Surge in houses coming to market

phil_b_2

It's all dried up in my area, not much new at all. There were loads of new properties coming on through march/April though.

Jowo_2

Until extremely recently, I used to get email alerts for 3 bed houses for an area in South London in my inbox in dribs and drabs, perhaps a couple of houses marketed for sale each week.

Currently, post-election, my inbox is being flooded on a daily basis with new properties so instead of there being a handful each week at most, there is a daily listing often containing 2 to 3 properties each.

A friend selling a flat in Brighton has had 20 viewers over the past 2 months and no offers despite generally good feedback. The agents are flummoxed - viewings flatlined as expected just before the election but they are saying that they are hosting lots of viewings for their properties but very little offers, not even silly ones. The number of properties they've taken on has increased substantially since the start of the year but the number of sales per month have remained static. Effectively, they've admitted that there's lots of browsers but no buyers, lots of supply and little demand.

RDB

Generali wrote: »

The gold price never really rose in AUD terms and I think the same is true comparing gold to other strong currencies like the NZD and CAD.

If you look at gold in the USD terms in which it is priced there is a rather frothy look to the market. Gold is a funny investment anyway as there's no yield. If you want a doomsday investment, farmland is much better IMO.

There's the old canard that an ounce of gold would dress a man for a court appearance in Imperial Rome and it will still do so today. Well just compare the output possible from an acre of arable land today vs under the Romans!

First of all gold and silver have risen considerably in all major currencies around the world in the last decade.

Secondly your canard about an oz of gold is talking about a handmade suit. To order a handmade suit from say John Phillips London can be as much as 10 grand add to that hand made shirt, shoes, belt etc. Gold is still way undervalued.

Your farmland is still way overvalued. House prices and land prices are related as house prices come down so will land prices.

Generali

RDB wrote: »

Your farmland is still way overvalued. House prices and land prices are related as house prices come down so will land prices.

House and building land prices are connected. There is very little connection between farmland and house prices as you either can't build on farm land (eg as in the UK) or the farm land is a very long way from where people want to live (eg Aus & USA).

RDB

Generali wrote: »

House and building land prices are connected. There is very little connection between farmland and house prices as you either can't build on farm land (eg as in the UK) or the farm land is a very long way from where people want to live (eg Aus & USA).

Fair enough.

So you think farm land in the UK will hold its price while house prices go down?

lostinrates

Farm lnd is also an anomoaly because even with the low, low interest rates the lettable value (I'm averaging here, lettable value differs on land type) is much, lower than the interest to be paid on a loan against the land.

Generali

RDB wrote: »

True.

So you think farm land in the UK will hold its price while house prices go down?

Long term yes. I am a secular bear on house prices and a secular bull on farm land. I think there are better places to buy than the UK but over the next 20-30 years I expect farm land to outperform both house prices and gold.

RDB

lostinrates wrote: »

Farm lnd is also an anomoaly because even with the low, low interest rates the lettable value (I'm averaging here, lettable value differs on land type) is much, lower than the interest to be paid on a loan against the land.

Thats right its not easy to rent out farm land. Most farmers prefer to buy the land than rent it.

Ive not looked for years now, but last time I was interested good quality land was about 6K per acre. Whats the average price now?

I know because my Dad bought 2 acres in the country for 12K for his beekeeping. But that was years ago.