Outspoken TV property expert Kirstie Allsopp has told first time buyers they may have to sacrifice lattes, Netflix and gym membership if they want to own a home.
The star - who co-presents Location, Location, Location with Phil Spencer - has told The Times: “When I bought my first property, going abroad, the EasyJet, coffee, gym, Netflix lifestyle didn't exist.”
She continued: “I used to walk to work with a sandwich. And on payday I'd go for a pizza, and to a movie, and buy a lipstick. Interest rates were 15 per cent and I was earning £11,500 a year.”
Allsopp, now 50, said she bought her first home at the age of 21 with family help when there were few of what she called “drains on finance” such as lifestyle streaming services or high-end eating.
She added: “I don't want to belittle those people who can't do it. But there are loads of people who can do it and don't. It is hard. We've fallen into the trap of saying it's impossible for everybody… It's about where you can buy, not if you can buy. There is an issue around the desire to make those sacrifices.”
The star suggested first time buyers could head north to cheaper areas, referring it to a couple who found a two-bed maisonette in Newcastle for £160,000 after moving back in with the woman’s parents during lockdown.
Allsopp has been criticised for her comments by another TV star - Piers Morgan.
He tweeted: “Every time Kirstie Allsopp trends, I check why and see she’s said another unbelievably stupid, ludicrously ill-informed and woefully privileged thing.
“Then I wait for her to respond to the entirely justified outrage by throwing her toys out of the pram and quitting Twitter again.”
The Times calculated that a first-time buyer who gave up a Starbucks latte every weekday, a standard Netflix subscription, gym membership and two return flights to Europe on EasyJet a year would save about £1,600 annually.
The average deposit for a first-time buyer is £59,000 according to Halifax, and some critics of Allsopp have claimed that would mean buyers would have to forgo their subscriptions, trips and coffees for 37 years in order to save that amount.
In recent years Allsopp, who has presented TV property shows for two decades, has become a controversialist, especially on social media.
Before TV she worked at her mother’s interiors business and at Christie’s. She set up her own property search company, Kirmir, in 1996, focusing on top end purchases in prime areas of London.
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Kirstie Allsopp needs to be careful, when she gives advice to cash strapped would be buyers, and drops in things like she bought her first home with help of family, not everyone has a father who was chair of Christies, is Baron and peer, it seems to be quiet a week for those in priviledged positions telling the 'poor' to hunker down, and be frugal and save for the future, when quite clearly there is a slice of society who breezes through life with large silver spoons in their mouths. I like Kirsty and Phil, but maybe telling first time buyers to cut the frothy coffee, when the chancellor helped prices rise by 10% in a year, so a extra £25,000 on a first home at £250,000, will take more than this to fix.
Whether she had help buying her first house or not, her advice is sound and correct. People completely miss this point when it comes to this kind of thing. Talking about lattes and Netflix is just to make the point that someone who truly wanted to become a buyer, can do so, with consistent budgeting and frugality, getting rid of the expenses that they really don't need. This is EXACTLY what generations did who have gone before, and a lot of the time it was forced on them out of necessity.
As for price rises, FTB aspiring to buy £250,000 properties as their first is part of the problem. There are pelnty of cheaper properties available, whether as the occupier, or to invest in to build equity to put towards their own home.
Why is her having help to buy not relevant? I doubt very much she struggled to get on the property ladder, given her background as the daughter of a baron, whereas many others do, even those who save frugally each month.
They're not going to appreciate being patronised to. Generations before had it far easier to get on the ladder, with much lower prices and a much narrower earnings to mortgage ratio. The idea that today's market and the market of the early 2000s or 90s are similar is pie in the sky.
What Kirsty is indirectly referring to, is the MMR (Mortgage Market Review) used on your mortgage application.
When you submit the application, if you put on your expense application that you spend £5/day on coffee, £80/month on gym sessions, £10/day on lunch and £100/week on dining out etc, this will severely impact your chances on the LTV after the MMR has been conducted.
I have never fallen for the usual crocodile tears for first time buyers. The youngsters who have worked for me have the latest mobile, every bit of clothing is designer not M&S, they all seem to have at least 3 foreign holidays (before covid) and would never dream of bringing in sandwiches or even making a coffee in the kit with free coffee and milk. Oh no, its fancy take away coffees at £3.50 a go. Then there's the weekend, it's never one or two pints which i can remember when i was young, its multi very expensive drinks and more!!
All on credit cards or personal loans no doubt.
This is nonsense. You're tarring a whole generation with the same brush. Also, there can be no doubt that it's far harder to buy a home now than it was 20, 30 or 40 years ago, even 10 years ago.
