Is anyone else currently buying in London? Isn't the frenzy putting you off?

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

demontfort wrote: »

I'm predicting a medium to long term decline in UK house prices

Which is bonkers, in my opinion.

The fundamentals of supply and demand are the primary driver of UK house price over the medium to long term.

And we now have the worst housing shortage in history, with almost no hope of building enough houses to keep up with population growth and new household formation....





Leading to the likeliest outcome by far looking a lot like this...

ruggedtoast

I suspect London would be quite vulnerable to price falls by a collective global awakening as to how much it sucks.

Crime, over crowding, congestion, dreadful amenities, and some of the most over rated, over priced bars, restaurants and night clubs in the developed world.

Housing is a joke in London, and rapidly pricing out the people who actually still make going there worthwhile.

Halle71

We've just completed on a BTL property in a scruffy-ish but up and coming area of London (Tooting/Mitcham borders).

It went on the market on the Friday at 'offers over £325k'
There were nine viewings and four offers on Saturday morning.
We offered £340k as our first offer and won at sealed bids on the Tuesday with an offer of £360k. Since our offer was accepted other estate agents and friends and neighbours were constantly trying to gazump but fortunately our vendor had some integrity.

The thing is, it can go on in the 'right' circumstances - 15 years ago people would have been saying the same about Clapham, Brixton, Balham and prices there are now unattainable for anyone but bankers :rotfl:

I bought a one bed flat off plan in Brixton in 2000 for £125k and sold it June 2007 just before the crash for £250k. At least £25k will have been knocked off the value but it is now on the market again for £315k. It's recovered and some.....,

pinkpiglit

demontfort wrote: »

Sure if you're thick as mince it is and failed your 11 plus maths exam to boot. I got a nice big 2 bed, 25 minute bike ride from the City at nearly 100k less and I know I overpaid.

I'm almost scared to ask what part of London that must be in. Unless you bought it many many years ago!

Halle71

pinkpiglit wrote: »

I'm almost scared to ask what part of London that must be in. Unless you bought it many many years ago!

Maybe he's just a really fast cyclist....

moneyistooshorttomention

padington wrote: »

Also don't forget on January the 1s, 28 million more people get to live in the Uk if they so wish ....

..and I still cant believe the Government won't have the sense to "slam the gates shut" before 1 January....and the resultant trouble there will be if many more people at all try to cram in to our country (ie because I'm convinced half the Government don't have the sense they were born with, so don't rate the chances they will "slam up those gates")...

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

..and I still cant believe the Government won't have the sense to "slam the gates shut" before 1 January....

Fortunately most politicians, and certainly those with enough of a brain to actually govern, have more sense than to try and do any such thing.

Sure, they'll make a lot of noise during election campaigns about reducing immigration to appease the, how can I put this politely..... 'backwards-thinking' section of voters that oppose it.

But once they get in government and see the truly awful demographic and economic consequences that meaningful reductions in immigration would inflict on the country, they quickly enough realise we have absolutely no choice but to continue with significant net migration for the next few decades.

browneyedbazzi

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I suspect London would be quite vulnerable to price falls by a collective global awakening as to how much it sucks.

Crime, over crowding, congestion, dreadful amenities, and some of the most over rated, over priced bars, restaurants and night clubs in the developed world.

Housing is a joke in London, and rapidly pricing out the people who actually still make going there worthwhile.

Do you actually live in London or visit on a regular basis? Many people who do live, work and spend leisure time in the capital have a very different opinion of it than you do. There are some rubbish areas where crime is high, amenities poor etc, but a lot of the capital is the opposite. The area I live in is cleaner and greener than most cities in the country - and has better access to amenities and transportation and quite low crime rates. Many would argue that with house prices being pushed up it is becoming 'gentrified' and more sought after as people on low incomes/the unemployed etc are pushed out.

If you do live or spend a lot of time in London i think you might want to expand your horizons and look at some of the better areas because your opinion seems to be based on the worst bits of the city rather than the bigger picture.

padington

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

Do you actually live in London or visit on a regular basis? Many people who do live, work and spend leisure time in the capital have a very different opinion of it than you do. There are some rubbish areas where crime is high, amenities poor etc, but a lot of the capital is the opposite. The area I live in is cleaner and greener than most cities in the country - and has better access to amenities and transportation and quite low crime rates. Many would argue that with house prices being pushed up it is becoming 'gentrified' and more sought after as people on low incomes/the unemployed etc are pushed out.

If you do live or spend a lot of time in London i think you might want to expand your horizons and look at some of the better areas because your opinion seems to be based on the worst bits of the city rather than the bigger picture.

London has changed massively, maybe he's going on an 1980's memory of London. To me London now is a world apart from the bad old days.

I took a German to Waterloo bridge at night after a bottle of wine in Gordon's last year and she just went quiet viewing the amazing panoramic of the London skyline with StPaul's and everything else and then said 'there's no question, this is the capital of Europe, by everything other than name'.

Fraise

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I suspect London would be quite vulnerable to price falls by a collective global awakening as to how much it sucks.

Crime, over crowding, congestion, dreadful amenities, and some of the most over rated, over priced bars, restaurants and night clubs in the developed world.

Housing is a joke in London, and rapidly pricing out the people who actually still make going there worthwhile.

Dreadful amenities in London???? I can't believe you think that. London has absolutely fantastic amenities, and it's just one of the many reasons people desire to live there.

You will get crime in some parts of the less salubrious areas of London, but certainly no more than other cities in the UK: Manchester, Hull, Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow, Belfast etc......

As for over crowding, how do you work that one out? Do you mean there's loads of properties in London, or that people live 9 to a bedroom? If there is any over crowding I haven't seen it, but if there is over crowding it just shows how desperate people are to live in London...

London also has some of the best restaurants, bars and nightclubs in the whole world, never mind the UK.

And what is so gorgeous about London is its architecture, rich history, beautiful scenery along the river, and all surrounded by huge green parks

Halle71 wrote: »

We've just completed on a BTL property in a scruffy-ish but up and coming area of London (Tooting/Mitcham borders).

It went on the market on the Friday at 'offers over £325k'
There were nine viewings and four offers on Saturday morning.
We offered £340k as our first offer and won at sealed bids on the Tuesday with an offer of £360k. Since our offer was accepted other estate agents and friends and neighbours were constantly trying to gazump but fortunately our vendor had some integrity.

The thing is, it can go on in the 'right' circumstances - 15 years ago people would have been saying the same about Clapham, Brixton, Balham and prices there are now unattainable for anyone but bankers :rotfl:

I bought a one bed flat off plan in Brixton in 2000 for £125k and sold it June 2007 just before the crash for £250k. At least £25k will have been knocked off the value but it is now on the market again for £315k. It's recovered and some.....,

Clapham (or most of Clapham except the dire Clapham North) has always been gentrified and expensive.

It first started with the overspill of Chelsea into Battersea (which was a right dump), then it spread to Clapham, then onto Balham, and now Tooting and Mitcham. It's the ripple effect. From Mitcham (the nicest parts) it's spread to the borders of Greater London... South Croydon (West is a dump, but will one day be up and coming no doubt), and Purley which has always been gentrified and filled with grand houses and leafy roads.

In 10 years from now nearly every property owner inside the M25 will be very wealthy.....lucky for some.