'What'll happen to house prices in 2012?' poll

jimpix12

donny-gal wrote: »

We are fortunate, our mortgage is paid, it is our son who has to climb the ladder, but if his flat price drops by 25% then he will end up in debt for a large part of that amount, and as a 1 bedroom place on the second floor, does not allow for a family. DG

But in the long term others like your son will be able to afford housing if the prices go down to a suitable level of 3x income. In the short term your son goes into negative equity, in the long term he and every other FTB wins.

Surely it's blindingly obvious that lower house prices are better for the economy.. Surely.......?

donny-gal

It still is a matter of where you live, he could have got a 3 bedroom detached bungalow around the corner from us, for half of what a flat in London costs, but they again the wages are much better. DG

tescobabe69

donny-gal wrote: »

It still is a matter of where you live, he could have got a 3 bedroom detached bungalow around the corner from us, for half of what a flat in London costs, but they again the wages are much better. DG

OK on your sons behalf I hope property prices double, then we will all be better off.

Saetana

We have to move away from this idea of buying houses with the main aim of making money from selling them (as individuals obviously, not talking about property developers). A house should be looked at as a place to live before anything else, most countries on the continent do not have a housing market like ours, they only move house when necessary for more space or for work, and there is a far higher level of renting (at a reasonable price) than in this country. The housing market plays far too big a part in our economy, for me I'd be happy to see house prices fall even further and then level out at a sensible figure - this may also tackle the issue of ridiculously high rents charged by private landlords and more people would be able to afford to buy their own home.

oldmasterjds

Surely looking at the overall market like this is pointless for most of us?
Regional variations will mean the market moves up for many even it's down overall so this poll would be of more interest if it was regionalised..

Mistral001

oldmasterjds wrote: »

Surely looking at the overall market like this is pointless for most of us?
Regional variations will mean the market moves up for many even it's down overall so this poll would be of more interest if it was regionalised..

Also there is a quote from the famous economist, J K Galbraith, which is perhaps relevant. It goes as follows:

The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable. J K Galbraith

mwil1969

It will be the usual 10 year cycle 2007-2017 every 10 years this country goes property mad starting in London and heading north.
Due to the new rules the banks have i don't think we will see the double digit rises we have in the past.

2010

MSE_Martin wrote: »

This is a discussion thread to a full site poll - the vote will likely have 20,000 people taking part. House prices are partly about sentiment so its a pretty good indicator of that. So overall I'd think quite a few people care - certainly the 250 who've voted in just the first 10 minutes.

This is a poll about guessing what house prices will do, a bit like guessing that other well worn subject, where share prices will head.
The truth is NOBODY knows, despite that there are countless threads already arguing about it.

What I`m saying is, people should stop speculating about what their house price was, is and will be and buy one to live in.

lynneinjapan

Are we taking inflation into account? I voted "stay about the same" but that's absolute prices - i.e. a £100K house will still be about £100K in a year's time, but that's a drop in real terms once 5% or so of inflation is taken into account. In that respect I think we're looking at a slow decline for another couple of years and then prices will start to even out and then rise again.

But of course what will actually happen is anyone's guess!

twhitehead

When I was buying my last house (2000) I remember the solicitor saying 'the only time you make a profit on a house is when you die and then sell.' For the slower readers you don't need to live anywhere then.