What Came First, The Wedding Or The House?

For decades, tradition dictated that the order of your life was quite simple. Study, get a job, get married, move in together, start a family.

People taking a different route to this, or doing things in a different order, were often looked down upon and criticised. But, times have changed.

It’s no longer frowned upon to move in with a partner before getting married. It’s no longer considered ‘sinful’ to start a family before tying the knot. The tradition may be on the way out, but so far, our behaviors haven’t significantly changed.

Couples Are Still Getting Married Before Buying A Home

According to research by comparison site MoneySuperMarket, 68% of UK residents who took out a wedding loan did not already own a property. That suggests that more than two-thirds of soon-to-be-wed couples are forgoing the urge to buy their own home and committing themselves to each other first.

Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising, after all, it’s no secret that the cost of owning a property has risen almost relentlessly since the 1990’s. Undoubtedly the rising costs will have priced many young couples out of the market.

The Government have attempted to introduce several schemes to help first time buyers and tackle the problem that people have in getting on the housing ladder. But, despite this, owning your own home is a still a distant dream for many, particularly those living in house price hotspots such as London and Reading.

If you can’t afford to spend your money on property, you may as well get married, right?

Perhaps, but things may be about to change.

Could Property Bounce Back?

While buying a house may be expensive, getting married is hardly the cheaper alternative. According to a recent survey, the average cost of a wedding is now £27,161. With the average house price in the UK sitting at around £235,000, a typical wedding means spending more than what’s needed for a 10% deposit on an average house.

What these statistics show is that the average cost of a wedding has increased a staggering 88% since 2012, whereas the average cost of property in the UK has ‘only’ increased by 36% over the same period. So, it appears, wedding costs are catching up fast.

Since it now costs so much to get married, surely there comes a point when people will turn to buying a house together before getting hitched? After all, society now deems it a perfectly acceptable thing to do. Tradition is no longer holding us back.

So, How Can Young Couples Get On The Housing Ladder?

If weddings are becoming so expensive that they are exceeding the cost of a good deposit on a reasonable home, getting on the housing ladder could be about to become ‘cool’ again.

Of course, it’s never quite as simple as that.  House prices have still been going up. It’s just that the cost of a wedding has gone up faster. And that means couples are still playing catch-up, trying to boost their savings quicker than the speed at which house prices rise.

At the moment, the housing market is experiencing a slight lull. A break in the waves that gives those saving for a deposit a bit of breathing room and a chance to put more funds in the bank. But it won’t last, property prices are likely to rise again soon and that means the race to get a deposit together well be well and truly back on.

So, for couples who want to buy their first home before walking down the aisle, knowing how to negotiate a lower price on a property is becoming vital knowledge. A cheaper property means a lower deposit is required and that could make all the difference when it comes to the decision of what should come first, the wedding or the house?