House prices fell 1.20% in June

BobProperty

lynzpower wrote:

You might be surprised there Bob, on how few people actually can afford to pay into thier pensions. And how lean SOME givernment depts are management wise

At the low end of the scale and in London that doesn't actually surprise me. I'm more worried about the numbers of "managers" we now have in the health service and things like the couple of SEO's I came across years back, neither of whom could do an SEO's job. BUT they'd passed the exam, so they were SEO's complete with salary, pension etc. in a grade of job they couldn't actually do. Something that wouldn't happen in commercial industry, or at least they be found out fairly quickly.

wibble68_2

meanmachine wrote:

I don't take in everything I'm told by the media thanks. That's why I refuse to buy into this pathetic housing bubble.

Having followed the Great British housing saga for some years now it seems to me that more and more economic / housing market analysts are talking a lot of BS.

An analyst on sky news yesterday put the 1.2% drop, reported by the Halifax, down to the world cup.

I would suggest that the only accurate way to gauge what is happening in the housing market is not to look at the adjusted (how can we influence the BOE this month) figures, but to look at the land registry figures for your area each quarter or go to one of the web sites that gives actual sold prices for your area.

I do see a renewed effort by the media to talk up the market. Maybe things are not quite as they seem.

meanmachine_2

wibble68 wrote:

An analyst on sky news yesterday put the 1.2% drop, reported by the Halifax, down to the world cup.

Was it Henk Potts?

He always talks garbage.

According to him houses are still incredibly affordable. Yes, on his fat salary.

The baldy idiot.

meanmachine_2

coupland wrote:

Why do house price threads seem to bring out the worst in people?

Because of the vast sums of money involved.

You're not likely to get much argument about whether you can save 5p off your tin of beans, are you?

Also, a 25 year debt is a massive undertaking, so not one to assume lightly.

Housing also has a political dimension. The government deliberately fuels property inflation to keep the majority quiet, and to hell with the minority.

That tends to get people's backs up, not surprisingly.

The Tories were turfed out when the property market last crashed, so Labour will do anything in their power - even if it's not very socialist - to sustain the bubble.

The stakes are very high.

wibble68_2

meanmachine wrote:

Was it Henk Potts?

He always talks garbage.

According to him houses are still incredibly affordable. Yes, on his fat salary.

The baldy idiot.

No it wasn't Mr Potts on this occasion.

However I completely agree with you.

I seem to remember a few months ago he declared that the BOE had achieved the soft landing they had aimed for.

A soft landing after 2 years of single digit HPI? I don't think so.

After another 3-4 years of subdued growth maybe we could start talking about a soft landing.

My feeling is that he and the majority of other analysts have a great deal of money tied up in property.

Sapphire

I've been reading these (often very useful - thank you) threads for a while now.

It strikes me that a lot of people these days have much higher expectations than their parents did. The parents often started off renting with no particular drive to buy - and certainly not flats with en suite bathrooms to every room and other supposedly 'luxury' amenities. They would usually only think about buying a place when they were starting a family, and then only if they could afford it. There wasn't any kind of stigma attached to renting a place, even if they had families. There wasn't this desperation to buy. When they did get a place, they would take time to set themselves up, and not rush around trying to get the latest products and wrecking the place they bought by ghastly 'modernisation'. (It seems to me, incidentally, that a lot of period properties are being destroyed in the process, just as they were in the 1960s - little seems to be being said about this in the media, of course.)

Perhaps people nowadays have just been led by all the advertising to have unrealistic expectations? This doesn't just apply to property, but also to all the expensive apparent 'must-haves' that change every five minutes (e.g. computer toys, ornaments, kitchen equipment, holidays, you name it…), which have fuelled people's mounting debts.

Just some thoughts that were prompted by one of the quite sensible people up top who talked about his/her spending habits and being able to afford a place as a result of them…

ftbworried

BobProperty wrote:

Also please don't tell me how you can't afford a nice house in a nice area like you really wanted, when what you should be doing is finding a house AND an area that you can afford to live in.

Although you've quoted me at the top of that post and then addressed your comments with 'you', I take it that you aren't actually attributing that comment to me since nowhere have I written that. I HAVE a house in an area I can afford to live in- my mortgage is very affordable on our joint income, if it wasn't I wouldn't live here. I have never whinged about 'not being able to afford a house'.

On the renting thing, the house that I bought was actually tenanted when we bought it, at the princely rent of £700 a month (unfurnished). Now, why on earth would I shell out that kind of money to pay someone elses mortgage when the mortgage to BUY the place is not that much more? The BTL who have taken out big mortgages to buy their investments need big rents to cover their big monthly mortgage payments hence not only are house prices being driven up, so are rent prices.

It's not an affordable time to buy OR take on a let at the moment for young people! I know a couple who'd taken out a let a few years ago and their contract stated that their rent would only increase in line with inflation- they have an unbelievably low rent since it has been kept at a level in line with house prices/mortgage payments from a number of years ago. If you are taking out a let now, it is often quite a different story (not to even mention the increase in rent prices because of the increase in demand for rented since house buying is beyond so many's pockets).

mystic_trev

meanmachine wrote:

Was it Henk Potts?

He always talks garbage.

According to him houses are still incredibly affordable. Yes, on his fat salary.

The baldy idiot.

Apparently he's known in the busines as W@ank Pot !!!!

noyk

meanmachine wrote:

FTBWorried I have complete sympathy with your argument.

I don't own, no, so have no horse to sit on, be it high, low or average sized.

I'm only fortunate in the sense that I rent quite cheaply, which allows me to save.

But the argument that those who were born at a certain time have somehow been condemned to a life of massive debt and eternally high house prices? No, I don't buy that.

The market moves in a great sweeping cycle. If you can afford to wait it out, then you *might* be wise to do so. If you can't then yes, you have to pay a premium for buying now.

At least, if you have a repayment mortgage you're on the road to whittling away that big nasty debt.

Blimey, that response was quite calm and measured for me. Must be a Friday thing.

And no, I don't think a 1.2% monthly dip is the start of any meaningful correction, not while mortgage borrowing is still so high.

Now i back your argument, but what irritates me more than anything else is, when we all live in a civilised country why can't we afford one one of the most basic neccessities of life? Afterall if water went up in price, we would do something about it - like run the water system for ourselves again without privatisation but houses nope. What makes house prices unaffordable? Land prices, why can't we afford land? For a number of reasons, first and foremost is ridiculous planning laws based on an autocratic centralised socialist system which is more backward than any other western, and many non western countries. If you are intersted in this argument read this.

realwildone

Now i back your argument, but what irritates me more than anything else is, when we all live in a civilised country why can't we afford one one of the most basic neccessities of life?

We are all brainwashed into beleiving we are richer by this government. House prices will bring this government down. You do have a right to own your house, people do not have a right to own two. I think we will see in the next few years many new laws against people that own two houses including BTL. By the time the laws come out it will be too late to sell.

Look at the new laws already out and forthcoming

Multipal occupancy laws - 6th July 2006

Rental deposits - April 2007
This is my favorite. Landlords drool over your deposit, use it to fund their next house prurchases etc. From April you HAVE to pay the deposit to a new government body - who decide the outcome of the return.

HIPS - April 2007

Council tax laws afoot for second home owners.

and I bet theres more to come...much more. The government never lose an income opportunity and they must know there is a growing band of unhappy young people, who rely on a growing band of unhappy old people to help them buy their homes.