What Crash ?

BrandNewDay

tara747 wrote: »

Yes, you are quite right. Just because it hasn't happened yet, it never will. No chance. Thank you for your insight into the world of economics, I feel a lot better now.

Definitely! I'm going to go sell that kidney, now, and buy property!

BrandNewDay

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

Maybe part of the problem is women's lib (or equal opps). There was a time when a man's wage would provide for his family. Nowadays, thanks to equal opps, it takes two wages to satisfy a family's needs.

Instead of women having the opportunity to earn a man's wage, they earn half a man's wage with a man earning the other half. It takes two workers to buy a house. The alternative is for one or two non-workers to get a house from the welfare state.

Just a thought.



GG

Somehow, we manage on DH's income. He doesn't make a lot of money, either. I do a bit of work, but all my earnings go into savings.

However, this does mean that we can only afford to buy at the lowest end of the market. We just figure that that's all we can afford and that's what we'll do. I suppose if we told ourselves that we HAD to have a better home in a better area, we'd never be able to do it.

Of course, what I'm saying doesn't apply to all areas of the UK. There are still one or two far-flung pockets within an hour or two of DH's job that have small flats we can afford.

manhattan

Yeah, i can see it now....................... people selling their body parts to get a home for their family.

Next it will be the miracle body part economy with body part sales rising 25% a year outstripping house prices.
Then the 'bodypart-to-let' brigade will make their mark lol

Nenen

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

Maybe part of the problem is women's lib (or equal opps). There was a time when a man's wage would provide for his family. Nowadays, thanks to equal opps, it takes two wages to satisfy a family's needs.

Instead of women having the opportunity to earn a man's wage, they earn half a man's wage with a man earning the other half. It takes two workers to buy a house. The alternative is for one or two non-workers to get a house from the welfare state.

Just a thought.



GG

Whilst I have some sympathy with your views and I think we have done ourselves no favours by creating the society we now live in, I think your viewpoint depends upon your definition of "needs" rather than ‘equal opps’. Fifty years ago, when married women (particularly those with children) were not commonly found in the paid workforce and were certainly not paid as much as men doing the same job, most families had very modest "needs".

My dh and I are both in our late 40s. His mum never had paid employment after she had him and my mother worked a few part-time hours for a far lower wage than a man would have received. However, neither of us went abroad on holiday, my family had one small car; my dh’s parents never even learned to drive! Both families had one small TV etc and phones were used sparingly. Our mothers both made and repaired our clothes, with hand-me-downs being common. Food was nourishing but cheaper cuts made from scratch. The only time my parents went out to eat in a restaurant was on their wedding anniversary. Our family hardly ever ate out together; a Wimpy meal was a very rare treat. Birthday parties were done at home, with a few sandwiches and some cake and jelly being the norm. Furniture was made to last and carefully saved for. My sister and I shared a bedroom in a modest house. I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture! Our families lived quite frugally and survived on one main wage.

Nowadays many families decide they “need” two large cars, foreign holidays every year and TVs in every room. Playstations, computers, mobile phones and countless other gadgets are considered necessities. Convenience foods are used almost every day and birthday parties are held in increasingly extraordinary/extravagant locations with entertainers being considered de rigour and parents feeling unable to cope alone with a few small children for a couple of hours due to the way they behave. Regular family trips to restaurants and attractions are common. Designer clothes and shoes for children are demanded (and given). Most people aspire to owning a house where every child has his/her own bedroom (stuffed full of toys and gadgets of course)! People often want immediate access to endless new items for the home that are often short-lived and bought on credit (meaning large amounts of wages go on interest).

It is therefore no wonder that it is impossible to provide for a family on one wage given all these extra “needs”!

A_Fool_&_His_Borrowed_Mon

Malky wrote: »

Not impossible. Take my old flat for instance. Originally bought in 1963 for £480. Was sold last month for £118800. That's an increase of 24750% giving an average of a 562.5% increase per year. On those figures that flat could be worth £668250 in 10 years time :eek: :rotfl:

Just goes to show how much the pound has devalued itself over time, i read that kings built whole castles & estates for the princely sum of 50k in Medieval times.

I'll help you out a little there by the way, so you can understand what i mean-

Inflation

Have a good read :money:

Hope This Helps.

ixwood

I don;t buy all this "our kids will never be able to afford a house" and "there's not enough supply" crap.

Simple fact is that interest rates are the driver of house prices and they've been too low for too long. As they go up, affordability drops, so house prices have to follow.

As for supply, if there's not enough, then where's everyone living? It's not enough available cheap to buy in certain areas.

Moorepart

The thing is, if we can predict when a recession will occur, and the severity, we'll know when house prices will fall. Give or take 18 months.

This is the biggest economic myth around, and it's perpetuated by the media in their ignorance (and probably other reasons).

Housing busts LEAD economies into recession. You don't need a recession to have a housing bust, they happen first, then the recession follows.

There has never been a significant house price drop in some parts of country without a concurrent drop in GDP.

If you have a problem believing this, have a look at what is happening in the US at the moment,there are very good reasons why this occurs, but you'll need to do quite a bit of research to find out why?

What ever you do, don't take my word for it, find a few good books on economic history and start reading.

Do your own research

manhattan

The_Law wrote: »

HOUSE PRICES WILL NEVER CRASH!

Bet your house on it then! :rotfl:

manhattan

I just received a nice private message from "The Law" saying........

f off unt

You just got reported lol :rotfl:

Generali

A_Fool_&_His_Borrowed_Mon wrote: »

Just goes to show how much the pound has devalued itself over time, i read that kings built whole castles & estates for the princely sum of 50k in Medieval times.

I did a bit of research once and I think that a decent sized parish church in the C16th cost about £30k all in. From memory the economy was pretty strong then (except the last few years).

A_Fool_&_His_Borrowed_Mon wrote: »

I'll help you out a little there by the way, so you can understand what i mean-

Inflation

Have a good read :money:

Hope This Helps.

If you want to see the effects of inflation on a fiat currency check out Chart 1 on page 16 LINK.

Prices rose a little bit from 1750-1914. In 1914 Britain came of the gold standard (a monetary system where you can go to the central bank and exchange your pound for a fixed amount of gold), prices shot up.

Britain went back on to the gold standard in 1925 and prices fell back towards where they had been prior to WW1.

Britain then abandoned the gold standard in 1931 and prices have been shooting up ever since.

Presumably, the pound will be worth nothing eventually as that is what fiat currencies are all worth in reality.

Massively OT but never mind. Look up my old posts if you want to know what I think of house prices.

PS Good article in the FT today about a possible global credit crunch. Also, all this rain will increase inflation as the harvest will be poor this year. Birds Eye estimate 25-50p on a bag of frozen peas!