Problem with that is you own nothing at the end of it. I was lucky, I bought my 2bed flat (all I could afford ) about 3 yrs ago. If I was just starting now, I'd have no chance 'till this adsense thing kicks in... DD
Can you call it your own? Can you make alterations to it without asking anyones permission? Can you ensure that you will be able to stay in the property for the next 20 years? Can you keep pets? Can you completely redecorate it the way you want it? I'm sure some of you could think of heaps of other reasons why you would want your own house.
Yeh, I think if you have kids (which I dont) its something to leave them when your old and expire. By that time they may have learnt to appreciate you. I think half the reason property prices are so high is that people get so obsessed by owning their own house. People arn't getting richer because all other houses go up pro rata, unless they own more than one property of course. Its just people trying to get on the ladder that suffer the consequences.
Its hard to find land with building permission and its a lot more expensive if it does. You would also need large cash reserves for when stuff goes wrong which it does almost every development and depending where you are located if you want to build any kind of complex you also need to give government money for improving the general area, schools etc.
If it's not possible it's not possible. I wouldn't lock myself into a loan for the rest of my life just to chase some dream. There are heaps of people who only rent a place and they aren't unhappy because they don't own a house.
But your statement was "I don't get your problem" and I gave you a list of reasons why some people would have a problem renting. At the end of the day this is the Western World and people get stressed over whether they can buy their own house or not. I personally realise that there are people living in 3rd World countries who don't know whether they'll make it through the next decade never mind setting out on a 25-30 year mortgage period. I personally am pretty easy going and would never be unhappy whether I was renting or had my own house but my preference has to be owning my own house which is not just "some dream". The frustrating thing is that you see the house you want, you start bidding and before you know it the price is up £30,000 ($60,000) from where it started and you wonder what size of house you should really be going for. To make matters worse the prices have been rising around £2,000 ($4,000) every month for the last 2 years which causes a feeling of panic in a lot of buyers putting the prices higher than ever.
I completely understand your position. However I just don't see a point in making a big fuzz about something you can't change, at least not in the near future. That's why I said what I said.