Has the Housing Market got Silly?

qwert_yuiop

And as we all know from a few years ago, no one cares what your house cost you when you’re trying to sell it.

marathonic

I started this thread back when I bought, almost precisely at the bottom of the last recessions fall in prices, in December 2012:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4456231/northern-ireland-residential-property-price-index/p1

However, like yourself, I'm getting a bit fearful of the market, which has rose even further since your original post.

I do feel prices might rise some more from here but I'm putting mine on the market next week and am going to rent for a while. The asking price is at an approximately 90% premium versus what I paid in late 2012 (or a 70% premium if you include the significant work I done to the house in the early days).

Whilst I do see further rises ahead, I believe we're a bit overheated right now and, assuming they fall back, I expect to see prices well below those of today in the coming years. I don't want to be a seller in a falling market, if it materializes, as I'd likely see buyers pull out midway through legals as they see further falls.

I highly doubt my sale will be as perfectly timed as my purchase but I'm happy enough to pull the trigger and sell now.

jetboy

Seems to be a bit of a frenzy going on at the minute. I'd be very wary. Long term affordability may become a factor as interest rates can only go higher and with inflation at it's highest for some time now you can see whats on the horizon. 2 million people coming off furlough into an uncertain future might calm things down a bit this winter although only 5% are in N.I

qwert_yuiop

According to an estate agent I know, things have quietened a little recently.

Do you mean 5% of people in NI are on furlough or 5% of all those on furlough are in NI?

mumf

The housing market is ALWAYS silly. It will always be silly. The problem has always been that ( many) people treat a house as a speculative asset,rather than somewhere to live,and keep the rain off their heads. We bought this place at the height of the 80’s housing feeding frenzy. We needed somewhere to live,so we scrimped and saved,got a mortgage - at 15% interest rate,no less- and have ridden the wave,so to speak. In the early nineties we had Negative Equity,and for the homeowners who regarded their houses as a savings account,the sky had fallen in! And so it went on…

So we bought this drum for a lot less than it’s current ‘value’. What exactly is that value? The cash value? For us no. It’s where we live. And if we sell it, we get a handful of cash. There will be no ‘profit’,because that mortgage repaid the original loan MANY times over,and then there is the money we have ploughed into improving,repairing etc etc.

The ‘Market’ is what it is. Buy a house to live in.

Ticked

mumf said:

The ‘Market’ is what it is. Buy a house to live in.

Absolutely! Unless you’re buying to let or resell there’s no point trying to forecast the market. We bought in the 70’s and struggled for some years but it was worth it. Now retired, we can live very comfortably on the pension, we couldn’t if we were paying rent. 

Don’t buy a house. Buy a home.