Is it safe to buy my first home near London at this time?

geoffky

Conrad wrote: »

IMO we're at market bottom unless Spain etal collapse the Euro, but even then it would only be a temporary lull as UK would be viewed a safer place to invest than much of Europe.

Read old news headlines going back to the 70's. Always things looked dire on many front - OPEC crisis, WW3 nuclear threats, many middle east wars, IRA bombs, strikes, 3 day weeks, Tracks like 'Ghost Town' and '1 in 10' telling us everything was going down the pan.

But you know what, life goes on and in time that once high house price shrinks away.

At the bottom? People have been saying that for four years in the uk/spain/usa and most other European resorts.The falls have not even started yet..We are just in the beginning of a once in a lifetime event and you think thats it ,,all over.....oh dear!!

geoffky

double post!

Lizling

brit1234 wrote: »

London is a bubble on a bubble it is going to pop at some time. My best bet is going to be after the Olympics starting in the Eastern side. On top of that the foreign safe haven money will stop at some time. Much of it ist now going into Germany but a fair bit is still coming to London.

Its clearly a ticking time bomb, best advice is to keep saving that deposit.

I'm curious, Brit. What do you think would make the foreign investors sell up? They would need to sell rather than just stop buying and selling to cause a crash, after all. Also, do you think foreign investment is propping up house prices right across the market, and not just in the best locations?

I'd say if there if is a bubble affecting normal houses, it's in the buy to let sector, and the foreign investment sector is a market all of its own that might as well be on a different planet. I can't see what would pop a BTL bubble except tax system changes (not going to happen under this government, but perhaps under the next) or making it much harder to get a BTL mortgage and much easier to get a FTB one.

Turnbull2000

Oh dear God, I can't believe people are still peddling the fantasy that London will experience meaningful falls. London is in a global league of it's own, and foreign investors will continue to see it as a safe haven for many, many years yet. Whilst many other nation discourage or tax foreign money pouring into domestic property, UK government practically encourages it due to the positive impact in house prices. The odds of an about-turn are practically nill.

So OP, whilst London is expensive, values are almost certain to hold up at a bare minimum.

geoffky

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

Oh dear God, I can't believe people are still peddling the fantasy that London will experience meaningful falls. London is in a global league of it's own, and foreign investors will continue to see it as a safe haven for many, many years yet. Whilst many other nation discourage or tax foreign money pouring into domestic property, UK government practically encourages it due to the positive impact in house prices. The odds of an about-turn are practically nill.

So OP, whilst London is expensive, values are almost certain to hold up at a bare minimum.

So 2007...look back at the history and try and tell me about London..It is not immune...
A little reminder...tech stock 2000,,

Lizling

geoffky wrote: »

So 2007...look back at the history and try and tell me about London..It is not immune...

A 4% fall, on average, over 5 years? Doesn't seem too bad at all considering what the economy's been through in that time.