Do You Expect House Prices To Increase In Over The Course Of The Next 12 Months?

Doozergirl

BobProperty wrote:

Without bothering to quote various previous posters can someone explain why anyone will buy a flat in this development for more than the £145k just paid, when someone just paid £145k?

It's a good question which can also be applied to virtually any house bought in this country over the last few years when they would have cost half the price five years ago!

People will pay if that is all that is available. Once a development has sold out, there's no longer a direct comparison, only similar properties in similar streets. If £165k looks good value when compared to other flats available for sale in the area at the time it is marketed, that is what it will sell for. If it doesn't, it won't!

IN_LIKE_EVERYONE_ELSE!

Doozergirl wrote:

You may think you're being sarcastic, but there's absolute truth in your comment when you consider that people like John Rocha and Llewelwyn-Bowen are putting their names to new build. (Make whatever comparisons you will!)

Who is John Rocha?

mary

According to Google,
John Rocha Internationally acclaimed designer John Rocha has been in the fashion industry .......

blue_monkey_2

In order to unjam the housing market they are going to have to bring in multi-generation mortgages for first-time buyers - where the mortgage is taken over by the next generation, when the older generation can no longer keep up payments. They've had these types of mortgage on the Continent for decades.
I am afraid I have nothing but pessimism for the British housing market, and for those who are trying to get onto it.
Good luck to you.

Hi Scotsman, thank you. We have noticed that mortgage lenders are also trying to get the parents to include their salaries or put up their own homes against their childrens mortgages. Times are desparate and it really astounds me - I would never expect my mother to secure her property against anything of mine. My sister and her boyfriend can't get a place either. My brother just bought a wreck because it was all he could afford - the problem being that people seem to have a choice these days, a family or a home to live in. The problem then being that if they choose the house and can't afford to have kids then in 25 years time there is going to be bigger problems as their will not be so many tax paying adults. It really is a vicious circle. Even if I went back to work full time we would not be able to afford to buy around here (Herts) the only option is moving elsewhere but even then there is not much choice as more people are migrating further north and pushing the prices up there as well. Having seen the delinquents being left to fend for themselves in the school holidays now though (even kids as young as 7 are on their own around here) I would never want this and we have made the sacrifices for our children and hope they are bought up better than a lot of kids I know with parents that are both working full time.

There was recently a new apartment block up in the village and the average price for a 2 bed was 350k. Who has this kind of money to live in was is effectively a tower block? Why do people choose not to live in a house now? In North London they knocked down the Tower Blocks and put people in houses now they are back being more flats because they have run out of houses.

When I met my husband the avergae price around here was about 90k but I ended up in hopital a week before we got married, lost my job through unfit to work (had gynea op and needed 6 months recoup) and by then the prices had gone up another 30k. It does worry me that where we will go when our children get older, I don't want to stay here forever but can't see any other option to be honest. I guess the same can be said for your son assuming he is going to have that nice student loan to pay back as well. They have built a couple of housing associan houses in the village (the last they are allowed to build for 20 years apparantly) but you don't even get a garden that is bigger than 6x8 as they are cramming more and more onto every bit of land possible.

I guess something will come up one day, house prices are dropping slightly around here and the same old houses are for sale, nothing really seems to move. A year or so ago your house would be sold within a couple of weeks as this is quite a sought after area but these days nothing is happening for months and months and I drive by the for sale signs all the time. Sign of the times? We'll see, but, something does have to give sooner or later. If the kids can't afford these mortgages, I wonder how long before some parents start losing their homes as well?

I just wanted to say thanks for understanding my situation really.

superscotsman

manhattan wrote:

ive thought about leaving this country too!

if i cant get on that ladder in the next few years,im outta here!

I've never known a time when so many people have been talking about leaving the country. There is too much legislation, houses are too expensive, we are overtaxed. People can feel the walls closing in. Even I am looking over The Channel, and am brushing up my French, and I have friends in Romania. So I am thinking too.

wolvoman

BobProperty wrote:

Without bothering to quote various previous posters can someone explain why anyone will buy a flat in this development for more than the £145k just paid, when someone just paid £145k?

Absolutely!

I've no doubt the same posters arguing that selling one flat for £20K less DOES NOT reduce the market rate for them all, also believe that if the same flat had sold for £20K more then it DOES increase the market rate for them all.


Similar to those who believe for house prices to fall just 20% there has to be a major economic 'event' whereas they can rise by 100% (as they have done) with no major economic event!

manhattan

superscotsman wrote:

I've never known a time when so many people have been talking about leaving the country. There is too much legislation, houses are too expensive, we are overtaxed. People can feel the walls closing in. Even I am looking over The Channel, and am brushing up my French, and I have friends in Romania. So I am thinking too.

there will be people leaving in there droves soon,especially the younger generation who cant get there first house,even the ones on a a very good wage!

its an option,which is high up on my list!

im just gonna wait a few years and see what happens,also the kids will be a bit older.

keep that option in mind superscotsman.

zag2me

superscotsman wrote:

I've never known a time when so many people have been talking about leaving the country. There is too much legislation, houses are too expensive, we are overtaxed. People can feel the walls closing in. Even I am looking over The Channel, and am brushing up my French, and I have friends in Romania. So I am thinking too.

Every country is the same, overtaxed, underpaid, blah blah blah

The only thing that isnt overtaxed in the uk is property, its virtually tax free which is why everyone puts their money into it.

al_yrpal

Rocketing house prices have been caused by very low(historically) UK interest rates, the media frenzy on 'property development', buy to let and the collapse in confidence in pensions caused by low interest rates, and the consequent seemingly 'safe' dash for property.

Around my part of the south, there are forests of 'For Sale' and 'To Let' signs as naive new property speculators and BTL's get their cumuppance in their hundreds. Quite a few are still hanging in there, because they regard what they bought as 'their pension'. BTL returns on present prices are pants. I think there will be a slow realisation that 'property' at todays prices doesn't add up, and that there are better returns elsewhere, but it will take time.

One of my kids is on the ladder, the other isn't. Ma and Pa will have to help until wages catch up those high prices

I can sense the frustration and despair here, but I don't think that joining the wine soaked, non French speaking Brits continually moaning about the heat that I spent some weeks with this summer, is the answer. Not to speak of 50% + income tax, wealth tax, mind boggling bureaucracy, and a population that is unfortunately becoming steadily more hostile to 'les rosbifs'. Just another stampede by the 'herd'.

The answer is maybe to invest that deposit in the numerous places it will rocket in value and patiently wait. The stockmarket has been a much better place than property for well over a year now, with even humble trackers gaining 20% tax free within an ISA. There are some greater opportunities in emerging economies and just lately Japan.

rozeepozee

al-yrpal, well done, you gave me a smile amidst a sea of sad threads. I too feel sorry for those who can't afford to buy their own place. However, I do worry that there is a facade of the wealthy property owning public and if you scratch the surface the wealth is not real, just credit pinned on a (previously) rising property market. I am planning to leave the country as well. India for me, far cheaper than France and I'm hoping more hospitable!

And back to the thread, I forecast falls of up to 20% in the medium term, but if mortgage products change in the way described above, who knows??? I still think it makes for an unsustainable bubble, maybe that'll just push the time it's gonna burst back further?