House prices....

mark206000

saverbuyer wrote: »

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.

It started off at £290k about 3 years ago. The price slipped down, but always above the market (thanks propertybee). Eventually it was brought down to £150k to genereate interest and get a bidding war going. That did happen, but everyone else who had interest or had put an offer in weren't proceedable. So that left us as we had no chain, mortgage offer in place and a decent deposit. The RV of the house is £170k, so we done ok.

It wasn't a repo but wasn't far off being one. No shared equity, just normal mortgage.

saverbuyer

mark206000 wrote: »

It started off at £290k about 3 years ago. The price slipped down, but always above the market (thanks propertybee). Eventually it was brought down to £150k to genereate interest and get a bidding war going. That did happen, but everyone else who had interest or had put an offer in weren't proceedable. So that left us as we had no chain, mortgage offer in place and a decent deposit. The RV of the house is £170k, so we done ok.

It wasn't a repo but wasn't far off being one. No shared equity, just normal mortgage.

Well done Mark. I wish you all the best in your new home.

Can I ask who you got the mortgage from. I'm looking at spending a similar amount myself.

mark206000

We went to The Progressive. 20% down for a 2yr fixed of 3.99%

I see the same deal is now 3.79%

Looking back should have just went variable it's about 3% at the minute, oh for a crystal ball.

They offered us quite a bit more than we'd ever want to take, near £200k, but I suppose we were in a good position at that time compared to most.

Found them easy to deal with and they got things sorted very quickly, they're main office is in Belfast which probably helps.

saverbuyer

mark206000 wrote: »

We went to The Progressive. 20% down for a 2yr fixed of 3.99%

I see the same deal is now 3.79%

Looking back should have just went variable it's about 3% at the minute, oh for a crystal ball.

They offered us quite a bit more than we'd ever want to take, near £200k, but I suppose we were in a good position at that time compared to most.

Found them easy to deal with and they got things sorted very quickly, they're main office is in Belfast which probably helps.

That's a pretty good deal. The only thing with the progressive is the high (4.75%) SVR.

A.L.D.A

Mark

Thanks for the information, very useful, and I hope you have many enjoyable years in your new house.

mark206000

A.L.D.A wrote: »

Mark

Thanks for the information, very useful, and I hope you have many enjoyable years in your new house.

No problem. It's very frustrating the lack of information about the housing market over here, sold prices etc.

Good luck house hunting

fredy34

A.L.D.A wrote: »

But eventually (whenever that may be) there comes a time when a floor is reached. Regards savings, return on savings account are what 3.5%? Rate of inflation somewhere around 5%.



I don't see any advantage in haste just yet. If the market does bottom out it is unlikely to shoot back up. Nothing much is going to happen over Christmas and the winter months. At the lower end of house prices, particularly if it is in an area where demand is normally strong, I would keep an eye on it as we run into next year. If a house has dropped in price by over 50% just how much more is it still likely to drop? None of us know and it is a guess that you will have to make for yourself.

Thanks yes this is my view. Saving are pretty much useless as an investment thanks to inflation. I can get a house i can rent for £450 at about £380 a month repayment. So in 25 years when i retire i would have the house paid off and could sell it for a decent profit.

I guess my worry is that if/when interest rates go up we dont know how much they will go up. I dont mind having to pay a little into the hosue for the long term gain but i wouldnt like to be losing £200 a month on a 60k house.

I guess waiting till next year isnt a bad idea.

F

Ps thanks to the idiot slagging people off for their views from 2007 (which i shared with aprox 99% of the population). Have you really got nothing better to do than look up 4 year old posts!

pps sorry saverbuyer you were also given good advice there!

saverbuyer

fredy34 wrote: »

Thanks yes this is my view. Saving are pretty much useless as an investment thanks to inflation. I can get a house i can rent for £450 at about £380 a month repayment. So in 25 years when i retire i would have the house paid off and could sell it for a decent profit.

I guess my worry is that if/when interest rates go up we dont know how much they will go up. I dont mind having to pay a little into the hosue for the long term gain but i wouldnt like to be losing £200 a month on a 60k house.

I guess waiting till next year isnt a bad idea.

F

Ps thanks to the idiot slagging people off for their views from 2007 (which i shared with aprox 99% of the population). Have you really got nothing better to do than look up 4 year old posts!

pps sorry saverbuyer you were also given good advice there!

Couple of points on this and people often forget that the costs of renting a house out aren't just the mortgage payments. Lots of other charges such as letting fees, legal fees, insurance, repairs and maintenance and of course TAX and RATES.

I imagine at that price the tenants will be receiving housing benefit. Basing a 25 year mortgage on continued housing benefit levels is risky to say the very least. Historically interest rates are closer to 7-8%.

So you have a GROSS yield of 9%. That's before costs. If you have a few months of voids your yield plummets.

You can get saving at 5% with no risk. You also are tying your money up with the deposit. This money could be earning interest somewhere else instead of being given to the bank.

Is it worth taking on a debt of 60K or spending savings with interest rates at historic lows and HB getting cut? I would say not.

If you think that the price will rise over the life time of the mortgage who knows. A Queen's professor recently said anyone who bought during the boom will never see the same values they bought at in their lifetime.

So basically after costs you are subsiding someone to live in a house, you pay the mortgage and top it up out of your earned income and hope that in the middle of the biggest financial crisis capital values will increase...

I'd stick to the savings account, this isn't investing this is gambling.

Might as well sick it all on black.

A.L.D.A

SaverBuyer do you think the government has properly thought through the proposed cuts in housing benefit? Whilst I support the aim I believe we are going to end up paying through the nose for emergency housing. Secondly this is a UK wide policy and it will lead to many more people being homeless and a reduction in the private rented sector, but with no possibility of the public sector filling the gap.

I was hoping that it would kill of the grunge sector, but it may instead reduce the number of better quality houses for rent to social housing. It will be interesting to see how it does eventually play out, the savings may prove disappointing.

AceCobra

Another bit of insight.

My wife and I are just about to complete on a property.

Agreed price £180k.
Asking price £185k.
Rateable Value £185k.
Peak price of similar properties £380-400k (based on propertybee and my aunt’s sale mid 2007).
Several interested parties but similar to Mark we had mortgage in place, no chain etc.
I think we done quite well considering it has a additional 2 year old sunroom (Actual sunroom, cavity walls, pitched roof etc, 16’x13’) and similar properties in the area range from 195-250k asking price.

Previous to this we had been agreed on a Repo requiring approx 20k work but we pulled out for various reasons.
Agreed price £202k (After a furious bidding war involving 5 parties).
Asking price £180k.
Rateable value £235K.
No idea of peak price.

Now all I have to do is make a decision in regarding to selling(trying) or renting our current home.