House Prices

warmhands.coldheart

Heard on radio that prices in Northern Ireland are flat (if not still falling)
found this on BBC website.

Obviously as a house owner myself it is nice to think your house is going up in value but likewise as someone who may want to buy/upgrade in the future it's nice to know that the next step up the ladder to what would potentially be our "forever home" is not completely out of our reach.

As we bought our house before the boom (Thank goodness) we are not in Negative equity so don't mind that the prices are falling

I know it's no consolation to those who did buy during the boom and are in negative equity but I do think it is better to have lower property prices as it makes owning a house/home so much more reachable for a lot more of the population.

mumoffour77

I totally agree!

Im looking to upgrade the area I live in!!

But last year I couldnt afford to.....not in negative equity or anything....just glad I sat back and didnt rush into anything!!
Whilst I paid 167,500 for my house....I have put an extension on....but I would be happy to accept £150,000. Huge house with 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms....I just dont like the cliqueness of the village i live in!!! My kids dont like it and we would be happy to move away!!

SnowyOwl_2

It doesn't look good for a few years now - I think cuts on public spending are inevitable, and that can only imply job losses and in turn an even slower local economy.

I have been job hunting - I happen to work in HR - and found this delightful vacancy:


Edit to add: the job I was referring to has been deleted from NIjobs.com

[STRIKE]Just in case you can't be annoyed with opening the link,[/STRIKE] the bit of the job ad which jumped out at me was:

"Experience and understanding of legislation and Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) practices in relation to redundancy schemes."

It looks to me like the Civil Service is gearing their policies up so that they can get rid of staff as soon as direction is given.

I think the agency which is advertising the vacancy has slipped up by disclosing it's with the Civil Service.

nozzadamozza

hubby and i are waiting patiently for prices to come down....time for reality to hit the NI market! I notice a lot of houses are coming back onto the market having gone sale agreed.

nozzadamozza

wow,thats quite frightening isnt it- and whats more- its only for nine months- so whoever gets it will be out of a job soon after!

SnowyOwl wrote: »

It doesn't look good for a few years now - I think cuts on public spending are inevitable, and that can only imply job losses and in turn an even slower local economy.

I have been job hunting - I happen to work in HR - and found this delightful vacancy:

scary job link

Just in case you can't be annoyed with opening the link, the bit of the job ad which jumped out at me was:

"Experience and understanding of legislation and Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) practices in relation to redundancy schemes."

It looks to me like the Civil Service is gearing their policies up so that they can get rid of staff as soon as direction is given.

I think the agency which is advertising the vacancy has slipped up by disclosing it's with the Civil Service.

SnowyOwl_2

Temporary work contracts rather than permanent jobs seems to be the trend in the employment market at the moment which I think is another sign of nervousness in industry across the province. Unfortunately it all adds to the downward spiral of the housing market as unstability in employment means a lower uptake of mortgages, which leads to further housing market stagnation.
I thought things were bad already, but it does look like things are going to get even worse. I feel bad for those who bought their homes at the height of the boom, but first time buyers in secure employment are hopefully getting ready to jump on the property ladder as soon as prices are within their reach.

tara747

mumoffour77 wrote: »

I totally agree!

Im looking to upgrade the area I live in!!

But last year I couldnt afford to.....not in negative equity or anything....just glad I sat back and didnt rush into anything!!
Whilst I paid 167,500 for my house....I have put an extension on....but I would be happy to accept £150,000. Huge house with 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms....I just dont like the cliqueness of the village i live in!!! My kids dont like it and we would be happy to move away!!

Which village is this, just out of nosiness?

I too am glad to see prices lower with further falls likely - and yes, I have a vested interest in lower proces as a potential FTB. Houses are not yet affordable across Northern Ireland (especially Belfast) and further falls are inevitable following the coming cuts. Hopefully in the long term lower house prices will mean a secure and stable economy in NI.

That job link is indeed scary!!!

mypie

We are just about to complete on a house just out side belfast at just over 100k but in the area there are houses priced 25%-40% above this for effectively the same house. So many houses are priced way over their value. We actually viewed a house in cregagh/ rosetta that was priced @ 120k and was not fit for living in, whenever we viewed with the estate agent he told us they would prob except 80k ???????? We weren't even willing to pay that for it as it was a total disaster.

We talked as a couple about waiting until the market dropped and agreed that we really wanted home and no more rent payments so we visited a mortgage advisor to see what our best bet would be. We decided that we would be best buying a forever home and come to terms with the fact that we won't make money and may well lose money but it will be somewhere we can live happily.

with being out and about in the housing market recently I have to say its soul destroying as the amount of repossessions is frightening also alot of people have remortgaged and there house isn't worth the value of their mortgage so they can't except anything else as they don't want to take a loss.

x12yhp

I totally agree and it is really nice to see some common sense talk about the matter. There are too many people who think that house prices being high is an absolute essential for their lives yet have never thought about the 'bigger picture'.

warmhands.coldheart

Totally agree Mypie.
The developers seem to have twigged on a bit (well at least outside of Belfast area anyway)
There are so many houses for sale around us through private sales (through estate agents) that are easily 20%~30% higher than what a developer is selling a new build around the corner for.
There is a Four Bed Detached beside us has been empty for nearly 2 years now…. Vendor has it on at £180,000. New smaller development literally 500 yards away and you can get a 4 bed NEW Build with garage, similar size rooms and garden for under £150,000.

People selling their houses really need to wake up and smell the coffee….. their prices are too high…. The developers has cottoned onto this… why haven’t they

seatzie

developers have cottoned on because they NEED to sell or rather the banks need them to sell lol, individuals dont necessarily need to sell as presumably is the case with the vacant house near you though 2 years at same price is a bit misguided me thinks

warmhands, out of curiosity which area are you in if you don't mind