Winners, Losers, etc

fedupfreda

the_ash_and_the_oak wrote: »

Perhaps the gain isn't that you could realize the 140k but the fact you have a 140k cushion that someone without the benefit of your HPI wouldn't have (and would now need to find)

True - but I could lose it just as easily. The value of an asset is only truly discovered when you come to dispose of that asset. Until then, it might as well be monopoly money. Yes you could use the equity as a deposit, and trade up, therefore making a theoretical gain - but the house is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.

As we have seen over recent months, nothing regarding house values is cast in stone. Think back to the last recession - houses in my area lost nearly 50% of their value :eek: I think that was a common experience to many at that time. There is no law that says it will never happen again. On balance, I think it is unlikely - this side of an election, at any rate. After that - who knows??? Your guess is as good as mine. You pays your money and you takes your choice - and you live with the consequences. It's a crying shame that so many have been priced out of owning their own house - but this is what happens in a market economy, where demand exceeds supply, and there is a seemingly limitless supply of credit fuelling HPI. Now the money taps have been turned off - so hopefully we should see everything levelling out. The days of the massive gains are over, IMHO.

I think we are labouring the point here - so this will be my last word on the subject - it's getting boring anyway - I never said deciding to buy a house, in itself, was a bad thing. Just don't expect to make a mint out of it because everyone else seems to have done so. Too many people have been taken in by that theory over recent years. Do what's right for you -as an individual. Don't jump on the bandwagon just because all the other lemmings are doing it. They may very well be headed for the clifftop path.......

the_ash_and_the_oak

fedupfreda wrote: »

As we have seen over recent months, nothing regarding house values is cast in stone. Think back to the last recession - houses in my area lost nearly 50% of their value ...

but this isn't really the argument you were making earlier. This argument is saying "the gains you made from HPI, could be lost". I don't disagree with this. But the question was "do owners benefit from HPI?" not "can owners lose the benefit they did make from HPI?"

The days of the massive gains are over, IMHO.

...Just don't expect to make a mint out of it because everyone else seems to have done so.

Again this isn't really what you were saying before. I'm not saying there are going to be big gains from HPI going into the future (and in fact I don't think there will be) - I'm saying there were big gains from HPI in the past - and that it benefitted those who owned