Surely if you can afford to pay nearly £1,500 in rent, you can afford a mortgage? Well, yes, depending on the term, interest rate and so on, quite likely a mortgage of around £300,000. Yet around 35% of us are renting, rising to over 40% of 25-40 year-olds. So what’s the problem? Deposits and income levels. The old dilemma, if you’re renting and it’s costing you that much, how can you save? Few can and as a result it’s only those with generous (or, sadly, dead) parents who might have enough to put down. And even if two of you are on an above average salary, average being currently around £35,000, you’ll struggle to meet most lenders affordability measures. Will building lots of new houses in a field near you help the cause? Not for quite a while, I fear.
“Reeves backs down on plans to cut ISA limit”
So it looks as though Cash ISAs are safe for the moment (FTM – is that a thing?) Rachel has apparently ‘bowed to pressure’ from the banks and building societies and decided not to reduce the allowance to £4,000 for cash and to keep the £20,000 parity with Stocks and Shares ISAs. Bowed also to common sense, I’d say.
