Why do people say there is/will be shortage of house?

movilogo

I can't find shortage of house

AFAIK, nobody in this country lives on streets!

Everyone has somewhere to stay [rented/owned etc.]

There are still plenty of places with FOR SALE and TO LET boards.

I'm on rent - and changed home few times. I never faced "shortage" of properties.

Well, sometimes there can be shortage because a required property [to buy or rent] may not be available at specific price range. That shouldn't mean shortage any way.

Any thought?

Biggie

Shortage in the sense that there are more more buyers\renters then houses.

Here in London there are very few houses that come in within our desired area. The ones that do come up we either don't like the style or don't think it's worth the asking price or out of our range.

When we do find something worth buying then there's a few people bidding going over the asing price chain free sometimes even cash buyers :eek:

No Shortage of house just no decent well priced house, leaving very little choice.

There are plenty of houses in the area where we wnat to buy and the sytle we like, probably in our range as well but no body wants to sell......

You can conclude that we're very fussy with the style we want and indeed we are but I at least want a house I like if i've spending the next 70 years paying it


I believe it's a similar experience for renters.....

pamaris

Agreed with the OP that there is not a true shortage. I think there are something like 1,000,000 homes for sale on rightmove.

tr3mor

Biggie, you haven't described a shortage.

Using your terms there is a shortage of Cars in the country because I can't afford an Aston Martin.

Biggie

tr3mor wrote: »

Biggie, you haven't described a shortage.

Using your terms there is a shortage of Cars in the country because I can't afford an Aston Martin.

True no shortage in a technical sense, but lack of choice..

that's why people chase the same house in London pushing the price up...

barnaby-bear

movilogo wrote: »

I can't find shortage of house

AFAIK, nobody in this country lives on streets!

Everyone has somewhere to stay [rented/owned etc.]

There are still plenty of places with FOR SALE and TO LET boards.

I'm on rent - and changed home few times. I never faced "shortage" of properties.

Well, sometimes there can be shortage because a required property [to buy or rent] may not be available at specific price range. That shouldn't mean shortage any way.

Any thought?

Where I live a couple often used to rent a 1-bed flat but now will rent one room in a shared house, shared houses often no longer have lounges just an extra bedroom, a two bed flat will usually have two couples in sharing.... you can cram a lot of people in the same accommodation and still no-ones on the streets - but there's a genuine shortage of tenured, permanent appropriate housing that lets people live and be part of a community put down roots and have families. Because people are crammed in to rent a two bed house you often need 3 or 4 full time salaries coming in because that's the norm... or you move further out and commute (hence all those cars and dispersed communties and push out locals there breaking up that community).

barnaby-bear

movilogo wrote: »

I can't find shortage of house

AFAIK, nobody in this country lives on streets!

Everyone has somewhere to stay [rented/owned etc.]

There are still plenty of places with FOR SALE and TO LET boards.

I'm on rent - and changed home few times. I never faced "shortage" of properties.

Well, sometimes there can be shortage because a required property [to buy or rent] may not be available at specific price range. That shouldn't mean shortage any way.

Any thought?

Where I live a couple often used to rent a 1-bed flat but now will rent one room in a shared house, shared houses often no longer have lounges just an extra bedroom, a two bed flat will usually have two couples in sharing.... you can cram a lot of people in the same accommodation and still no-ones on the streets - but there's a genuine shortage of tenured, permanent appropriate housing that lets people live and be part of a community put down roots and have families. Because people are crammed in to rent a two bed house you often need 3 or 4 full time salaries coming in because that's the norm... both parents have to work some of the kids go bad....or you move further out and commute (hence all those cars and dispersed communties and push out locals there breaking up that community). Shortage isn't about people on streets but changes and break downs in communties/social structures/living

movilogo

If we define shortage as "I don't get what I want in my budget" that will lead to believe we have shortage of everything.....

$$$_12

No shortage of housing. I've never had any problem finding anywhere to rent and usually most places I've moved into have been empty for a while.

But there isn't enough for every man and his dog to have a second home or investment property. And there seems to be a shortage of decent housing that's suitable and affordable for families - particularly if you don't qualify for social housing.

I know plenty of people who aren't having kids as a result. I think this housing bubble will ultimately be seen to very damaging to society and this country's future. Still at least we feel rich now eh?

Generali

There's no shortage of housing (except possibly of family houses in SE England).

People say there's a shortage of housing as they need to rationalise the bubble in house prices.

carolt

barnaby-bear wrote: »

Where I live a couple often used to rent a 1-bed flat but now will rent one room in a shared house, shared houses often no longer have lounges just an extra bedroom, a two bed flat will usually have two couples in sharing.... you can cram a lot of people in the same accommodation and still no-ones on the streets - but there's a genuine shortage of tenured, permanent appropriate housing that lets people live and be part of a community put down roots and have families. Because people are crammed in to rent a two bed house you often need 3 or 4 full time salaries coming in because that's the norm... both parents have to work some of the kids go bad....or you move further out and commute (hence all those cars and dispersed communities and push out locals there breaking up that community). Shortage isn't about people on streets but changes and break downs in communties/social structures/living

Yes, that's true, but also misses the point that when prices are this high as well as large numbers of people crammed into too-small accommodation - representing 'shortage' in your view - you also have the reverse: huge numbers of old people (often single) who live in large family homes on their own. In the village I live in, basically all the really gorgeous large period properties are owned by single pensioners whilst the tiny cramped modern housing and 2 up-2 downs are full of young families bursting at the seams. As long as the pensioners think prices will keep rising, they'll hang onto their over-large homes to pay for future care if necessary. If they think prices are falling or about to fall, selling up and moving somewhere more suitable that they can manage better, seems a whole lot more appealing.

This is not just guesswork - my OH's grandmother falls into exactly this category - she's on her own in her 3 bed detached family house, but is now, on the advice of her son (a surveyor, who for the record believes prices have peaked), looking to move into sheltered accommodation and sell her house. She bought in the 1950's on a small multiple of one salary and ALL her neighbours in similar houses on her street are single pensioners. Once they all decide to follow her lead there will be basically a whole street full of large family houses available for families - instead of single people - again. And it is specifically awareness of prices having risen to such incredible (literally) levels and being about to fall that is making her take this step now - not ill health (she's very hearty!).

So property 'shortages' are a misnomer - there is no shortage of property as such, in fact there is enough existing property to support, estimates suggest, 1 million empty homes at the moment.

No, the problem is not the NUMBER of homes but the PRICE that people are prepared to buy/sell them for. if I was prepared to pay half a million or so round where I live, I could own a house I'd be more than happy in. But I can't, so I rent instead. And all those people in barnaby-bear's example in cramped accommodation could find bigger housing - but choose not to as they can't afford it comfortably.

Supply and demand is not about the raw numbers of houses, but about sentiment, and the point at which people decide it's the right time to sell/buy and the right price. After all, the last crash happened not because of any change in the numbers of houses - noone suddenly built loads more - but because people decided they were overvalued and unaffordable and were going to stop jumping on the bandwaggon.

Will be the same this time - it's already started....