Is Britain's love affair with the property market finally over?

thriftybabe

I feel sorry for those who have just got on the property ladder recently. My brother bought a one bed flat and a year later his wife got pregnant. They had to move up to a nice semi-detached 3 bed to be near family (for babysitting). He works in construction and things are going to get really tight. He has no debt except mortgage but may struggle as construction falls on its knees and he has no work.

jamescredmond

hostman wrote: »

I have no problem with the Government telling us what to do, if it makes us all healthier. The NHS costs us all far too much to run and its largely because some people are stupid, drinking, smoking and eating themselves to death.

same here.

if the gov. takes advice from medical experts to the effect that 5 a day is beneficial to health I expect it to tell me. even if it's stating the obvious.

what I do with the advice is down to me.

I can't remember, though, any advice coming through re HPI.
no words of caution.
no public criticism of reckless lending.

the gov. doesn't need to wipe our noses, but if it could tell us all about fruit it could've also mentioned something about HPI.

but it didn't.

strange that.

it didn't have a hidden agenda, did it?

hostman

jamescredmond wrote: »

same here.

if the gov. takes advice from medical experts to the effect that 5 a day is beneficial to health I expect it to tell me. even if it's stating the obvious.

what I do with the advice is down to me.

I can't remember, though, any advice coming through re HPI.
no words of caution.
no public criticism of reckless lending.

the gov. doesn't need to wipe our noses, but if it could tell us all about fruit it could've also mentioned something about HPI.

but it didn't.

strange that.

it didn't have a hidden agenda, did it?

Labour's political future is unquestionably linked to HPI. They have relied upon it for economic growth, now the house of cards is beginning to crumble.

IveSeenTheLight

!!!!!!? wrote: »

The NHS generally costs more and more because people are living longer and longer into old age and thus incurring more costs for treatment of their ailments whilst at the same time contributing little extra in tax.

At least alcohol and tobacco consumers pay massive amounts of tax on their vices which can be used to fund public services.

Well then, tax it more and get more public services done;)

Do you really think the tax that smokers pay on cigarettes and drinkers pay on alcohol, fully covers the illnessess caused by these vices?

moanymoany

This article is fascinating in that two of the examples they give do seem to be the authors of their own misfortune.

The first couple with their flash pad near Donny - not known for the highest prices in the country - have clearly pushed the boat out further than they can swim. It seems they got into the hands of a sub-prime lender - see other excellent thread. We are not told of any other debts they have.

The second is Sue Baker - aged 36 - again, old enough to know better. She says she has a 'nasty' credit card debt.

The biggest change the credit crunch will bring for ftb's is that they will have to save up a deposit. Back in the 60's couples saved for about 2 years, often before they got married and were still living at home. Because there was no expensive 'night life' they spent many Saturday nights at the pictures or in the family front room.

These couples didn't start off with big debts - big difference!

lostinrates

moanymoany wrote: »

The biggest change the credit crunch will bring for ftb's is that they will have to save up a deposit. Back in the 60's couples saved for about 2 years, often before they got married and were still living at home. Because there was no expensive 'night life' they spent many Saturday nights at the pictures or in the family front room.

These couples didn't start off with big debts - big difference!

To some extent I agree, but we have to buy in the S/E ish...my DH can ONLY work in London, we HAVE a large deposit saved, and since joining the savig fo a deposit group here we've also exceeded our £1000 a month every month (we had one that was just £1000, but manage o make up for it next month) With the DEPOSIT we have saved we could buy at the price my parents bought in an unfashionable 'west london' (not really) location the year they were married almost 6 times over, Dh's wage is approximately 4 times what my father's was at the time and the house???

I just checked propertysnake for the first time ever and the only comparable I can find on this street for the house my parents bought (a 5 bed, vicorian semi) in 2008 is a new build on an adjacent road (also 5 bed semi) that has just had a price reduction from £2.2 million to £1.9 million. My parents sold theirs in around '89 for quarter of a million.

So, bearing n mind DH an I are looking for something considerably less grand, in a considerably increased unfashionable or convienient location (and will also be spending comparitively more of petrol/train fares to get to work from further out....our biggest expence is travel right now) it all seems impossible. We save, and save, and save and sve, DH gets a good wage, really we feel very lucky at that, but it all seems so pointless. if people who on paper have a great wage and bg deposit cannot afford to buy in commuter zone where do we go from there?

(Actually we have now taken the decison to keep saving and home that we can buy a 'better' than FTB house and drop a link from the property ladder, hoping to only move once in our future in the long term, but in the short-medium term its bleak an depressing and TBH I can see why people give up)