In reply to XXXX:
I agree with several comments on this thread that I think the "housing crisis" is somewhat overblown. Yes, London is bonkers expensive, but it's not the only place to live.
I have many London colleagues and their view appears to be that London is the only place in the UK worth living. When I mention living outside the M25 they get a confused look and I get the impression their view is that the rest of the UK is a wilderness peopled by knuckle-dragging animals. Further prodding on the same subject gets the answer that all their friends live in London, there's so much going on in London, there isn't the nightlife and entertainment elsewhere and they don't want to leave.
This is fine, apart from the word "want". It's a choice. Complain that they can't buy a property in London all they like, but don't think that this applies to the rest of the country. Understand its a choice that they are making to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world, and don't deny that there are not other options available.
Another common complaint is that it's hard to build a career outside London.
Again, OK, not a problem with that view. However they need to understand that the ability to build a career is one of the reasons why everyone else is in London, and the choice to live there is, once again, a choice.
Meanwhile, I, and many others (including many of my friends), are very happily buying houses elsewhere in the country and look at the London-centric mob a little confused.
It's difficult to empathise with people who complain that they can't get a three bed semi for less than £400,000 in London when a whole raft of friends are busy buying two bed mid-terraces elsewhere in the country for around £100,000. One friend recently bought a FOUR bed semi for £125,000 - and it's in a lovely, beautiful area, and it's a lovely house (Todmorden if anyone asks).
I'm not saying that saving for a deposit isn't hard. It is. One friend spent 5 years saving for her deposit for a £100,000 two bed terrace in Birmingham. It involves making sacrifies, it involves not buying latest gadgets, and it involves eating cheaply and not going out much. But it's not impossible.
Unless you believe the only place you can live is London and home counties. But that's back to choice again.
Edited for typos
Post edited at 08:30