how are these kind of prices still about? grrrr!

digipeep

sjaypink just hold another 12 months. The real crash hasn't started yet, what we have had the last 2 years is just a starter for 10.

There is carnage coming and the bulls are !!!!!!!! themselves desperately trying to ramp the market.

LizzieS_2

Many people who paid a fraction of todays prices also struggled when they first made their purchase.

Where is the money coming from to meet todays prices? There are many possibilities:

1) Moving up people may have equity in their current homes to meet deposits
2) Not every youngster has lived on the spend culture invented by Labour - some will have saved as they wanted lower mortgages.
3) Some banks upped the ratio of income against borrowing while others looked at affordability of mortgage repayments against income - former has probably gone, but later will still be there.
4) Maximum mortgage terms were once 25 years irrespective of your age. If you are on the highest retirement age of 68 that was unfair as you would probably work for many more years than 25 (if young enough). The mortgage terms in excess of 25 years are more than likely still out there (brings down the monthly cost although not the overall cost and face it people tend to look at the monthly more).

whathavewedone

I don't know how old you are but why not just start saving anyway if you haven't done already?

I remember feeling sorry for myself when I turned 30 and was still living in a shared house. Bought my first flat a couple of months before my 32nd birthday. It was only a 1 bed in Brixton but I loved having my own place.

There's no point wingeing that 20 years ago 4 bed houses were cheap as chips. The fact is that other things such as furniture, carpets and electrical goods were hugely expensive in comparison to today so people still had to struggle and make do.

PS: In my experience men, rich or otherwise, do not find drunk and crying women very appealing. Nor do they like moaning women unless the moan is (a) legitimate (b) they can offer a solution to the problem and (c) you will accept said solution and then stop moaning. Men are simple creatures. They like sane, easygoing, reasonably content women. Carry on as you are and you will end up on your own with a load of cats. You have been warned!

gjchester

In days of old.. Forgive me if this sounds demeaning to some groups, it's not meant to be just how it used to be. It's also not a go at the OP, I mean this to be general, but I realise it could be read as a go at the OP, it's not..

Not so long ago (50-60 years) new build houses were sorted by class. The working class had flats or terraced houses, the managers semi's and small detatched, and the executives had larger det.

People to an extent lived in their slot and were happy. Now I'm not saying this is a good thing, pidgeon holing people, but thats what happened, there was little chance to move up a long way.

Now though work, luck, or whatever terraced homes are just starter homes, and the whole view has changed. Generally everyone aspires to a large detatched house on a leafy road, or a bungalow in the country, no-one aspires to a terraced house on an estate, but the fact remains that that aspirational thinking and buying is what has drive prices up to some degree, and as indicated in your first post is something people still want.

Aspirational living is used to upsell so much, from sandwiches and food (ie the Finest, Taste the Difference etc ranges) to houses (and the rise of the designer des res). That the problem, many people tend to want more than they can afford, and the easy credit has meant they could borrow to keep up with the Jones.

Now credit is harder it should affect upselling, but given the retail market rose almost 2% in July vs June mainly on homewares (taken from the BBC Site) it looks like we are still not learning to live within our means and are seeking to better our enviroment.

Jealousy and Envy are not rational behaviours, but then are neither are house prices. When it comes to buying houses it is quite often about appearances rather than need.

Graham_Devon

Theres living within your means though, and not being able to actually get to the stage of living within your means.

I wouldn't personally call aspiration such a bad thing (I know you havent). But I don't think it's a viable situation to have people just accept they will never own a home so that others can cling on to their equity.

gjchester

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Theres living within your means though, and not being able to actually get to the stage of living within your means.

I wouldn't personally call aspiration such a bad thing (I know you havent). But I don't think it's a viable situation to have people just accept they will never own a home so that others can cling on to their equity.

True, I was more thinking the people who earn at or just above minimum wage who live in large houses paid for by loans they cannot repay.
It wasn't about aspiring to better yourself or never own a home, it was more to be realistic in what you buy.

I'd like a house with a bit of land, but I know it's a nice dream but well out of my price bracket in my area.

penguine

LizzieS wrote: »

Many people who paid a fraction of todays prices also struggled when they first made their purchase.

Many people did, but not everyone. My OH bought our 2-bed flat 11 years ago. He was on his 2nd job after uni and was able to buy on a mortgage that was 3x income, with a 10% deposit because the flat was only £55k. It needed a lot of work and he bagged a bit of a bargain ... but another flat in the same block sold the same year for £57k.

The end of last year we had our flat valued in order to remortgage and were told it was worth £150k. (One-bed flats in our area are on the market at the moment for £170k). Now, so far as I am concerned our flat is an ideal first time buy. But at that price it's well beyond the reach of most first time buyers.

Which is one of the reasons I'm convinced this crash has quite a ways to run still. The big question is how long low interest rates will delay the inevitable.

whathavewedone

I don't think gchester is saying that the vast majority should accept that they can't own their own home necessarily but more that:-

1. If you are on a low wage you might have to accept a small terraced house in a working class area

2. If you are on a medium wage you might have to accept a typical semi in a lower middle class area

3. If you are on a higher than medium wage you might have to accept a typical semi in a better area or a 4 bed house in a mixed area

4. If you are wealthier than that you can afford detached house with land in posh area

We've all been sucked into thinking that even if we don't earn much we can move up and up and up the ladder. Of course that happened for many people during the boom but if we end up with a more stable market with rises in line with inflation the only way people will be able to buy bigger better houses will be by saving more and earning more.

From what I remember of growing up in the 1970s and 80s in the South East it was the wealthy who lived in 4 bedroom detacheds, the lower middle and upper working classes who lived in the 3 bed semis and so on. Also there was nowhere near the same sort of emphasis on having an up to the minute kitchen and bathroom etc. Which is just as well because those things cost a lot more back then.

Now that prices have fallen there are endless programmes designed to make us feel disasatisfied with our 5 year old kitchens and bathrooms, our mismatched "door furniture", encouraging us to change a perfectly serviceable lock because it's silver when the knocker and letterbox are brass and on and on ad infinitum. Only the rich concerned themselves with such things 15 plus years ago.

Ps: Am I the only one who thinks the wallpaper these interior experts seem to choose are always hideous and loud?

mitchaa

Some people are just not meant to buy hence the reason for council and social homes.

People earning £15-20k shouldn't really expect to be able to buy anything resembling an average home imo.

whathavewedone

Well it depends where you live. There are areas in the south east such as Hastings where a couple earning 15k each could buy an average home quite easily.

There were grand Victorian houses going for less than 250k in summer 07. A friend of mine sold a 2 bed cottage in a smart part of Kent for 275k and bought a 5 bedroom one with a huge garden for under 250k the same year. Not everyone's cup of tea to live there but she and her family are happy. A lot happier than a family with 3 kids would have been in a 2 up to 2 down anyway.

Compromises compromises.