i'm not in the UK right now, but in the US. what is absolutely amazing to me is that, at least where i am, in the southwest house prices here, while they have increased, are still very very reasonable, esp. to a brit like me. there are many many young singles and young couples (often w/ just one working parent and a few kids, and many not even 30yrs of age) who actually own - yes own - their own detached two level 3/4 bedroom homes, you can even by a new two level 3 bed condo in a nice area for about $130,000! i've seen decent houses w/in 10 minutes of downtown salt lake city (which is a beautiful area in my op) for less than $200,000. combine this with the fact that in terms of purchasing-power salaries are higher here, plus taxes (at least in the lower income bands) are indeed much lower, w/ many deductions available for homeowners and familes.
these are not necessarily greatly educated folk i'm talking about. many have just a high school diploma to their names. the average earnings here for someone w/ merely a high school diploma 10 yrs later is circa $32,000. thus, that condo is still affordable. the same condo in the UK (at least in the south) would be the equivalent of $400,000! those here w/ bachelors degrees and graduate degrees are doing even better, purchasing homes in the $200,000-300,000 range as a first-buy - these, where i am, are large 3 level 5 bed 3 bath homes atop hills.
many of my clients, young guys in their 20s who tend to do meth now and again and work manual labor, own homes that as a professional i could not buy in the UK.
i don't think salaries will go up much in the UK, since it's not a salary problem, it is a supply and demand problem, but one which i believe is the fault of the government.
everywhere i look here in the southwest US they are not just building houses, but entire cities, and nice pleasant affordable cities. you get tax breaks if you own a home, as well as if you have a family.
in the UK do you think there just aren't enough homes because contractors aren't building them? there are plenty of contractors ready to start building. in a very free and liberal market supply will always grow to match demand, but that's not happening in the UK because the gvt is refusing to grant the necessary planning permits to build not just homes, but whole new towns entire. at the same time they are allowing too many newcomers into the country from places like eastern europe and the middle east and asia. there are not as many tax incentives to get married, start a family, own a home - and yet being party of a family and owning property are very important on a pyschological level in any society - are very important to a sense of stability and community, giving people "stakes" in society.
there we have, a ltd supply of housing, gvt restrictions on needed growth, out-of-control immigration, bad tax policies - too high w/ few breaks etc. it's a recipe for serious deprivation in the years to come - you cannot increase immigration while at the same time not increasing the housing supply, it will lead to squalor. as always, the free-er market system we have in the US comes up trumps - gvt regulation and taxation invariably fails.
most people may argue it's a space issue. two responses. first, i don't believe it is. there is plenty of space in the UK to add plenty of smaller towns of say 50,000-150,000 people. the problem is that our populations are "concentrated" in too many tight narrow urban areas. they've done computer generated graphs etc where they spread out the entire population over the geographic mass which is the UK, and it's quite a welcome surprise, and yes, a lot greener too! second, if that is the case, then we need to stop immigration alltogether.
i personally would like to move back to the UK, i miss my family, and even came close to returning this year, but it's not the lifestyle i want. there are many people who say home ownership isn't everything, but while i can live w/ paying 700UKP per mth in rent for now while i'm still young, what happens when we're 60, 70, or 80 even, and don't have the money to keep on paying rent? my parents are approaching retirement age and currently are almost to the end of their mortgage - they pay 150 UKP per month and it will be over ib 3 yrs - that's the advantage of home ownership, plus the fact that they now own 250,000 UKP worth of asset.
sometimes, just sometimes, methinks there may be some socialistic agenda going on in the background, but then i just snap myself out of it and say i'm being stupid. it just seems that many things are geered to disenabling people - gvt business tax and reg which leads to fewer jobs, less entrepreneurship, lower salaries - coupled w/ higher taxes w/ few breaks - gvt reg (restrictive planning permission and liberal immigration) which results in high housing demand and expensive housing --- all in all, it means that big government then needs to the step in and "help" people via social programs which in turn justify higher taxes and more gvt regulation.
