What is the cheapest property you can buy?

I have around ￡23K saved up and earn a salary of ￡15K. There is a good chance I will be forced to leave my parents house soon and was wondering what I should do. I'm still single so will probably be moving out on my own. I'm not looking to rent as it would be money wasted. I have come from a very humble background so will live anywhere. Thanks
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A salary of ￡15k means you can probably get a mortgage for ￡45k at the moment ... and you have ￡23k saved but you need to set some aside for legal costs, furniture, etc, so realistically a deposit of ￡20k.

So you're looking at ￡65k in total. Well, it very much depends on where you live. That amount may buy you a small terraced property if you were in Wales or rural parts of Scotland, which are the cheapest areas of the UK. I don't believe that there is anywhere in England that you'd get a property for that value.

You could look into shared ownership properties through Housing Associations, where you buy a share of the property and then pay rent on the remaining half. However, the problem is that most HAs, when determining eligibility, only look at your income and not at your savings (since the scheme was initially designed for people who were unable to save a deposit). I know in London, you would have very little chance of getting even a one-bed flat on an income of under ￡22k. Obviously the requirement would be lower in other parts of the country, but I'm still not sure that ￡15k would enable you to qualify anywhere.

The problem you face is, you have a good deposit saved up but you only earn a low income. If you're young and therefore in an entry-level job meaning that it's likely that your income will increase in the near future, you are best to rent for now until you can get yourself an income of at least more than ￡20k, at which time you could look at purchasing something.
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Your salary is probably too low to secure a mortgage in most areas of the UK. There are bargains to be had in the north of the country and you could try looking on www.rightmove.co.uk and pricing houses up.

Another alternative would be invest your savings and secure yourself a good return. My company invests in property in the US and resells it after completing repairs. Perhaps this is an option for you but it will depend on how quickly you want to move.
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You can move to my area-- homes in Detroit are going for as little as $1000 US..

that said they typically need a lot of work . and work is hard to come by here.. s
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Talk to your local housing association to see if you qualify for a shared ownership flat. Explain your full circumstances and why you are being forced to leave your parents house - if it is because of a marriage breakdown for instance this can help. As always what you will be able to get for your money will depend on where you live. Outside London you will get more for you money and outside the London commuter belt more again with the northand Wales being cheapest.

With ￡ 23k you could buy a 30 % share in a property with a full market value of ￡ 76,600. Or on ￡ 15k a year you could top that up with a mortgage of ￡ 45,000 (3 x salary) and buy a property with a full market value of ￡ 121,600 or anything in between - you will probably feel more comforatable with a smaller mortgage.

With a shared ownership property you buy a share from 30 % upwards in the property with a lease, typically 99 years with a provision to extend, and in effect become an owner occupier with a high level of security of tenure because the owner of the balance is a housing association which is a charitable body set up to promote low cost home ownership and are likely to be more understanding of arrears than a building society. The lease gives you security of tenure for its full term.

As an owner occupier you can make alterations and improvements within reason with the approval of the housing association - something you cannot do with a rental property.

Also as an owner occupier you bear full responsibility for maintenance and repair but it is under your direct control and if you choose not to do it within reason it is unlikely anyone will complain. You can also do it yourself or get it done cheaply (think of all those Polish builders). Ultimatly obviously there will be maintenance clauses in the lease which are enforceable. You will also have to pay a service charge for maintenance of common parts, buildings insurance etc but this is likely to be considerably lower than for a privately owned flat.

Since you own the 30 % you can also sell it in future and therefore benefit from the long term trend of house prices to increase. This may seem like a sick joke at the moment but over the longer term house prices in the UK, and particularly London, have increased strongly probably doubling in the last 15 years. This is due to the pressure of a rising population with a high level of immigration into the UK from Eastern Europe and elsewhere and a rising trend in divorce etc hitting up against a virtually fixed supply of housing.

The key point on cost is that the rental you pay on the 30 % you do not buy is at a heavily subsidised level of around 2.75 % compared to likely mortgage costs of at least 6 % once interest rates recover to more normal levels. The rental does increase as you say at a rate linked to the retail price index. Generally there is a discounted rent for the first 2 years which is at only around 1 % or less.

The other advantage is flexibility - you should be able to afford a property with a higher market value now by buying a shared ownership property at 30 % and then buy the rest in future when you can afford it. But you can just stick at 30 % and have a cheaper property in the long run until your death or 99 tears whichever comes first! Seriously though there will be provisions in the lease to extend its term which it would make sense to do once it gets down to around 70 to 80 years.