House prices....

x12yhp

East Belfast is still a bit on the daft side. I was going looking in that area but the truth is that sellers seem to think that the East has something special so are not really moving.

To me the decision should be based on what you can afford. If you have a good strong deposit, can afford the mortgage and buy something which will not imminently become unsuitable... then buy ahead I say.

saverbuyer

x12yhp wrote: »

East Belfast is still a bit on the daft side. I was going looking in that area but the truth is that sellers seem to think that the East has something special so are not really moving.

To me the decision should be based on what you can afford. If you have a good strong deposit, can afford the mortgage and buy something which will not imminently become unsuitable... then buy ahead I say.

The only thing is that you'll pay roughly double the purchase price when you include interest over 25 years.

I would rather hold out and save 20% (for example) now and double that over the mortgage.

If you can wait, I would wait.

A.L.D.A

saverbuyer wrote: »

Or you could do what ALDA's "professional investors" do and buy a house on the Donegal Road and make your millions........ What could go wrong??????

Donegal Road? I think you are getting two threads mixed up. I may have suggested that the government was wrong to vest the property in the Village area as it was reducing overall housing availability and at the same time spending a lot of our money.

Anyone 'investing' in housing should pick places where there are likely to be housing demand, and like any large investment they must do their homework properly.

With regards rents I think it will be interesting to see how that plays out. As a tax payer I hope you are right. I have seen more grunge apartments and houses in multiple occupancy than most and what is being paid to me seems ridiculous. I have doubts that it will go quite as you expect, and can envisage a position where the grunge accommodation alone remains as others move out of supplying to those on benefits.

The historic varies a bit but my first house was borrowings of 3.5 of one plus possibly (depended on deposit) once the partners. So the average house cost in an area was based on the average earnings in that area. Personally I would like to see us get back to those sort of levels or lower. I am not a great fan of expensive property. It is no good to me, but what I wish for and what actually happens seldom coincide.

saverbuyer

A.L.D.A wrote: »

Donegal Road? I think you are getting two threads mixed up. I may have suggested that the government was wrong to vest the property in the Village area as it was reducing overall housing availability and at the same time spending a lot of our money.

Anyone 'investing' in housing should pick places where there are likely to be housing demand, and like any large investment they must do their homework properly.

With regards rents I think it will be interesting to see how that plays out. As a tax payer I hope you are right. I have seen more grunge apartments and houses in multiple occupancy than most and what is being paid to me seems ridiculous. I have doubts that it will go quite as you expect, and can envisage a position where the grunge accommodation alone remains as others move out of supplying to those on benefits.

The historic varies a bit but my first house was borrowings of 3.5 of one plus possibly (depended on deposit) once the partners. So the average house cost in an area was based on the average earnings in that area. Personally I would like to see us get back to those sort of levels or lower. I am not a great fan of expensive property. It is no good to me, but what I wish for and what actually happens seldom coincide.

No what you hope for (if it is a return to average mortgage multiple of 3.x times single average earning) has happen all the time (historically). It was what served us up until 2000 (roughly).

I'm interested; with 70% of ALL PRIVATE RENTED in receipt of housing benefit who exactly you think these "others move out of supplying to those on benefits"?

I don't think you get it. Housing Benefit IS THE LOCAL RENTAL MARKET HERE.

The fact is that as a landlord, if you don't accept the housing benefit cuts, there will be plenty (after having to pay rates on empty properties since October) who WILL take a cut.

Seriously “earnings in the area”? Is this one of those “prices will never fall in my area” arguments? We really don’t have micro level earning disparity in NI. Everywhere in the county is commutable. We don’t have our own London. We have low average wages throughout.

x12yhp

saverbuyer wrote: »

The only thing is that you'll pay roughly double the purchase price when you include interest over 25 years.

I would rather hold out and save 20% (for example) now and double that over the mortgage.

If you can wait, I would wait.

That is fair enough but you have to decide when to say enough is enough. When you consider rents and inflation, you will need to be doing pretty well to have enough over at the end of the month to be breaking even compared to buying at the right price (which, to me, is not asking price).

A.L.D.A

saverbuyer wrote: »

I'm interested; with 70% of ALL PRIVATE RENTED in receipt of housing benefit who exactly you think these "others move out of supplying to those on benefits"?

If government policy across the UK reduces the private rented sector even by say 10% what do you think the consequences will be? What will the costs be to Government and Councils? It isn't a simple equation of rent to public against rent to private. Owners can obviously sell, but if you move one family out to sell to another the privately owned sector increases and rented sector declines. Some may decide holiday lets or some other changes of use. Nothing is necessarily static and the changes are seldom entirely as we expect.

As I stated as a tax payer I think what we pay for some of the grunge properties is ridiculous, and energency and hostel accommodation is very poor value. The government have to reduce costs here, and I totally support such attempts, but if they cause a reduction in the number of rental properties available they have problems.

saverbuyer wrote: »

Seriously “earnings in the area”? Is this one of those “prices will never fall in my area” arguments? We really don’t have micro level earning disparity in NI. Everywhere in the county is commutable. We don’t have our own London. We have low average wages throughout.

Really!!

Yes in the area, of course the average house price in an area is related to the average earnings in that area, and of course there are areas where the average earnings are higher than others. The more desirable the area the higher the probability that earnings are higher. To take an extreme example the earnings in Cultra are likely to be greater than those in York Street. Or if you want less extreme try Jordanstown with Monkstown, both side by side and close to the railway.

x12yhp wrote: »

That is fair enough but you have to decide when to say enough is enough. When you consider rents and inflation, you will need to be doing pretty well to have enough over at the end of the month to be breaking even compared to buying at the right price (which, to me, is not asking price).

You could add is it better to have paid off several years of a mortgage at low interest rate or wait until higher rates return. It is a lot more complicated than some suggest.

Old_Git

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-16168222
well the estate agents say houses are selling .We all know EA never lie .

mark206000

Well some are selling, I bought one about 2 months ago.

I imagine a lot are going nowhere tho due to the stupidity of the pricing. Be it greedy vendors, stupid estate agents or simply being trapped in neg equity.

saverbuyer

mark206000 wrote: »

Well some are selling, I bought one about 2 months ago.

I imagine a lot are going nowhere tho due to the stupidity of the pricing. Be it greedy vendors, stupid estate agents or simply being trapped in neg equity.

Some are selling. This will always happen in any market. Still lots of the ones selling now are repos or co-ownership. That's not a healthy market. Can I ask how much you bought for compared to peak? Was it a repo or shared ownership/equity?

Transaction levels are half the normal levels.

A.L.D.A

Old_Git wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-16168222
well the estate agents say houses are selling .We all know EA never lie .

He is saying if you put the house on the market at a suitable price then there are people who will purchase.

I read that as a nice bit of free advertising for the Estate Agent. 10 out of 10 for the initiative and 1 out of 10 on the journalistic end.