetime ISAS are a thing, so you only need to save up 80% of your deposit, the govt will pay the rest. And shared ownership is a thing, making it even easier.

[1dom]

Start pressing buttons and you'll see even more weird claims that most sane Brits won't recognise. This is a weird website that probably shouldn't be given much time.

[Tade0]

The usage of the GOV.UK Design System is a nice touch though.

[extraisland]

I am from the UK and recognise most of the absolute nonsense highlighted. It is hyperbolic sure, but I kinda giggled at some of the gags in it.

[extraisland]

Many people want to live in close proximity to their family. There are good reasons for this (you have a support network).

I want to move back closer to my family as they are getting older. I would like to move back so I can spend more time with my father as he is retiring this year. To afford a flat in Dorset it is 30,000 deposit. A deposits on a house would be about somewhere between £30,000-£100,000.

These aren't mansions BTW. These are normal 2-3 bed houses.

> But half of people earn less than the mean salar though. So what about those on minimum wage? Well, one person with a full time minimum wage job should be able to get a mortgage for close to £100k, so wouldn't be able to afford a £150k house on their own. They could scrape by and get a house close to £100k though. There are plenty of these. Again, two people on minimum wage should have no problem.

My two bed flat (that I got cheap) is £110,000 and I am in the North-West. I've not seen any houses up here that were worth buying less than £200,000.

You typically need a 15% deposit on a flat. I managed to go with some rando building society and get 10%.

Any houses that are £150,000 are always in horrible parts of town or they are complete dumps and need complete renovation.

If you are on a minimum wage (I spent 8 years on it) it is difficult to save money and when something like the boiler goes you are screwed.

[gsliepen]

> But half of people earn less than the mean salary though.

That's incorrect. Half of people earn less than the median salary. Depending on where you live, it could be that a lot more than half earn less than the mean salary.

[mike-cardwell]

Sorry yes. Brain fart. I meant median

[_dain_]

>And on top of this, Lifetime ISAS are a thing, so you only need to save up 80% of your deposit, the govt will pay the rest. And shared ownership is a thing, making it even easier.

LISAs are a trap if you want to buy in the South. You can only use it if the value of the property is £450k or less. The limit hasn't been raised since 2017 despite crazy house price inflation. So many people got completely fucked by this; they have their money locked up in the LISA, can't buy a house near London with it, and can't transfer it to something else without a huge penalty.

See: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/06/lifetime-isa-...

More broadly, "the govt pays the rest" is part of the problem. All this help-to-buy stuff amounts to demand subsidies that just push prices higher and higher.

[mike-cardwell]

> LISAs are a trap if you want to buy in the South. You can only use it if the value of the property is £450k or less

In London it limits you. Outside of London, including most of the South, where the vast majority of British people live, most first houses cost less than £450k.

The limit should have been raised though yes. Or perhaps it should be set by region, I don't know. Hopefully it will be updated at some point.

[rhubarbtree]

This is true. You don’t need a £100K deposit unless you want to live in a £1M house, which is not necessary in the UK. If you want to buy a big apartment in central London or a four bed house near London, sure. But most people would consider that a luxury and not a necessity to raise a family.

[extraisland]

My father just sold his house down south. It was a 4 bedroom house. I think he got somewhere between £500-700k for it. £1M for a house isn't that crazy in the South-West.

He bought it decades ago much cheaper.