Debate House Prices


In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non MoneySaving matters are no longer permitted. This includes wider debates about general house prices, the economy and politics. As a result, we have taken the decision to keep this board permanently closed, but it remains viewable for users who may find some useful information in it. Thank you for your understanding.
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

I can't stand the doom crew anymore

Options
1568101119

Comments

  • Jonbvn
    Jonbvn Posts: 5,562 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    mr_magoo wrote: »
    More Doom and Gloom if anyone interested,

    US stocks down 300 points tonight

    Don't you just love it !

    Are you completely nuts, or perhaps this is the Anarchists R'us board?

    Do you really want the global economy to go disappear down the plug-hole? You will be able to afford a house then, but don't worry the money you have saved for a deposit will not be worth the paper it is printed on.
    In case you hadn't already worked it out - the entire global financial system is predicated on the assumption that you're an idiot:cool:
  • carolt
    carolt Posts: 8,531 Forumite
    boyse7en wrote: »
    The idea that, at some Utopian point in the past, FTBs didn't worry about the mortgage and had money spare to go for nights out doesn't tally with my memories of either my parent's struggles to make ends meet when I was a child (1970s), nor my own experiences of buying my first house back in the early 1990s. It was no holidays, old cars, cycling to work, no take-aways, no restaurants, hand-me-down clothes, etc.

    It has always been difficult to afford to buy a house, whether it was in the 70s, 80s, 90s or 00s

    Rubbish. I know lots who bought their own places in the early/middle 90's with no effort at all. You must have been on a really paltry wage or desperately overstretched yourself to find it that hard.
  • Jonbvn
    Jonbvn Posts: 5,562 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    carolt wrote: »
    Rubbish. I know lots who bought their own places in the early/middle 90's with no effort at all. You must have been on a really paltry wage or desperately overstretched yourself to find it that hard.

    Or maybe you know lots of well paid people with good jobs?;)

    Only trying to keep things balanced......
    In case you hadn't already worked it out - the entire global financial system is predicated on the assumption that you're an idiot:cool:
  • WTF?_2
    WTF?_2 Posts: 4,592 Forumite
    For the average person, buying a house always entailed belt-tightening and sensible budgeting to balance the debt-servicing commitment of a mortgage with incomings.

    However, that's where it stops. With suitable budgeting (including borrowing only what you can afford to pay back) you then just adjust your lifestyle, pay the mortgage and your main worry is that you lose your income.

    Such were the mental prices and loony lending (hence barmy borrowing) of the last few years that virtually no amount of sensible budgeting was going to be enough to live within your means once you came off the short-term fixed-rate part of the mortgage and on to SVR.

    Also, many people deliberately stretched themselves beyond their means to pay on the basis that they could make up the shortfall in cost of living from credit short-term and that a booming house market would bail them out by quickly giving them decent amounts of equity which could then be used to refinance the original loan at more favourable terms. Because " House prices only ever go up, innit?" - a commonly held misconception perpetuated by the mass media.


    That's the key difference this time around - lots of people have taken on board simply un-serviceable levels of debt.
    --
    Every pound less borrowed (to buy a house) is more than two pounds less to repay and more than three pounds less to earn, over the course of a typical mortgage.
  • Jonbvn wrote: »
    Are you completely nuts, or perhaps this is the Anarchists R'us board?

    Do you really want the global economy to go disappear down the plug-hole?

    Nobody wants that. But sometimes, giving the tree a little shake and letting those people who tried to grab all the fruit for themselves, fall off, is not a bad thing.
  • Jonbvn
    Jonbvn Posts: 5,562 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    vigesimal wrote: »
    Nobody wants that. But sometimes, giving the tree a little shake and letting those people who tried to grab all the fruit for themselves, fall off, is not a bad thing.

    A reasonable analogy. Thanks!
    In case you hadn't already worked it out - the entire global financial system is predicated on the assumption that you're an idiot:cool:
  • Dan:_4
    Dan:_4 Posts: 3,795 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    carolt wrote: »
    Rubbish. I know lots who bought their own places in the early/middle 90's with no effort at all. You must have been on a really paltry wage or desperately overstretched yourself to find it that hard.

    So how come you didn't buy during this period, if it was so easy?
  • carolt wrote: »
    Rubbish. I know lots who bought their own places in the early/middle 90's with no effort at all. You must have been on a really paltry wage or desperately overstretched yourself to find it that hard.

    To be fair though, that was a brief period of time as extreme as recent times for house prices, but for entirely the opposite reason. Prices were absolutely on the floor.

    If you were fortunate enough to be in a position to be a first time buyer at that particular moment in time, then great. If not it's not much use pointing at one specific extreme downward blip and saying "well if you had been...".
    Hi, we’ve had to remove your signature. If you’re not sure why please read the forum rules or email the forum team if you’re still unsure - MSE ForumTeam
  • carolt
    carolt Posts: 8,531 Forumite
    I agree that's true to a degree, but I was responding specifically to boyse7en's post, where he was talking about 'buying my first house back in the early 1990s'. I was disagreeing with him that it was hard then - not that it has never been hard.
  • Thanks CaroleT, I must have forgotten the lavish parties and new cars that I was buying while I was paying the 2p per month mortgage on my first house:rolleyes:

    Obviously you had friends richer than I was in those days, which is fine for them. It was fine for me too, as I managed to afford to save a deposit and pay the repayments (on an endowment mortgage, but that was another story), by scrimping and saving, but the idea that it was easy for everyone to buy is ludicrous.

    It is harder for FTBs now, and house prices are daft compared to wages, but that doesn't mean that everyone could waltz into an Estate Agent and flop their wad on table and have their pick of properties in the past either.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.9K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.5K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.9K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.9K Life & Family
  • 257.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.