For one, house prices were significantly cheaper and the salary to mortgage ratio was much, much lower. Young people now have to save for years if they want to buy a house, and will probably still require parental help in many cases. As the article above states, even saving £1,600 a year (for all those takeaway coffees that all young people apparently drink) would still mean saving for 37 years.
I'm sure Kirstie didn't have it too hard when buying her first home, given her background. Plus, the idea that people should just move away to somewhere completely new - where they have no roots or connections - is equal nonsense. It's not quite as easy as that, is it? And why can't there be affordability in their local area.
No-one's saying buying a home is impossible for young people, but it's also very, very difficult. It's just pathetic generational point-scoring to state otherwise.
@ Algarve Investor
My Grandparents house cost them £650 in 1951. They had to live with my Grandmother's parents for 6 years to afford the deposit.
The UK homeownership rate has fluctuated between 63% and 70% since the war. In the 20 years before the war it fluctuated from 25% to 60%.
Salary to mortgage ratio is literally the stupidest argument that people make on affordability. 50 years ago the number of women in work was around 55%. Today it's over 90%. Practically all couples are dual income, where as half were single income 50 years ago, AND of the women who were in work 50 years ago, more than half were part time. Today over 75% are full time.
There's also the extremely obvious (to most people) point that your salary relative to your house price is, for the most part, IRRELEVANT. It really doesn't matter what your house costs, what DOES matter is how much you can borrow and that you can afford the repayments. Totally different things entirely.
You are sorely in need of an objective education.
I'm no fan of Kirsty but I agree with what she is saying. Unfortunately, though, she is not the best person to say it, given her background.
When we credit-check prospective tenants' bank statements, their lifestyles are often transparent because they buy everything on their debit cards. Many of them waste hundreds every month on McDonalds, itunes, Uber, etc. Then they pay us thousands in rent every year. It actually makes me quite sad to see and I'd love to say something to them, but I can't.
So I'm glad Kirsty has said it, because it needed saying. It's just a shame the people who need to listen to the message will ignore her, because of her background.
I am not Kirsty's biggest fan. BUT she does talk sense here.
Everybody has choices in life. If you want a new car on finance, go on exotic holidays, socialize for pics to put 'On the Gram' ahead of buying your first property, you only have yourself to blame.
Also some people need to realize they cannot buy in their number one area. I love Belgravia but i still cannot afford the property i want there ( never will) so i live elsewhere.
Sadly too many people have an entitled attitude these days.
Is it entitled to expect relatively affordable housing? The average deposit required for a home in parts of the country is ludicrous. If you're a single person on one salary, it's even harder.
Not so long ago, it was possible for, say, a couple who worked as a teacher and a nurse to afford to buy a home, even in London. Now they wouldn't even get a garage space.
Lots of young people save scrupulously and struggle badly to buy a home, while forgoing holidays, new cars and social occasions. Others might do the things you mention, but who was it that created such a consumerist culture? Our generation can't be absolved of blame on that front.
Algarve,
Lots of affordable housing around. Problem is the public do little research. They think an affordable house should be 50k that just is not realisitic.
Schemes such as shared ownership means anybody with an ounce of get up and go can become a home owner for very little upfront investment.
As their circumstances improve they can buy the entire property or sell it and benefit from the capital they have made and put into a new property.
It all depends on your definition of affordable - affordable in London and the SE has now become £390,000 for a one-bed flat. In no sane world is that affordable. It's easy to say, well, you need to move north or somewhere else, but it's not always that simple. People have work, family, friends, roots in an area.
Plus don't get me started on Shared Ownership - the half renting/half owning halfway house nightmare with homes that are often difficult to sell on because of cladding and leasehold issues. What's more, you never truly own the home, with staircasing up to 100% very rare from what I've seen.
Kirsty Allsop talks b******s all of the time.
I also I agree I’m not a fan of KA, however I do agree with every word she has said. It’s high time the young generation woke up to the realities that owning your own home is not a god given right. Sacrifices have to be made.
Our first mortgage was at 15% too, we got paving slabs for our birthday from family so we could improve the outside, one packet of biscuits a month. Hardly war times I accept, but wanted to get on.
When we had our estate agency we often struggled to sell nice 1 bed flats at c. £70k in good areas as the young team all wanted fancy and better houses than that.
More people need to shout like Kirsty. They have the money but want to spend it on toys, tattoos and tat. Life’s hard, waken up!
I agree with Piers Morgan - now I feel dirty!
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