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Some sensible comments from Scotland !
DervProf
Posts: 4,035 Forumite
http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/iain-macwhirter/why-britain-today-is-home-to-a-major-housing-disaster-1.1064368
"Housing is a disaster area in Britain. Many of our most intractable social problems are down to the lack of affordable housing, which traps people on benefits and destroys the incentive to work. An entire underclass is left stranded on bleak council estates which they can’t leave. Those who do make it into work often find themselves burdened by rents or mortgages they cannot afford and are trapped in a form of debt peonage. Meanwhile, the Government is using taxpayers’ money to subsidise high house prices by paying the mortgage interest of hundreds of thousands of often middle class families who can’t afford them any more. All the political parties seem to believe house prices must not be allowed to fall under any circumstances. The Bank of England has slashed interest rates to a 300-year low in a bid to increase asset prices."
And yet I`ve heard other comments from Scotland that celebrate HPI.
"Housing is a disaster area in Britain. Many of our most intractable social problems are down to the lack of affordable housing, which traps people on benefits and destroys the incentive to work. An entire underclass is left stranded on bleak council estates which they can’t leave. Those who do make it into work often find themselves burdened by rents or mortgages they cannot afford and are trapped in a form of debt peonage. Meanwhile, the Government is using taxpayers’ money to subsidise high house prices by paying the mortgage interest of hundreds of thousands of often middle class families who can’t afford them any more. All the political parties seem to believe house prices must not be allowed to fall under any circumstances. The Bank of England has slashed interest rates to a 300-year low in a bid to increase asset prices."
And yet I`ve heard other comments from Scotland that celebrate HPI.
30 Year Challenge : To be 30 years older. Equity : Don't know, don't care much. Savings : That's asking for ridicule.
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And yet I`ve heard other comments from Scotland that celebrate HPI.
Iain McWhirter has a long standing record of idiocy on this particular issue. He should really apply for a job at Moneyweek.
He does however make a couple of accurate observations, even if he does insist on hiding them in the middle of a page or so of emotive nonsensical ranting.
On housing benefit caps:this story is completely irrelevant in Scotland. Here the cap on housing benefit will, according to the Scottish Government, affect only six families in the whole country.
Whilst, as he points out, another 50K will lose slightly under £10 a week.
With Scotland having around 250K privately rented houses, this equates to just 20% of privately rented households losing just £40 a month. Certainly not enough to make a noticable difference in average rents, or impact house prices.
And on the "solution" to lowering house prices?
This is the first thing he mentions. Top of the list.Government needs to build more houses, public and private;
No kidding.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
And yet I`ve heard other comments from Scotland that celebrate HPI.
Iain McWhirter may or may not have "a long standing record of idiocy on this particular issue.", but the main gist of his article is pointing out some fairly serious issues.
You didn`t deny the comment I quoted above, you simply tried to dismiss Iain McWhiter. You openly :beer:, whenever there is HPI news. Is that not to disimilar to a bullet manufacturer :beer: every time someone gets shot ?
We do need more properties to be built in this country, and it doesn`t seem to be happening. The effects of this is to put upward pressure on prices/rents. I don`t think that`s a good thing for the country, or many of the people who live here.30 Year Challenge : To be 30 years older. Equity : Don't know, don't care much. Savings : That's asking for ridicule.0 -
We do need more properties to be built in this country, and it doesn`t seem to be happening. The effects of this is to put upward pressure on prices/rents.
And that, ultimately, is the only point worth talking about.
Nothing else out there can prevent HPI, it can merely delay it.I don`t think that`s a good thing for the country, or many of the people who live here.
I don't think it's good or bad. HPI creates winners and losers. I'd argue the winners exceed the losers by a large margin. You'd probably argue the opposite.
But regardless of that, the reality is that HPI is absolutely inevitable over the medium to long term as long as we build far fewer houses than we need to house our population.
In which case people can either position themselves to take advantage of the situation and gain from it, or position themselves to be taken advantage of by the situation, and lose from it.
For any individual, there is only one rational choice. Buy a house.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »For any individual, there is only one rational choice. Buy a house.
Or miss the boat ?30 Year Challenge : To be 30 years older. Equity : Don't know, don't care much. Savings : That's asking for ridicule.0 -
“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »Whilst, as he points out, another 50K will lose slightly under £10 a week.
With Scotland having around 250K privately rented houses, this equates to just 20% of privately rented households losing just £40 a month.
I see a flaw in your figures.
It would be good to understand how many private rented properties there are, however you make an assumption that all 50k rent from private landlords.
It's likely that your 20% figure may be considerably lower when actual figures are put in place.:wall:
What we've got here is....... failure to communicate.
Some men you just can't reach.
:wall:0 -
HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »Or pay far more than you need to in lifetime housing costs.
Or wait. Just wait.
Then compete for property from a lower price point.30 Year Challenge : To be 30 years older. Equity : Don't know, don't care much. Savings : That's asking for ridicule.0 -
Or wait. Just wait.
Then compete for property from a lower price point.
How well has that worked over the last 18 months?
And given Mervyn King has said today that the UK market is now just 5% below peak, how well has that worked for the average person renting a house for the last 3-5 years?
And what will happen if prices drop and a million or two pent up buyers are enabled to jump in to the market through increased mortgage availability? As many of the bears seem to think will happen if prices fall and the banks are more comfortable with lending.
Do you not recognise the extraordinary contradictions inherent in most of the bear positions?
1. We should stop millions being priced out by preventing millions from getting mortgages.
2. We should restrict bank lending til prices fall a bit, then loosen bank lending so we can all get decent mortgages (and prices will rise again).
3. Nobody can afford a house. Except millions more could afford a house when prices and interest rates were higher in 2006/2007. And still can today. But nobody can afford a house.
Lets all (on both sides) move past the childish name calling and meaningless sound bites for a change and debate the real issues.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »How well has that worked over the last 18 months?
You were talking medium to long term, were you not?0
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