UK property owning families increased wealth by 20% last year - don't make me laugh!

buglawton

This was a survey done by Lloyds Bank Private Banking, and it somehow managed to come up with this statistic.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11606709/Families-20-per-cent-richer-than-last-year.html

For the benefit of MSE forum readers I've translated it into a financially-literate form of English:

"If you held investment-sized amounts of cash for a year, that cash is now worth 20% less in UK property terms."

That feels better already, though I still suspect the 20% figure.

PasturesNew

I saw a bizarre house listing this morning.... last January I went to view a house and couldn't afford it. It was sold (completed March 2014) to somebody who offered £220k. It's had nothing done to it whatsoever since then and is now up for sale again at £270k. Local house prices have not risen by this much; Zoopla's local price says it's £236k now (7.5% increase) and not the 23% they're asking.

buglawton

I just looked at Zoopla and found the valuation one I could not afford. Then I saw I'm living it it!

Generali

So which bit is wrong?

Dr._Shoe

House prices can go up and down as much as you like but you still have to sell yours and buy another so there's no net gain nor is there any net loss. The only people who miss out or benefit from fluctuations are first time buyers or those who have the nous to sell before a crash.

buglawton

Generali wrote: »

So which bit is wrong?

If you are referring to post 3, it means that Zoopla values all houses in my locality based on the 2 or 3 sales that took place over the last year, then it adds a bit. Were I or most people to apply for a mortgage on the house I live in/currently have the deeds of, even with a 25% deposit it'd be laughed out.

But there's a significant, small minority of people - think inheritance + 2 prof salaries - that can afford to buy the occasional property. It's those few that Zoopla is building it's price estimate edifice on.

ruggedtoast

I would be priced out of the house we bought in 2011.

I know that a lot of young families in the SE now no longer even think to look at 3 beds. You can see it in the terminology the agents use to market. Poky 2 bed houses are now ' ideal family homes '. Anything more is an aspiration for if your financial situation improbably looks up after you have your first child.

Out of interest I was looking at my old rented hood in Harrow. There were a very few 2.5 bed 60's builds used to come up by the park near us for 250,000. Then the meccano houses in Oxhey (good luck) were your next chance at around 200. I used to think about them but they seemed so over priced we decided to give up on London altogether.

The Harrow ones are now going for 350k and the Oxhey ones for 250k. What a joke. I imagine most renting families have just given up. Doesn't seem to have stopped them voting Tory though. Which utterly baffles me.

CLAPTON

ruggedtoast wrote: »

The Harrow ones are now going for 350k and the Oxhey ones for 250k. What a joke. I imagine most renting families have just given up. Doesn't seem to have stopped them voting Tory though. Which utterly baffles me.

why would that baffle you

is there any effective difference between the three main parties with respect to
-planning rules
-levies and social housing burden on new builds
-immigration controls

michaels

I thought house prices had gone up by 5.8% in the last 12 months (Haliwide)? Could this fit with the total value of the housing stock going up by 20%?

IronWolf

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I would be priced out of the house we bought in 2011.

I know that a lot of young families in the SE now no longer even think to look at 3 beds. You can see it in the terminology the agents use to market. Poky 2 bed houses are now ' ideal family homes '. Anything more is an aspiration for if your financial situation improbably looks up after you have your first child.

Out of interest I was looking at my old rented hood in Harrow. There were a very few 2.5 bed 60's builds used to come up by the park near us for 250,000. Then the meccano houses in Oxhey (good luck) were your next chance at around 200. I used to think about them but they seemed so over priced we decided to give up on London altogether.

The Harrow ones are now going for 350k and the Oxhey ones for 250k. What a joke. I imagine most renting families have just given up. Doesn't seem to have stopped them voting Tory though. Which utterly baffles me.

I thought London was pretty much Labour?

zagubov

We need t have a roof over our heads, so this increase is about as useful as assigning cash value to our vital organs and declaring ourselves as millionaires.