***House prices up 1.2% in May***

princeofpounds

I guess what I'm saying is I feel for those who were just innocent bystanders trying to make a life as they could and got pulled in through no fault of their own.

Thus saying house prices should fall for public good is just.. not very circumspect.

I know you have a real concern here, but you are still thinking with regards to a very particular subset of the population (people in trouble with housing equity who will never trade up), and a very specific point in time (coming from an unsustainable housing boom).

I totally acknowledge that as economic adjustments take place there are people caught on the wrong side of them. In *both* directions. For these people there is nothing good about what happens. I can't help the fact that what happens in the aggregate has differing impacts on individuals. No-one can. I am not opposed to helping these people in a number of ways, although you, I and anyone else may differ on the details.

We are all innocent bystanders when it comes to the economy, I suppose I'm saying!

My point is very very different from this particular episode of history and a much more fundmental truth. Prices aren't much more than an information signal for rationing scarce resources. Housing scarcity is a bad thing, as I'm sure you will agree if you've ever lived in a bedsit - how great would it be if we could all live in houses that were as big as we wanted them to be, just like we can pretty much drink and eat all we want and stay as warm as we need to?

Every time house prices went up, you probably felt good because you thought what you had was worth more. What you probably didn't think about was that every time they went up, your dream house went further and further away from reality. How can that be a good thing?

There must be a fable encapsulating that concept, come to think of it.

PS I don't mean 'you' in the personal sense!

Incidentally one of the dangers of high prices is exactly what we are seeing now - they fall. There are also dangers to prices that are too low - they fail to stimulate investment. Although the 'problem' with that is that it subsequently sends prices (and scarcity) higher again.

Gorgeous_George

What we need is stability of house prices. It doesn't overly matter if this is considered high or low.

High HPI and high HPC produces winners and losers. IMHO, we have enough losers in this country already.

GG

ad9898_3

Bloody 'ell, I've just got in, I can see we're all still going at it:D, has the housing market turned ?, come on guys, at this point in the economic cycle, no one can surely say this is the bottom with the current economic outlook. Let's try and put some meat on the bone, ok so Nationwide have reported a rise in house prices of 1.2% MoM, now I know loads of people on here use Property Bee, can anyone find me a link to a property that has a 'property bee history' to show that the original price has gone up, and then the property has gone SSTC, or even better has appeared on the Land Registry ?

Now we all know of properties that have have been reduced then sold, because that's what happens in a falling market, but lets see if we can find one that has risen in price and sold. After all, they must be out there otherwise Nationwide's figures can't be true. Even better look on the Land Registry and see if you can find a street where say 2-3 properties have sold over the past 6 months, and the last one to be sold has gone for more than the first one to be sold.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I don't expect to buy a house for £3.50. I hope it's not a disgustingly unreasonable expectation to be on a respectable (if unspectacular) salary in a secure job, with £20k in savings and no debts to be able to buy a modest flat in a decent area of town. Unless prices fall to levels that reflect wage affordability, then this remains impossible for myself and many others. Sensible, stable house prices benefit all, surely.

pickles110564

ad9898 wrote: »

Bloody 'ell, I've just got in, I can see we're all still going at it:D, has the housing market turned ?, come on guys, at this point in the economic cycle, no one can surely say this is the bottom with the current economic outlook. Let's try and put some meat on the bone, ok so Nationwide have reported a rise in house prices of 1.2% MoM, now I know loads of people on here use Property Bee, can anyone find me a link to a property that has a 'property bee history' to show that the original price has gone up, and then the property has gone SSTC, or even better has appeared on the Land Registry ?

Now we all know of properties that have have been reduced then sold, because that's what happens in a falling market, but lets see if we can find one that has risen in price and sold. After all, they must be out there otherwise Nationwide's figures can't be true. Even better look on the Land Registry and see if you can find a street where say 2-3 properties have sold over the past 6 months, and the last one to be sold has gone for more than the first one to be sold.

In Felixstowe one repro house was put on market by bank at £419k and sold for £425k but one swallow does not make a summer.
Houses are selling at an increased rate but still not like in 2007.

Gorgeous_George

pickles110564 wrote: »

In Felixstowe one repro house was put on market by bank at £419k and sold for £425k but one swallow does not make a summer.
Houses are selling at an increased rate but still not like in 2007.

I prefer

one swallow doesn't make a love affair



GG

ad44downey

pickles110564 wrote: »

In Felixstowe one repro house was put on market by bank at £419k and sold for £425k but one swallow does not make a summer.
Houses are selling at an increased rate but still not like in 2007.

No decent person wants to live in a dump like Felixstowe. Especially if the likes of you live there. :T

System

An increase in house selling prices has nothing to do with the number of properties that have had their asking price increased since being originally listed.

mewbie_2

pickles110564 wrote: »

In Felixstowe one repro house was put on market by bank at £419k and sold for £425k but one swallow does not make a summer.
Houses are selling at an increased rate but still not like in 2007.

Was that the world's least exciting auction? Opening price 419k. For a cut price repo. Please will someone bid? Another 1k? Oh go on then. Zzzzz.

Were they bidding up in increments of 1k at a time? Or did someone go crazy and put another 6k on the offer?

JonnyBravo

ad9898 wrote: »

Bloody 'ell, I've just got in, I can see we're all still going at it:D, has the housing market turned ?, come on guys, at this point in the economic cycle, no one can surely say this is the bottom with the current economic outlook. Let's try and put some meat on the bone, ok so Nationwide have reported a rise in house prices of 1.2% MoM, now I know loads of people on here use Property Bee, can anyone find me a link to a property that has a 'property bee history' to show that the original price has gone up, and then the property has gone SSTC, or even better has appeared on the Land Registry ?

Why are you persisting with this flimsy argument?
You think even in the HPI days people were routinely raising their asking price? Of course it happened occasionally but not routinely. No, what usually happened is people sold for above their asking price.
Now here we have a survey saying the price of the average house has risen over one month and to achieve this you think asking prices must have risen? And not just that, prices which have already been set have risen?
:rolleyes:

ad9898 wrote: »

Now we all know of properties that have have been reduced then sold, because that's what happens in a falling market, but lets see if we can find one that has risen in price and sold. After all, they must be out there otherwise Nationwide's figures can't be true.

You've disappointed me ad998. That isn't necessary at all. Has the heat affected you today???? :rolleyes:

ad9898 wrote: »

Even better look on the Land Registry and see if you can find a street where say 2-3 properties have sold over the past 6 months, and the last one to be sold has gone for more than the first one to be sold.

Now that is more like it..... but reality gets in the way... can you really identify the houses which are exactly the same on the net? We're trying to spot a 1% rise.... so you can tell me which houses are definitively worth exactly the same so we can spot this 1% rise??



Stop trying to deny the data. It's up. A bit. It was down. A bit. The last few months have been pretty much flat taken together but of course it's not going to be 0% month on month.

There is nothing to fear for you bears. As has been posted the fundamentals are still weak.... but possibly not as weak as they were??