'House Prices: Would you prefer them to rise or fall?' poll results/discussion

chodges84

I think a crash is needed.

It will cause pain for a lot of people, but the boom has caused pain for just as many like first time buyers who are priced out. (I am in that category). People have huge Mortgage payments, lower prices would mean more money each month for LIVING OUR LIVES and having some fun.

However, that is NOT the main reason I support a crash. This country needs some COMMON SENSE restored. We need to move away from property and bring back manufacturing. Gordon should be taxing BTL's at a higher rate and passing this on through tax breaks for manufacturing companies.

As another poster suggested we are at the mercy of China. Our government is too scared to speak out against them.

Due to age I've only witnessed the final act of the Housing Boom but when this is all over, we'll look back in 10 - 15 years and realise this whole thing caused more harm than good.

Let's hope lessons are learnt and we all move on to something more productive and worthwhile than property speculation and start enjoying our homes.

Glowboy

I would like to see a small drop, maybe 5% a year for the next three years.
Part of me thinks those who have made their bed by mortgaging to the hilt should now lie in it and a crash would teach the next generation a valuable lesson. On the other hand history suggests that lessons are rarely learned whatever happens, and as I have several friends who for contrasting reasons need to move house I recognise the human impact of problems in the housing market.

The reality is, whilst the estate agents and the like are trying to downplay the prospect of a slump, if the British population as a whole decide property is going to get cheaper, it will happen.

ShelfStacker_3

I'm 19. Banks, even if they did do 100% mortgages still, wouldn't consider giving me a mortgage anywhere near the required amount in the near future on my salary, so I can't buy. The cheapest flat to rent in this area is nearly £600, which is over two thirds of my monthly salary, so I can't rent and not starve or go to jail for not paying council tax. The council will not take me on because they have so few houses/flats for so many people (thank you, Tories, for the right to buy scheme... really, allowing all the council properties to be bought up was a great idea considering it's the only chance a lot of people have at having a roof over their heads). So right now, for the foreseeable future, I'm going to have to live at home. Probably until my mid-20s at least. I have no idea how some of my older colleagues at work do it...

So I voted E, even if for purely selfish reasons. I'd LOVE a precipitous drop in house prices such that working class people in this country can actually afford them. Actually, personally, I'd prefer a new option F, "major house price crash AND a massive building of new council properties AND going round the country and kicking every single buy to let speculator square in the nads, as well as every single politician who's ever stood up for Right to Buy ever", but for now I'll stick with just the crash.

ShelfStacker_3

PhilDS wrote: »

I was merely making the point that if someone has a house on the social then they shouldn't be allowed to buy another one and rent it out. How can anyone disagree with that?

On another point...not all tennents in social housing pay high rents, or indeed rents that come anywhere near reflecting market conditions. Who makes up that deficit? The tax payer (one way or another).

Generally the people who are in social housing are the people who cannot afford to be housed any other way, which is the whole point of us having a social safety net in this country. "The tax payer" is merely paying for the same services that he or she would receive were they in the same situation, and it would do well for anybody who whinges about the benefits system/council housing/the NHS/whatever costing them money to remember that.

I agree with you on council tenants who are also buy to letters though, that smacks of stupidity and should be penalised. If I had my way, personally, buy to letters would be taxed harshly to pay for the construction of more social housing, but that's just me.

scarlet_macaw

I can't believe the number of people who are voting for a crash!

The effect on the economy generally would be devastating. Quite aside from the negative equity situation which has already been mentioned, bad as it is that would only be a short term problem and only effect limited numbers; the effect of reduced house prices would be a reduction in spending power which would quickly spill over into a rise in unemployment, which in turn would lead to more repossessions, resulting in furter falls in house prices and a downward spiral.

Whilst house prices have undoubtedly risen too far, the question is what is the best way out of the situation we actually find ourselves in, not the one we might like to be in, and that must involve a period of below inflation price rises in the short term with a longer term re-establishment of rises in line with inflation, rather than massively above it as has been the case over the last few years.

parkersages

If I was being selfish I would want them to fall, as I am old and that would reduce my estate and therefore IHT for my family, but unselfishly I know big falls would mean negative equity, with all that entails for many, so I suppose stability would be best.

rdwarr

Catch-22 for me. I own a house outright as well as a flat which I let out. But I also have children who currently stand no chance of getting on the property ladder.
So for me it's "the higher the better" but for my kids it's just the opposite.

My parental instinct always overrules my selfish one though. Let's go for a fall

foreversomeday

I am completely confused by this. I am an intelligent person and I am pretty good at manths, but I just fail to understand how the economy and house prices and everything work.

I have tried to look up easy explanations, but everything is so full of jargon I get frustrated and wonder why I should even bother. I can't help but think most people must be in the same boat - if we don't understand the economy, why should we worry/not worry about it? The only input I can see is media coverage saying a house price crash would be an awful thing to happen, which I am inclined to put down to media hype, seeing as my common sense tells me the house price/average salary ratio is absolutely ridiculous at the moment.

I might be young, but I do understand that people always had to save and work hard to own their own homes. If my partner and I had to work hard and save and do overtime to afford a deposit of say £5,000, which would probably take a good few years of that hard graft and going without luxuries, I would see the point. But the amount we'd reasonably have to save up is more like £50,000. That's about as much as we earn over 3-4 years, before paying tax and national insurance, and bills. And while we are saving we still have to live somewhere. It is such a huge amount it seems impossible, and it's such a demoralising thought that we don't see the point - we would rather rent. The only ways I can realistically see us owning our own property are a huge market crash, a dramatic increase in wages, or a rich relative dying and leaving us lots of money, which is unlikely.

I just don't understand what the economy has to do with it. I can only assume as a previous poster mentioned, that the economy has in fact been built on debt, which is where the problem lies. I suppose my problem with understanding is that I'm not really sure what the economy physically is, and I'm having a hard time finding a reasonable explanation of that.

Taffybiker

If a crash large enough to put my mortgage into negative equity should happen, I will fight back by buying another property.

seven-day-weekend

I would like to see a huge drop in 2-3 years time.

This is for the purely selfish reason that I will then be able to sell my Spanish house (assuming there isn't a huge drop in Spain also!) and be able to realise enough capital to buy a house somewhere nice on the English coast.