Why are house prices still so high?

AG47

phillw wrote: »

What a difference a day makes.

You are right there

Every day it's looking more uncertain and worse for property prices

Mistermeaner

the thing that will lower property prices is economic disaster such that demand massively reduces (less people with money = less buyers).... however the people most hoping to benefit from such a drop will be precisely the same people who are in the 'less people with money' bracket as they will have lost their jobs / their other costs of living will have rose - in relative terms (generally) houses will be no cheaper for these people

Add to this that folk who already have houses and likely at least some equity will not all start selling in a falling market - why would they?

phillw

AG47 wrote: »

You are right there

Every day it's looking more uncertain and worse for property prices

Yesterday reduced the chance that we will leave with no deal, although it doesn't guarantee it. In my book that reduces uncertainty as it narrows down what brexit will look like.

Previously we had Theresa May's deal or no deal, both of those have been rejected for the time being. It's more likely now than ever that the future relationship will respect the good friday agreement, the ERG can't just ignore it anymore and force us to crash out on the 29th.

I think a lot of people are worried that what is happening in west minster is affecting our ability to make a deal with the EU, but they haven't noticed that we're past that point. The EU has stopped negotiating and has given us the two options. Parliament is now negotiating with itself, which is something it should have done two years ago.

Nothing is certain until it is.

wymondham

House prices are high as its Government policy. High prices makes people feel good about their wealth and likely to vote Tory.

phillw

wymondham wrote: »

House prices are high as its Government policy. High prices makes people feel good about their wealth and likely to vote Tory.

House prices are linked to prosperity, I don't think any government would have a policy stating they wanted to reduce prosperity. They just have different ideas how to achieve it and how it should be distributed.

Goldman2020

[FONT=&quot]What are your views on more homes being built which young people could afford to buy (pre-fabricated type buildings)? This may not only help the young but in turn may help the high street and to some degree the economy because the people buying these starter homes would also be buying white goods,furnishing and other associated items for their new homes. [/FONT]

AG47

wymondham wrote: »

House prices are high as its Government policy. High prices makes people feel good about their wealth and likely to vote Tory.

This would be true if the majority of the population were property owners.

Unfortunately the vast majority of property owners are getting older and will need equity to pay for the care in old age.

The majority of the next generation will feel property prices being high will make them vote for whoever wants lower property prices and rents :T:T

Zero_Sum

Brown_Bear wrote: »

I think there is a social factor to this. Young people have grown up in an area and don't want to move away from their parents.
If their parents owned their own home, the obvious solution would be for the parents and their offspring to all move somewhere cheaper.
The fact this doesn't seem to happen much (if you believe the media reports) indicates that either:
1. The problem is not that bad.
or
2. The employment prospects for the offspring are much, much better in the expensive areas.
or
3. The parents don't really care - yet.

I think its more that young people want to live in vibrant areas ie the big cities which is also where the jobs are. And as such these are the more expensive.

Theres loads of cheap housing around the country but the jobs market & investment is too Londoncentric and its arguably the catalyst for brexit which is massively dividing the country.

phillw

Zero_Sum wrote: »

Theres loads of cheap housing around the country but the jobs market & investment is too Londoncentric and its arguably the catalyst for brexit which is massively dividing the country.

If you're going to invest and create jobs then it's safer to do so where there are people who can perform the job already live, or where people who can perform the job want to live.

London benefits from that at the top end, as do places like oxford and Cambridge. There aren't enough of those kinds of jobs to bring the rest of the country up to the same level.

brexit isn't going to change any of that either & if the government ends up with less money won't be able to intervene.

fatbeetle

Why are house prices still increasing?

Net migration continues to add to the population of the UK as an estimated 273,000 more people moved to the UK with an intention to stay 12 months or more than left in the year ending June 2018.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/migrationstatisticsquarterlyreport/november2018