How can anyone afford to buy a house in Aberdeen?

[Frio3535]

Moan all you want but thats not going to get you a house. Rethink your buying strategy. You are not competitive in your current market.

[Easty-5]

Not even close to being competitive it would appear. Major rethink is required. Fixed price new builds and government backed schemes may be an option I guess. We shall see.

[dram]

My son is in the same situation in Aberdeen . He is 22 and on a salary of about £35k and got his first small 1 bedroom house about 2 years ago with the assistance of the bank of mam & dad .
With the Help to Buy Scheme , he now wants to move up , but finding it extremely difficult as the selling price of the new homes do not match the Surveyor valuation for his mortgage application .
Add to the fact that the average salary in Aberdeen is over £63k and the average salary in the oil industry is £81k he is facing fierce competition...
The area is booming but it has these negative effects for 'essential workers' like my son on lower salaries who have to live in the city or the commute belt .
Many jobs in Aberdeen now pay a very generous accomodation allowance for living & working in Aberdeen , similar to jobs in London ...

[hornet]

decadent said:

I'm not sure either, I lived in Putney for a short while and hated how overcrowded it was. Forget trying to get anywhere in the car.

I'd prefer he lived in North London near me but his circile of friends are down that way so hands are tied unfortunately.

I can understand people wanting to stay near friends and family, but it's a weak reason for justifying spending massively more than you're happy with or over-stretching yourself IMO. After all, there's no guarantee friends are going to stay in the area! Long term security first, social circle second for me.

[rossub]

dram said:

Add to the fact that the average salary in Aberdeen is over £63k and the average salary in the oil industry is £81k he is facing fierce competition...

I'm sorry, but thats just bks. I got a salary guide for the Aberdeen area from an agency last year and those sort of wages are reserved for experienced, professionally qualified people with significant responsibility. The average person is not professionally qualified.

House prices would be way, way higher than they are if those were average salaries.

[Frio3535]

I think I remember reading fairly recently the average salary for the oil industry in Aberdeen is cicra £60k?

[rossub]

It'll be in the 60s somewhere, but the average salary for the area as a whole is in the mid 30s. Well above UK average, but nothing like the figures quoted above.

People tend to forget that the majority of people in the Aberdeen & shire area dont actually work in the Oil industry!

Edited by rossub on Thursday 16th January 15:43

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rossub said:

People tend to forget that the majority of people in the Aberdeen & shire area dont actually work in the Oil industry!

Edited by rossub on Thursday 16th January 15:43

They just drink it all away on a Saturday night around Union Street.

Well I'm saving hard now to buy a place up here and it's not going to be easy unless I find a woman to move in with

A friend just purchased a smallish (but very nice) place down near Talisman, but Bank of Mum & Dad gave him a large loan to help him grab a good place quick. Other friends are either saving hard or trying to sort out a mortgage, but these boys are contractors on serious money.

[Pistom]

I feel f people in Aberdeen but you have the benefit of fantastic countryside around you. It's London though which must be the biggest pisser. Living around London and having to pay through the nose for everything.

Give me the rest of the UK anytime where £500K buys you a nice place with good people around you, nice views, good shops and plenty of places to go.

[Evo141n]

We dropped out of buying again in Aberdeen about 8 years ago.
Just could not afford a family size home (in a decent area), without moving into the Shire and even then big prices would make that move hard. I do feel for you. In the end sold 2bed city centre flat and got a 3bed semi in the Northwest for the same price.

[Rickeh]

Well just been bidding on my first house with the girlfriend. Our bid was 12% over asking which we thought was a bit daft and we'd probably be chucking a few grand more at it than we needed to but we wanted it so were willing to live with it. We didn't win it! The wind is out of my sails.

Edited by Rickeh on Tuesday 21st January 20:41

[Easty-5]

Where was the house?

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A friend just lost out on a nice 2-bed in town.

Asking = £205k
Offer = £219k
Went for = £230k

[p1doc]

7 years ago i had to pay £50,000 over the price to get house in aberdeenshire so likely only got worse since then,even new estates in inverurie are well overpriced
martin

[Easty-5]

p1doc said:

7 years ago i had to pay £50,000 over the price to get house in aberdeenshire so likely only got worse since then,even new estates in inverurie are well overpriced
martin

Yea it really is just as bad just now. Out of curiosity, did you have to fund the extra £50,000 yourself or did you get a re-valuation in favour of the price you paid?

[Rickeh]

Easty-5 said:

Where was the house?

In Potterton!

[rossub]

The market in 2007 was crazy, but it then fell off a cliff in late 08/09. I think most places were selling at or around valuation from '09 to '12.

It's only really the last 12-18 months that the heat has come back. Prices seem to be nearly back at '07 levels.

Edited by rossub on Wednesday 22 January 19:46

[Vipers]

B17NNS said:

The 'offers over' system really is nonsense.

Agree, over offers = greed.

First house I sold in the Aberdeen area was first come first served basis, and I have always said if I sell my current house up here it will be fixed price.

[Wacky Racer]

When interest rates go up...(which they will do, sooner, rather than later) that will cool things down somewhat...

Rising house prices are no good for anyone, (You have to find more deposit,stamp duty ,monthly repayments etc) unless you are planning to downsize, in which case they are good news.

[MGZRod]

I've been watching them gradually going up, looking for a buy to let flat, but being 21 I've got money for a deposit, but can't exactly stretch more than what I'm set at. So anything valued at the price I'm looking at, goes for much more than I want.

Nightmare. Fiend just got a 1 bed in bridge of don needing a refurb for about £124k...