House Price Crash Discussion Thread

IveSeenTheLight

patrick_bs15 wrote: »

Hi - my flat is in Kingswood, on the eastern edge of Bristol (close to the ring road).

Market for 1 bedroom flats seems poor around here at the moment...

Just had a quick look on Land Registry.
It would appear that flats on average are not as bad as you think
You can see from below that flats on average at the trough of April 2009 was £147,401 while the latest average has them at £165,398 in Feb 10.
that's an increase of 12.2% in the last 10 months

Running the same report for South Gloustershire shows a 10.6% increase in flats over 9 months from £100,373 in May 2009 to £111,027 in February 2010

patrick_bs15

Interesting reading, thanks...

I've pretty much made my mind up to stay put and overpay the mortgage though. At least in a flat as small as mine (which is on the first floor, so I get a lot of heat from downstairs during winter) the bills are relatively cheap!

C0ldf1re

For most people, overpaying the mortgage is a bad option. Once money's gone, it's gone forever. If times get harder, some cash in your hand helps you negotiate with people. If you run out of money, you are sunk.

bodmil

I wonder if people could give me some input and opinions....
I want to buy a flat in Bath, but as a single FTB this is quite a stretch so will take me until at least another 18 months to save up. But seeing that prices are going up now, I'm wondering if I should lower my expectations and buy in a cheaper town as soon as possible to take advantage of increase.
What would you do?! xx

IveSeenTheLight

C0ldf1re wrote: »

For most people, overpaying the mortgage is a bad option. Once money's gone, it's gone forever. If times get harder, some cash in your hand helps you negotiate with people. If you run out of money, you are sunk.

Absolutely incorrect.

the quicker you pay off any debt, the less interest you pay and therefore the more money you have in your pocket in the long run.

Sure it's wise to have some savings, but I can tell you, it's extremely advantageous to pay down as much as your mortgage as possible

Paying a little extra each month saves you thousands of pounds and years of mortgage payments

IveSeenTheLight

bodmil wrote: »

I wonder if people could give me some input and opinions....
I want to buy a flat in Bath, but as a single FTB this is quite a stretch so will take me until at least another 18 months to save up. But seeing that prices are going up now, I'm wondering if I should lower my expectations and buy in a cheaper town as soon as possible to take advantage of increase.
What would you do?! xx

"What would you do?! xx"
Only you can decide.

One argument is that if prices rise, some people could see their ability to buy run away from them, therefore it's better to get on the "ladder" as soon as possible.
In a rising market, you secure a mortgage at a given debt regardless if from then on the prices rise.

If the market falls and you have bought, there is a risk of negative equity (which can be worked on), however you still have a roof over your head and indeed it makes the jump up to the next level of the "ladder" so much easier.

One thing for sure is that while in short term prices can go up or down, in the long term house prices always rise (even simply to match inflation) and therefore you will find that servicing the fixed debt will become easier as the years pass.

Of course if you think in the next 18 months prices will be nominally lower than today, then you may be better off waiting (remember to calculate in rental costs during that time).

This is the consideration you must take.

Perrian

Home ownership has only really been around in the post-war era, but seems to have become a national obsession.

The LTA gives most lessees reasonable recourse, and very many safeguards. Holland for one is more used to renters than buyers, with many desirable rental properties having a waiting list of several years.

I have a tent and a bicycle, so I'm pretty much sorted.

joe1996

Buy a home when: prices are low, interest rates are low, and housing supply is high, is the best possible time. If you can secure a home loan with a fixed interest rate, that you can afford to pay each month, you can't go wrong.

KS1977

Hi I was wondering if I could get some advice on here. We are in the process of looking for property to buy. At the moment there doesn't seem to be much out there in our area (maybe I'm being too picky? ), but I was wondering if I was to wait for a couple of months, maybe there will be something out there for us.

My main question really is what do people think we should do? Is it better to wait a few months and look then or will this be affected by the election (house price drop/increase)..... or will house prices not be affected that much? Sorry to sound dim, but I am a FTB and really am not sure how to go about doing this.

Thoughts about this would be greatly appreciated :@)

Graham_Devon

KS1977 wrote: »

Hi I was wondering if I could get some advice on here. We are in the process of looking for property to buy. At the moment there doesn't seem to be much out there in our area (maybe I'm being too picky? ), but I was wondering if I was to wait for a couple of months, maybe there will be something out there for us.

My main question really is what do people think we should do? Is it better to wait a few months and look then or will this be affected by the election (house price drop/increase)..... or will house prices not be affected that much? Sorry to sound dim, but I am a FTB and really am not sure how to go about doing this.

Thoughts about this would be greatly appreciated :@)

Putting aside the economic landscape at the moment and where it may or may not go, surely it's better to find a house you WANT, rather than making do with a house thats out there at the moment and available?