The Housing Market

[Daggers]

Is it just me or does anyone else reckon the current pricing levels are totally unsustainable.

Entry level accomodation is now as good as 4x salary for a single person. When we bought our first house the maximum you could borrow was 2.5x joint salary or 3x single.

I have been waiting for a year for the market to start collapsing so we can buy again but it just doesn't seem to want to happen. <_<

And how come all available housing for less than £130,000 smells?

[macbeth]

apparently mortgages take up on average 42 % of household income now compared to 25% about 15 years ago so yes i should think there must be a slump on the way

[Head Honcho]

Unless another 1/2 million homes are built! The prices are only going to go one way!

[Dr The Singh]

Unless another 1/2 million homes are built! The prices are only going to go one way!

I've only just bought a property just over 2 years ago, so I hope there is no slump!!! According to a couple FA's I know, it's unlikely it's gonna happen!!

[Head Honcho]

I've only just bought a property just over 2 years ago, so I hope there is no slump!!! According to a couple FA's I know, it's unlikely it's gonna happen!!

Just hope the Tories are defeated at the next election

Here's a list of every interest rate change since 1985.

NB If your thinking of buying a house look at the interest rates when the Tories were in power. 14% ffs!!

[Thracian]

Law of supply and demand makes it hard to imagine there will be any sort of slump. As I understand it far more houses are needed than are being built.

The money lenders will find a way even if, as elsewhere, mortgages have to stretch beyond a lifetime.

If you don't necessarily have to buy property in the UK you might try Bulgaria, Latvia or even Turkey if you're adventurous.

For instance there's a project near Borovets, Bulgaria close to the longest ski run in the world and the first planned Jack Nicklaus golf course in Eastern Europe where two-bedroomed apartments will cost £51,000 and will be suitable for year-round letting. Single-bed apartments are £37.500 and there's an on-site management company available.

[davieG]

I blame the media who always announce house price inflation as good news. Why?

This just encourages people to ask for more.

The home owner gains nothing unless they die, not a lot of use then, people wanting to buy end up further away from the possibility. The people who gain are Estate Agents ( sorry Ricey), Solicitors who charge a % for doing FA moneylenders who then pay piss poor interest to those saving. The whole thing is a capitalist con.

I say this as a houseowner with no mortgage.

By the way my first Semi cost £3600, brand new, my mortage was £23 .

I know, shut up you old git

[Nationwider]

And how come all available housing for less than £130,000 smells?

I've just sold my house for less than £130k and it doesn't smell. Mind you, its very small and in a scummy part of the north-east.

I'm in two minds about where we go next... Do we play safe, trade up slowly and maybe plan to move again in 5 years, or do we sell our knackers to the bank and go for that long-term property?

[Daggers]

For instance there's a project near Borovets, Bulgaria close to the longest ski run in the world and the first planned Jack Nicklaus golf course in Eastern Europe where two-bedroomed apartments will cost £51,000 and will be suitable for year-round letting. Single-bed apartments are £37.500 and there's an on-site management company available.

Sounds interesting, although I can forsee some problems getting the kids from school to ballet & footy classes in the evening may become a problem

[Daggers]

Just hope the Tories are defeated at the next election

Here's a list of every interest rate change since 1985.

NB If your thinking of buying a house look at the interest rates when the Tories were in power. 14% ffs!!

I remember - I was paying it.

We lost almost 50% of the value on our new house and then saw all of our profit lobbed off the value on our second.

I wrote to Norman Lamont and John Major asking them to dip into their personal fortunes to bail me out [seeing as it was their fukcing fault].

I'm still waiting for a cheque!

[Gamesmaster]

The average type house in England, is about £80,000 in southern morocco, and its sunny most of the year round.

Apparently its even cheaper in Bulgaria, and you get a grape vine thrown in

[Shum]

I bought in February, thinking that if I didn't do it then, I never will be able to afford it.

So just went for it!

[hairy]

House prices fell unexpectedly by 1.2% in June, according to Halifax, the UK's biggest mortgage lender.

From the BBC.

I cant see it going into a slump as people just wont sell for this than they bought for. What you have to remember is its all relative. If you sell for more you buy for more. If you sell for less you buy for less. So you can sit around waiting for a slump to buy but you will be buggered when it comes to selling.

The interest rates are now set by the bank of england and are independant of government so we should never see interest rates at 14% even under a Tory government.

[Daggers]

The interest rates are now set by the bank of england and are independant of government so we should never see interest rates at 14% even under a Tory government.

...but now that house prices are SO high, and borrowing to income ratios are so high, that it only takes a moderate increase in % to have a quite considerable effect.

The upside to buying at the mo' in Brum is that houses at the bottom end are shifting faster than a man with a 10 pint & vindaloo hangover.

[lcfcalan]

I bought in February, thinking that if I didn't do it then, I never will be able to afford it.

So just went for it!

