House sales tumble to worst level in eight years

Romani_Ite_Domum

nicola1982 wrote: »

I must say I'm nervous. I hoped there would be a stabilisation rather than a crash as a crash usually means a hike in rent.

Any evidence to back that up?

I believe the last crash brought on a reduction in rents due to the recession.

Gorgeous_George

There will, in all likelihood, be a crash/correction but the data that I have seen suggests it's Winter and nothing more. When (or 'if', if that is your want) prices really start falling, we will see much more than just a slowing market.

GG

sniperpenguin

Romani_Ite_Domum wrote: »

Any evidence to back that up?

Well....

Price crash = rates going up

Rates going up = mortgage payments go up

Mortgage payments go up = overall yields go down

Yields go down = (some) rents go up

IveSeenTheLight

Originally Posted by Zammo
2002 - House prices will crash this year

2003 - House prices will crash this year

2004 - House prices will crash this year

2005 - House prices will crash this year

2006 - House prices will crash this year

2007 - I told you so.

acook wrote: »

Better late than never.

Hmmm. If you have waited since 2002, I guese you would have been better off not waiting.
Therefore NOT better late than never.

Actually Zammo is wrong.
It should continue
2007 - House prices will crash this year
2008 - House prices will crash this year. I told you so (To be confirmed)

Mybe someone should say
2008 - House prices will rise this year
2009 - House prices will rise this year
2010 - House prices will rise this year. I told you so

Note, I dont know when or if house prices will rise, fall or stagnate, so please dont take the above as actual quotes

hearts

lol.............There is going to be NO crash ;-)

You people have been wishing for this for years and now at any sign of prices not rising "It's a crash"
As has been said above. The time of year has a lot to do with the present lull in buying.

dannyboycey

hearts wrote: »

lol.............There is going to be NO crash ;-)

You people have been wishing for this for years and now at any sign of prices not rising "It's a crash"
As has been said above. The time of year has a lot to do with the present lull in buying.

Lol... One of the 'world is flat brigade' - there are still a few out there.

carpetbelly

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion... I personally still think next year there will only be stagnant prices (drop in real terms due to inflation I suppose) and then once the credit markets pick back up a bit I think the housing market will also.

But that's my opinion, I know it is. I won't sit here and state it as a fact. Same as no one should state something will definately or won't definately happen in the housing market. No one here has a crystal ball that works properly, you wouldnt bother being on here and you'd be out there playing the markets

m00m00

house prices were teetering on the edge of 'affordability' anyway, in terms of ratio of earnings to house prices, even before the credit crunch. The notion that the rampant HPI the bulls love so much will suddenly return without a massive inflationary shift in wages is just pure nonsense. But then it seems the economics of the past few years have been based on pure nonsense anyway, so who really knows.

My own feeling is that if double digit hpi returns after the credit crunch, the damage done to this society will take a very long time indeed to repair, if it ever is.

carolinosourus

I don't know a great deal about house prices and the like but I know a retired FIA who often has letters published in financial sections of national newspapers and a lot of my extended family take a great interest in financial and investment matters- such as house prices and investment buying.

Now, I have recently been looking at the prices of flats in a certain town in Essex. On one of the property websites there are pages and pages and pages of 1-2 bed flats which have been on the market for around 6 months, so that has nothing to do with 'this time of year'. My boyfriend's parents are selling their lovely 5 bed (or 4 bed and a study), 3 bathroom, large conservatory and garden, utility room, large garage, off-road parking for at least 3 cars. This has been on the market since late July and despite 3 agents telling them that it was sure to be snapped up in about 2 months, nothing has happened, there have been no offers at all which in the 'booming market' has abviously come as a bit of a shock!

Another thing I've noticed is that around my area 'for sale' signs have been going up and staying up for months and months whereas last year the 'for sale' signs were popping up and then being replaced with 'sold' signs, almost instantly it seemed.

My dad has been talking recently about the rise in buy-to-let mortgage rates, which means that some property-owners may try to sell the flats that they own as the rental income will not cover the mortgage repayments so more flats/small houses will appear on the market. I've just finished university and am working full-time but there's no way on my salary that I could afford to buy a property. But, if all my fellow graduates are going to be in the same position that I am, then as no-one can afford to buy the 1st time properties like flats and small houses then the people trying to sell these properties will not be able to buy the slightly larger properties, owners of these will not be able to sell and so have the capital to buy a bigger, more costly property and so it goes on! So I feel that the market is going to stagnate and crash, but that's just my opinion based on the views of those around me and my own reading into what's going on in my eyes!

Sorry it's so long and boring!

tomstickland

Can't we just call it a seasonal adjustment or something?