When did house-prices become a crucial indicator of economic well-being?

TruckerT

Before Mrs Thatcher's great sell-off of council housing, most people were content to have a decent roof over their heads.

These days, even with the support of Housing Benefit, more and more people have less and less choice about their housing arrangements.

TruckerT

Carl31

Maybe as its, currently, one of the most accessible means of investment at the moment that provides any real return, for the man on the street at least.

abaxas

Maybe, it's because we are 'f***ed' ?

IveSeenTheLight

TruckerT wrote: »

Before Mrs Thatcher's great sell-off of council housing, most people were content to have a decent roof over their heads.

These days, even with the support of Housing Benefit, more and more people have less and less choice about their housing arrangements.

TruckerT

The RTB in the 80's is a pivotal point in the history of residence.
Prior to this, many were happy to rent and often found options of council housing to rent.

Through the RTB scheme, it increased the aspiration of the nation and also vastly reduced the available stock for future generations.

Even the increase in BTL hasn't filled the gap created through RTB

So it is fair to say that RTB changed the course of the options of residency.

Thrugelmir

TruckerT wrote: »

Before Mrs Thatcher's great sell-off of council housing, most people were content to have a decent roof over their heads.

Many people were severely stung by their experience of the late 80's. Only in the boom of the 00's did property prices become the dinner party topic of how much is yours worth.

purch

Yes the dinner party topic of the early 1990's was how small your mortgage was and how soon the yoke would be removed, and people were congragulating themselves for not being suckered into buying that 5 bed, 2 bath for £ 180k before it all went Pete Tong :eek:

Loughton_Monkey

purch wrote: »

Yes the dinner party topic of the early 1990's was how small your mortgage was and how soon the yoke would be removed, and people were congragulating themselves for not being suckered into buying that 5 bed, 2 bath for £ 180k before it all went Pete Tong :eek:

Spot on.

Except that on this particular day (August 2nd) in 1990, yes, we spent 2 or 3 hours on that very topic. But had a short 5 minutes rubbishing the Iraqis for having just invaded Kuwait.

makeyourdaddyproud

Aspiration translated into avarice since '79.

Blend in 25M more headcount since RTB began and mix in unchecked lending to boot.

System

My father used to recall conversations in the 1930s about the problems people faced from the long-term falling in house prices and housing demand. Several relatives who wanted to sell larger houses and move into flats as they got old found them impossible to sell, and had to be reconciled to permanently renting out declining assets.

So to answer the original question, probably at least from 1929.

TruckerT

SAVING_IS_DEAD_MONEY wrote: »

House prices are a great barometer of the economy because with rising prices and a healthy market people buy houses and then all the contents that go with furnishing it either for themselves or the renter classes.

I'm sorry, but why do rising prices encourage people to buy?

Falling prices would surely release lots more money for people to spend on consumables.

TruckerT

IveSeenTheLight

TruckerT wrote: »

I'm sorry, but why do rising prices encourage people to buy?

If there is a trend in rising prices, it focuses people to attain the deposit requirements quicker in order to purchase earlier.

TruckerT wrote: »

Falling prices would surely release lots more money for people to spend on consumables.

Falling prices make people cautious.
If prices were falling say £1,000 per month, wouldn't you hold off as you will be "saving" on costs each month it lowers?

Additionally, it puts off sellers who may find they are in negative equity.

In a falling market, we see that the number of properties for sale dramatically reduces, meaning there are less options for the potential buyer.