I’m within walking distance of central London, and single rooms here are available for about £100/wk, and if you need a full one-bed flat it’ll be around £200/wk. A one-bed flat can be purchased for about 150k in the same area.
Property is substantially cheaper almost anywhere else in the country. In Glasgow, for example, £100/wk would cover the rent on a one-bed flat, and 50k can buy you a two-bed flat.
90% mortgages are available with interest rates under 4%, which is hardly punitive.
There are many problems with housing costs in the UK, but we don’t do anybody any favours without being honest about the numbers.
The cheapest room I can find in a flat share is £550 a month - although for the numbers you mention, you could rent an outdoor parking space.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/find.html?locati...
So yes, there are options that are cheaper than I posited, but it's still hardly the $400 a month for a house you see in the US.
To buy, for under £150k, all I can see is garages, boats, and sub-decade leaseholds - you can't live in a garage, a boat costs a fortune to maintain and moor, and a six year lease for £150k is a bum deal in my view, and not really ownership.
Would love to be proven wrong.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locat...
In the UK, for a single bed flat in an area with jobs you're looking at £1000 a month. You'll earn just over £12,000 a year on minimum wage - and there are plenty of minimum wage workers here - about 7% of working people.
The cheapest you will find a house to buy is about £90k - for a ruin, on Orkney. In a city, £200k+ - and you'd better have a 25% deposit if you don't want a penurious rate.
Gas is $7.90 a gallon, and that transport cost is reflected in most consumer goods.