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Littler at large
Published 18 February 2024
If you’re young, getting a mortgage isn’t easy. And plenty of other obstacles exist for first-time buyers, says Matt Littler.
I know how hard it is for young people to get on the housing ladder. People think I’m privileged as an actor, but I’m not particularly well off – and I’ve got friends who’ve really struggled.
In 2003, I bought a four-bedroom mews house in a new development in Liverpool. I thought I had better do it while I was in a regular job, acting in the TV soap Hollyoaks. The house cost just under £230,000 and it took a big chunk out of my earnings.
However, it’s worse for my friends. Some of them are in low-income jobs and don’t have spare cash. They just put their heads down and get on with it. They don’t go out at weekends because they can’t afford to.
I bought my place two weeks before it was announced that Liverpool would be the Capital of Culture. Knowing what I do now, I think the house I bought was overpriced and I was a bit naïve. First-time buyers can get caught out. It can easily happen when you’re desperate to get on the housing ladder.
I have friends who took on the wrong sort of mortgage. Some have found that they can’t sell their flat because it has gone into negative equity.
I know what it’s like for young first-time buyers. I couldn’t get a mortgage for a long time – no lender would take me because I was so young. I sent a lot information off to mortgage lenders and was unsuccessful until I found a good financial adviser who helped me sort it out.
They can’t afford to move because by selling they’ll be buying into debt. They can’t rent the flat out either to cover the mortgage so they’ve ended up stuck.
All they can do is stay put and hope that the flat will appreciate in value. It’s a common situation for young people.
In my case, any fault about the decision to buy was my own. I needed somewhere to live near to my work – it was too far from my parents in Manchester if we were on a night shoot or an early start. I thought the house would appreciate in value, but the Capital of Culture announcement didn’t have a big effect on property prices. Everyone thought that the effect would be instantaneous. People who’d invested money in property thought they’d suddenly be coining it in.
Last year, things came to fruition and we saw the full scope of the expansion in Liverpool. But, in the present climate, it’s uncertain if entrepreneurs will be tempted to keep coming along and creating more investment.
Prices in some parts of the city have gone up. And in village-type places like Woolton they’ve rocketed up. However, even there the rise has now been halted. They had their boom earlier than we had ours.
Even after buying somewhere, I’m still a bit of a gypsy about where I live. I’m always off to London or back to Manchester. My parents’ home wasn’t too far from the Hollyoaks set in Liverpool. But even that distance was a bit much at seven in the morning. Now I don’t have to commute from there any more.
Matt Littler is an actor and director.
