Tragic case... "This website has failed"

doire_2

Graham_Devon wrote: »

The problem here is that Hamish knows full well house building isn't going to take off in the near future, as it simply isn't economincally viable, not without some massive government subsidy.

Yet he still uses it as a get out clause for every question, as if it is somehow a possible route out of the problems we face. Meanwhile, he knows its not, we know its not, yet he just says it over and over.

There are plenty of houses on the market (as confirmed this week by Rightmove)

DervProf

Graham_Devon wrote: »

.... revel, revel, revel....

Give it a couple of days, you'll be back to "well if people can't afford prices, they will have to rent, thats life".

Graham, you forgot to add the :beer: at the end of that quote.

Oh, and not forgetting "FTBs can't afford to buy, it's the banks fault, they need to lend more".

FTBFun

doire wrote: »

There are plenty of houses on the market (as confirmed this week by Rightmove)

There's a structural housing shortage across the UK in general - looking at a snapshot of the market via Rightmove isn't necessarily giving the full picture.

DervProf

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Yet he still uses it as a get out clause for every question, as if it is somehow a possible route out of the problems we face. Meanwhile, he knows its not, we know its not, yet he just says it over and over.

"Owning" two homes and being on a relatively high salary (apparently) is not enough for Hamish, he seems to like rubbing other people's noses in it. I would have thought someone in that situation would have a bit more modesty and class, but I suppose there are always exceptions. In fact, it does make me wonder if Hamish is maybe "enhancing" a few details about his life.

Graham_Devon

FTBFun wrote: »

There's a structural housing shortage across the UK in general - looking at a snapshot of the market via Rightmove isn't necessarily giving the full picture.

Unless you are on the asking prices up thread, then please ignore the above.

I have fixed that for you

FTBFun

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I have fixed that for you

Can't be bothered to actually argue again I see.

AD9898_2

FTBFun wrote: »

There's a structural housing shortage across the UK in general - looking at a snapshot of the market via Rightmove isn't necessarily giving the full picture.

How so ? 1.3 million properties for sale, approx 40k approvals per month. Surely it isn't all down to those nasty banks not lending is it ?

Or might it be partly that house prices had got out of hand through bad lending/borrowing, fraud and bad IR decisions and less and less people can afford to buy at ridiculous prices ?

Looking at the stark evidence, I'd go with the latter.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Sibley wrote: »

I feel sorry for the genuine people that fell for the HPC claptrap.

Oh so do I..... But they're the minority.

The majority of posters on hpc can be broken down into 3 general types.

The militant crashaholics.
Bitter and resentful low paid underachievers, part of the 30% of society who have never been able to afford houses and never will, so now want to see the economy crash and burn as much out of jealousy and spite as anything else. Eternal doom-mongers, determined to trash everything that is good about this country at any opportunity. Now the majority on hpc after the smart ones gave up and bought, and certainly all the most active hpc trolls that invade over here and comment bomb the newspaper sites are from this group.

The property speculators.
Those that STR-ed. The smart ones timed it right and sold in late 2007, then bought back in early 2009. There were a vanishingly small number of smart ones that got it right, however.... The vast majority that tried sold too early and bought back too late so gained nothing. Worse yet though, are the ones that still haven't bought back, preferring instead to cling to an ever more desperate hope of a mythical monster crash that will somehow reverse the huge losses they're now nursing and make their gamble come good. These failed STR's are almost as bad as the militant crashaholics, we've got a couple that post here, but like all losing gamblers they just can't bring themselves to cut their losses and so will inevitably lose everything as a result.

The suckers.
Seduced by an ideology of not having to work hard for a house like everyone else.... "Just wait til the crash comes" they are told, "and houses will be cheap and plentiful". "Vultures like us will feast on the carcasses of the BTL's and families that are evicted".... Mostly young and naive, they believe what they are told and take on the belief system of the cult, faithfully parroting all the myths and lies about past crashes, whilst happily ignoring the fundamentals of the housing shortage and growing population. They miss the obvious warning signs like rising rents and falling mortgage availability, and then too late they realise that the crash was never going to be big enough to help them, and now they can't get a mortgage anyway. They mostly just slink away with their tales between their legs, embarrassed at being fooled so badly, never to post again. Which is why hpc never has more than a few hundred active posters.

But occasionally, they stick around for many years, and then the stark, bleak reality of what believing in the cult of hpc has done to them will hit them hard enough to make an honest post like that one.

These are the ones you can't help but feel immense pity for.

FTBFun

AD9898 wrote: »

How so ? 1.3 million properties for sale, approx 40k approvals per month. Surely it isn't all down to those nasty banks not lending is it ?

Or might it be partly that house prices had got out of hand through bad lending/borrowing, fraud and bad IR decisions and less and less people can afford to buy at ridiculous prices ?

Looking at the stark evidence, I'd go with the latter.

I'll say it again for the hard of hearing - there is a housing shortage not a houses to buy right now shortage.

Occupancy rates are remarkably high in the UK, and due to our substantial population density; strict planning requirements; and population increase due to immigration. All this points to housing itself being an issue.

Say that house prices do start to fall greater than the 2% fall that seems to have been the case nationwide in 2010. Given how difficult mortgage finance appears to be to obtain (for some reason - personally i've had no problem), and how housing generally is still in great demand, all this seems to indicate to me is that owner occupancy will start to fall and we'll see an increase in private rentals, similar to what occurred before social housing popped up post-1945. It does not necessarily follow that loads of people will suddenly be able to buy their own home.

abaxas

HPC is a wonderful site.

Without it, I wouldnt be living in a house I cant afford to buy, but the rent is lower than a mortgage on a house 1/2 it's size.

Why?

Because I'm a good tenant, I know my local market and I bargain hard. The current place is due to the owners moving away but wanting to keep their old home on (as they will ultimately return).

If a LL believes they have the upper hand in the transaction, I would walk away. Find those who actually understand business and work together. Everyone gets what they want.