Peoples opinions? House prices going up? Or a crash?

KL62

Hi Im just interested in peoples thoughts. There seems to be a lot of discussion around at the moment of house prices. It seems people sit on one side of the fence saying property prices can only continue to rise because property is becoming much more in demand people are earning more, unemployment is down and the papers and even saying that there is going to be a £1000 a month rise for the next 12 months! On the other side of the fence im hearing alot of people saying there is going to be a major crash like in the 80's as the properties now are far overpriced and interest rates will go up.Tha people already are stretched to pay their mortgages now through having to borrow their maximum to even get on the property ladder. And the whole housemarket loop is based on first time buyers starting at the bottom buying the first house and that if they cant afford to buy then it creates chaos for everyone and the whole loop crashes? Im intrigued to hear your views?

thesaint

If you go to the top of the page to the search function, change the 'please choose a search' to 'search chat forum', then type in 'house price crash' in the box below, click 'Go'. You will get loads of opinions on the subject.

Alternatively, check this thread tomorrow and you will have it all replicated for you.

peterg1965

House prices increases will ease up...prices in some areas may decrease slightly but IMHO there will be no crash. The Economy is in a different state than it was in the late 80's, and despite high prices there is still strong demand in the market with a general shortage of housing. Slightly increased Interest Rates will take the heat out of the market and wages will rise in the short/medium term to make housing generally more affordable to the lower wage earners and FTB's.

bloomsberg78

I believe there will be a correction a some point, the problem which many have suffered is predicting when.

But I think the problem won't just be the housing market, I think the UK and possible most the developed countries as a whole are heading for harder times and MSE will probably become even more popular!

These was a good article earlier this week which explains a bit about the global slow downhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/02/06/cnmerr06.xml

Everything runs in cycles, and the current "boom" cycle is coming to an end. The worrying thing for me is the amount of consumer debt, which could make things a whole lot worse.

If you're thinking of buying property at the mo, the main piece of advice I would give is :
1) Buy for the long term, your property will serve you well over 10-15 years+, and you'll smooth out against any short term correction
2) Do not sretch yourself to get a mortgage. Forget the madness of the banks, if you get buy the house you want within 3 - 3.5 times your annual salary then don't do it.

BobProperty

bloomsberg78 wrote:

.....Forget the madness of the banks,......

Copyright that quick, some documentary or film maker will want it in a year or two.