Realistically, at what age should you have bought your first home?

The saving of the deposit is incredibly difficult. I suppose as an economic indicator you would expect a median income to allow for a house purchase at potentially 28 to 30ish if that's the way you went with your life.

With that issue, and the lack of pensions for upcoming young people, the baby boomer generation really are the ones that saw the fruits and benefits for the next few generations to pay for.

If you have one of those to inherit from or get a gift from, accomodate you while you save, or whatever it may be, you should expect 28 to 30.

In my position, I was 100% on my own from 16 paying my own way in this world. Saving a deposit = an incredibly challenging issue in those circumstances for people.

How in god's name can an average couple save a 60k deposit while renting in Dublin today? Or save 20k while on the dole in the hovel that is Leitrim for example.

OP, if you got there by 35, you would be doing well.

I'm in my mid to late 20's and I'm buying on my own. It more depends on when you start saving I think.

I travelled a lot as a young guy, saved most of my cash and purchased my first and only house at 34. Bought it with a large deposit with a tracker after doing a huge amount of research on whether I could afford it if the interest rates went up and other factors. Will never move again.

I was 33 and that was a couple of years ago when prices were lowest. Got there with the skin of our teeth.

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Nothing wrong with renting forever as long as it fits your circumstances. The main reason to buy is security for e.g. young children etc. So if you want to buy, do it because your circumstances dictate.

As such, i would expect the average age should be a few years after the first kid is born

When you buy your mortgage is usually paid before you retire so you can continue to live in your house. If you rent how do you propose to pay your rent upon retirement ?

As for the ops original question. A standard mortgage now a Days is 25-30 years, which would be expected to be paid back before your 65. So anything after 35 to 40 is very late

I don't know about a right time. The wrong time is when everybody and their granny is piling in.

Bought my first place at 30. Had to beg borrow and steal the deposit. I think I wished I'd bought earlier and hadn't wasted the previous 5 years renting. But I never got myself organised to save. It depends on circumstance I guess, some people may not be ready to own, want to travel, haven't found their partner, haven't found their ideal job etc.

Take your age of retirement. Take off the duration of the mortgage.

Banks currently take 65 as age of retirement (that may change), so if there is a 30 year mortgage, that would mean age 35. For a 20 year mortgage, it would mean 45.

ted1 wrote: »

From 2012 many places would be up by more then double. In my case 210 is up to 460( based on similar house a few days up in Dec 2014). But the cost of replacment has gone up. So unless your exiting the market the current price is irrelevant .

That must be an outlier as double 2012 prices would be the height of the bubble again. This is the current situation in Dublin. SCD has jumped 50% since 2012 but even that's a different beast. There's some in Dublin in this graph rising 25%.



Sure, this graph is on averages and you're talking about a specific case, but such a large deviation from average is an exception.

The "right time" is when you can afford to buy it, when you've found a place that you like, and you don't see any need to go anywhere in the next ten years.

Whether that happens at 25 or 45 is somewhat irrelevant. I live in hope that Irish people will get past this, "Everyone must buy" mentality, but I won't hold my breath.

Sleepy wrote: »

I'm seeing asking prices of over 600k for small 3 bed terraces in Clontarf that were going for approx 300k a few years ago so there are definitely pockets where things have doubled...

But I'm talking statistics here. Taking individual cases doesn't describe the whole. The graph from daft is showing 20-30%, with exceptional areas (SCD) up to 50% higher. If there are cases going up 100% then there are others only rising 10%, so saying houses are double 2012 prices is not showing the true story.

Forget house buying. It's not for most of us any more.

Owning one's own house is not the norm in Europe. People are far more likely to rent throughout their lives. It's the sign of a modern advanced economy. Many people in basket case countries in Africa own their own houses. Little good it does them.

The new regulations on deposits, if they are enforced, will have a major impact on owner occupancy. They will price most middle income earners out of the market for ownership. The sort of people who will be able to afford house purchases will be the very wealthy or the institutions. Residential property will increasingly become the focus of long term investors looking for stable unspectacular returns on investment.

To some extent, this will push out the worst of the speculators, those looking to make a quick buck. Speculators thrive when prices are rising quickly. Buy early, hold for a short time, sell for a spectacular profit. If there are fewer and fewer people able to buy, the subsequent slowing in demand will discourage speculators. Instead they will be low-risk long term investors more interested in stable steady returns than fast bucks.

What we need are regulations and practices to reflect the fact that, in the cities at any rate, renting rather than buying will become the norm.

It could work out all right in the long run.

I'm 28 and I don't honestly think I will ever be able to get a mortgage.

I live alone and pay quite a high rent each month and whilst I can afford to put a bit away in the credit union for a rainy day, I could never save the amount I'd need to get a hefty deposit together.
The annoying thing is, a mortgage payment would be about the same as my rent and I've never once been even a day late with the rent in the 3 years I've been in the house.

So I could comfortably afford a mortgage, no problem at all - it's just getting the mortgage that would be impossible.