£165,000???

Even with the adjustment in values brought about by the current recession, house prices here in the UK are still well beyond the reach of many. The latest figures suggest the average UK house price is £165,000 (at the time of writing, around €185,000 or US$268,000)¹, whereas the median UK salary is in the region of £25,000 (currently €27,800 or US$40,500)².

Due to being burned by irresponsible lending practices and bad debt, many mortgage lenders now insist on a 10% deposit up-front. Let’s assume the case of a single person aspiring to buy a house, and that they’re a first-time buyer. They would need to save up a deposit of around two-thirds of their annual salary, and still need to borrow nearly six times their annual salary to finance the rest of the purchase. Clearly an impossible situation. This is reflected in the thousands of young people living with their parents, well into their thirties³.

In the UK, flats (apartments) can be marginally cheaper at the outset. But they can bring their own problems – noisy or unsociable neighbours, incompetent management companies, frightening and open-ended service charges.

Whilst property ownership is revered in the UK and many other Western societies, is it the be-all and end-all or sine qua non of living one’s life? Surely there must be alternatives to enslaving oneself to mammoth debt for 25 or more years, limiting one’s mobility and agility, and exposing oneself to inevitable ongoing expenditure?

Renting a place is an obvious alternative, and can mitigate against most or all of the maintenance and expenditure aspects. But equally, renting can be seen as flushing money down the toilet – no ultimate property ownership – and can be equally or more expensive compared to home ownership anyway.

Perhaps more radical thinking is what’s needed? I’ve been looking into alternatives to bricks-and-mortar for the last several years, and this series of articles is a distillation of what I’ve learned. I’ll include references to useful books and to other resources on the web. It’s written mainly from a UK perspective, but much of the information is likely to be equally applicable elsewhere.

As a kick-off, check out Nick Rosen’s excellent book ‘Off-Grid’ and the associated website off-grid.net. His specific focus is on people living in alternative ways, and eschewing traditional ‘grids’ (mains electricity, water, gas). I’ll refer back to this book in future articles, as it contains a ton of information, tips and experiences. Amazon link (affiliate) on the right.

I’m hoping this series will be a useful resource for like-minded souls out there. As ever, any comments or opinions are appreciated. Any experiences of people already pursing alternative living would be especially valuable. Leave comments, leave links, or drop me an email. Let’s make this essential reading for those thinking about living outside the norm.

Sources:

¹ http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/pdfs/research/House-Price-Index-October-2009.pdf

² http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8151355.stm

³ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8000924.stm