Good one Shum, pleased you felt able to 'bite the bullett' have you moved in , or renting it out

as an investment till you are ready to take it all on and have it as a 'family ' home . ?

Either way , good luck with it my friend.

[TrickyTrev]

Oh don't be silly to think house prices can only go up one way. Rising house prices are great for everbody but first time buyers. If mortgage rates continue to raise ahead of incomes then it is inevitble that first time buyers will be forced out of the market and will have to find other ways to house themselves (Sharing, renting, staying with parents e.t.c)

No first time buyers= No Demand= In the long run house prices will deflate to their natural equilibrium.

[Thracian]

Sounds interesting, although I can forsee some problems getting the kids from school to ballet & footy classes in the evening may become a problem

You might be right. That ski run's not that long.

[Thracian]

The average type house in England, is about £80,000 in southern morocco, and its sunny most of the year round.

Apparently its even cheaper in Bulgaria, and you get a grape vine thrown in

Not only the grape vine and fruit trees you get the bottles of home made spirits they all conjure out of nowhere - and very tasty and tipsyfying too.

Inland, you can buy a mansion in Bulgaria for that money (though you might have some repairs to do) or a modest house and enough land to build a small estate.

[Daggers]

So, the company selling the repossesed house rejected my third bid and took someone else's.

This bloke has fallen through as he can't get the cash - we're raring to go and have been offered dibs again.

I reckon I should offer my second offer now, what do you think?

(The house is in a right state and needs a SHEDLOAD of work on it.)

[Ric Flair]

Oh don't be silly to think house prices can only go up one way. Rising house prices are great for everbody but first time buyers. If mortgage rates continue to raise ahead of incomes then it is inevitble that first time buyers will be forced out of the market and will have to find other ways to house themselves (Sharing, renting, staying with parents e.t.c)

No first time buyers= No Demand= In the long run house prices will deflate to their natural equilibrium.

House prices might go down, but they won't go down by much. Considering how house prices were just 6 or 7 years ago and the wages people earned compared to now is astonishing and there's no way it could ever go back to the way it was just a few years ago.

At best, house prices will stay the same for the next 5 - 10 years and the average wage is increased to match the massive increase in house prices. In 20 years the average house price has gone up by over £100k, but if it does the same again then surely the country wouldn't be able to cope.

They are introducing many schemes to help first time buyers and they'll have to continue to do this, otherwise you'll probably see a bigger increase in youngsters getting themselves up the damien just to get a property (not that that's not happening now!)

It's bollocks, move abroad. This country's whack.

[The People's Hero]

I'm never going to have my own place. I accept this.

[macbeth]

I'm never going to have my own place. I accept this.

did you hear about that bloke that kept advertising to swap things.......he started off with a paper clip and after numerous swaps he got a house worth about 250k....i heard it on the radio today but can't see it in the newspaper.......he said he just had this brainwave to challenge people to swap with him something better every time.......genius

[davieG]

did you hear about that bloke that kept advertising to swap things.......he started off with a paper clip and after numerous swaps he got a house worth about 250k....i heard it on the radio today but can't see it in the newspaper.......he said he just had this brainwave to challenge people to swap with him something better every time.......genius

From the Fox site:

A 26-year-old Canadian who started with a paper clip has managed to barter his way up to a new house. Kyle MacDonald made 16 trades in almost a year using the internet to achieve his target. He is now due to become the owner of a three-bedroom home provided by the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan.

The aspiring writer first advertised on an internet barter site wanting something bigger or better for his one red paper clip.

He managed to trade it for a fish-shaped pen and then exchanged

the pen for a ceramic knob.

In turn, he traded up to a camping stove, a generator, a beer keg and Budweiser sign, a snowmobile, a trip to the Canadian Rockies, a supply truck and a recording contract.

In April, he bartered up to a year's rent in Phoenix.

The rent-free deal was swapped for an afternoon with rock star Alice Cooper and this was bizarrely traded for a snow globe.

There was method to the madness though, with TV star Corbin Bernsen, an avid collector of snow globes, deciding he wanted it.

He offered a paid role in his new movie and the people of Kipling decided they would like one of their community to get the role.

They offered a house in return.

"This is such a cool community project. It feels right," MacDonald said.

"And now that I think about it, I can't believe that another small town didn't think of it. It will literally put them on the map."

[macbeth]

thats it ; how do some people think of these things i usually have to pay to get rid of stuff

[Dr The Singh]

thats it ; how do some people think of these things i usually have to pay to get rid of stuff

The guy was very engenius but abit lucky, there will be loads of people trying the same, and majority probably failing!!!! But good on him!!

Just talking about about property, my neighbour bought his house for £150k, but 3 years ago my previous neighbour bought it at £86k, that's an example of how house prices have risen and how unlucky us first time\new buyers are, knowing that I could have bought a house possibly double the size\value, only 3 - 4 yeard earlier!!!