Kirstie and Phil’s Love it or List viewers have mocked the show’s first episode to air after the presenter said young people could afford to buy a house if they quit Netflix, gym memberships and coffee.
The 50-year-old television presenter sparked a huge debate after claiming that ‘everyone’ can afford to buy a home by making ‘enormous sacrifices’ including moving in with parents or leaving expensive areas such as London to buy in cheaper areas in the North.
Last night’s Channel 4 programme revisited a young couple who had upgraded their 1960s semi-detached house for a five-bedroom home in Darwen, Lancashire after three years.
While Allsopp, who is the daughter of a British peer, only appeared in footage of the original programme – viewers quickly took to Twitter to joke the couple must have ‘cancelled Netflix and knocked Starbucks on the head’ to afford the move.
Kirstie and Phil’s Love it or List viewers have mocked the show’s first episode after the presenter said youngsters could afford to buy a house if they quit Netflix, gym memberships and coffee
Last night’s Channel 4 programme revisited a young couple who had upgraded their 1960s semi-detached house for a five-bedroom home (pictured) in Darwen, Lancashire after three years
‘Blimey, they’ve upgraded after all. Must have cancelled Netflix and knocked Starbucks on the head’, wrote one.
Another said: ‘I wonder does this couple have Netflix?’, adding: ‘Had to turn it off when Kirstie came on… luckily I have Netflix to watch’.
‘Just move to a cheaper area give up gym membership and costa coffees,’ said a third viewer.
The episode saw Kirstie’s co-host Phil Spencer revisit Danny and Alex, a couple who appeared on the show four years ago, where the hosts embarked on a loft conversion in their dated Derbyshire house.
Kirstie and Phil’s Love it or List viewers have mocked the show’s first episode to air after the presenter said young people could afford to buy a house if they quit Netflix, gym memberships and coffee
Three years on, the couple had left the house and purchased a 1920 five-bed, three bathroom home in Darwin, which had recently been extended to create a modern family home.
‘When you were last here we were giving you the budget to take that next step for us to get into our first family house, the situation has changed where we’ve been able to jump from that house into this, which is sort of our forever house’, said Alex.
The young couple, who welcomed their first child 18-months ago, were able to afford their new home with financial help from Alex’s parents and salary increases from new jobs.
Location, Location, Location host Kirstie, who owns a house in North Devon, initially sparked criticism after claiming that all young people can buy a house if they’re savvy enough with their cash.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, she said: ‘When I bought my first property, going abroad, the EasyJet, coffee, gym, Netflix lifestyle didn’t exist,’ she said.
Location, Location, Location host Kirstie, who owns a house in North Devon, initially sparked criticism after claiming that all young people can buy a house if they’re savvy enough with their cash
‘I used to walk to work with a sandwich. And on payday I’d go for a pizza, and to a movie, and buy a lipstick. Interest rates were 15 per cent, I was earning £11,500 a year.’
The presenter acknowledged that interest rates were much lower today but added that there were ‘new drains on the finances’ of today’s young first-time buyers.
She told the newspaper that streaming services, foreign holidays and gym memberships were now seen as standard parts of young people’s lives, which was not the case when she was younger.
Allsopp said she bought her first home at the age of 21 with family help when owning your own home was seen as ‘the be all and end all’.
She added: ‘I don’t want to belittle those people who can’t do it. But there are loads of people who can do it and don’t. It is hard. We’ve fallen into the trap of saying it’s impossible for everybody…
Despite backlash, Kirstie rejected claims she was too privileged to understand the struggle for first-time buyers in a string of tweets defending herself earlier this week
‘It’s about where you can buy, not if you can buy. There is an issue around the desire to make those sacrifices.’
According to the Times, a first-time buyer who gave up a Starbucks latte every weekday, an ordinary Netflix subscription, gym membership and two return flights to Europe on EasyJet a year would save about £1,600 annually.
The average deposit for a first-time buyer is £59,000 according to Halifax, which means buyers would have to forgo their subscriptions, trips and coffees for 37 years in order to save that amount.
Despite backlash, Kirstie rejected claims she was too privileged to understand the struggle for first-time buyers.
In a string of tweets defending herself earlier this week, she wrote: ‘Either you think I’m an out of touch rich b*tch who doesn’t get how hard it is to buy a home in many parts of the UK or you don’t.’