Reported by The Guardian
From a young chef and a single father to business owners and a pensioner, Guardian readers reveal how John Healey’s measures will affect them
Louie, 24, a chef living in London , says a lot of people have “written off the idea of even considering getting a property” in their 20s.
He is optimistic about the government’s new Your First Home scheme, which will enable people to buy a new-build property with a deposit of just 2.5%, supported by an interest-free equity loan.
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But he says a smaller deposit alone will not be enough for him. “I’ve found hospitality wages to be far too volatile to even consider saving for a property,” he says.
As a result, he is studying an access course with plans to start a physiotherapy degree next year. He hopes that by the time he graduates and gains some experience, he will have a stable enough income and sufficient savings to put down a deposit.
He says the new scheme “should encourage a lot of young people to buy earlier” and adds: “We are moving in a good direction, but I’ll still save and wait until around late 20s to early 30s to start [thinking about buying], just due to how much it may cost me.”
Louie earns between £37,000 and £40,000 a year and shares a three-bedroom rented property with two friends. But rent and bills take up an increasingly large proportion of his income, leaving little room to save towards buying a home.
“I was always told that a third of your salary should go towards rent and bills, but it’s coming up to about half now, which is a little bit mental,” he says.
His landlord recently informed the household that their rent would increase by £200 a month in November.
He has managed to build up some savings. Since he was 18, he has put between 5% and 10% of his earnings into a stocks and shares investment account, and over the past year has also started making regular contributions to an Isa specifically for a house deposit.
“Nobody really wants to…