House prices..

Morba · 24 Jul 2008 at 21:52

Haircut said:
Feltham is more of a dump than Staines IMO.
Yes, Staines has its fair share of chavs but it's not all that bad - there are some pretty nice areas (over towards the Laleham side)
I used to live in Ashford and while it was pretty dull over that way Feltham is a fair bit rougher from my experience.

Now I just pay through the nose to live in a nice area

I agree with that completely. I would pay through the nose myself, but i will already be paying near on £1k for a 3 bed in bristol as well

There is a room i could get in staines, down past sainsburys somewhere, need to go see it.

Lucifurr · 24 Jul 2008 at 22:01

Morba said:
thats because most of staines is a dump tbh. im about to houseshare in feltham (not far from staines) which is equally as poo, but close to work (staines)!

Can you even compare Staines to Feltham? Like somebody else has said it does have its fair share of chavs but if look towards the Laleham (which is pretty expensive). It gets more chav like towards Ashford. I am looking to buy a place in Staines and Egham area.

Wicksta · 24 Jul 2008 at 22:06

Lucifurr said:
Can you even compare Staines to Feltham? Like somebody else has said it does have its fair share of chavs but if look towards the Laleham (which is pretty expensive). It gets more chav like towards Ashford. I am looking to buy a place in Staines and Egham area.

I back this up as well. Staines is nothing like as bad as Feltham, which is an absolute dump. I used to work in Bedfont Lakes for a good while, plus grew up in the area. I am still over that way a lot these days, well mainly Ashford, as I still have a lot of friends there.

Jonny69 would have loved the old one way system in Staines in the early 90s, we had a big old Ford scene down there.

Slam62 · 24 Jul 2008 at 22:11

Hello

I just had a thought (yes really) this house price thing is on a 20 year cycle meaning the trough will be in about 2018.

Of course I could be wrong though

Morba · 24 Jul 2008 at 22:27

Lucifurr said:
Can you even compare Staines to Feltham? Like somebody else has said it does have its fair share of chavs but if look towards the Laleham (which is pretty expensive). It gets more chav like towards Ashford. I am looking to buy a place in Staines and Egham area.

Any opinions on specific area down that way, specifically Garrick Close i think?

Wicksta · 24 Jul 2008 at 22:45

Morba said:
Any opinions on specific area down that way, specifically Garrick Close i think?

It's not bad at all, I used to live in a maisonette on the next road, Avondale Avenue for a year and a good mate of mine grew up on Wheatsheaf Lane.

There are some local shops there, you can walk back from Staines and you can get to the river very easily. The Wheatsheaf and Pigeon pub there used to do some great food but this was a few years ago now.

EDIT: feel free to add me to msn if you want to know anything else about the area

PaulStat · 28 Jul 2008 at 10:07

"The National Housing Fedaration reports that house prices will be up by 25% by 2013"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7528248.stm

Stinky · 28 Jul 2008 at 10:07

PaulStat said:
"The National Housing Fedaration reports that house prices will be up by 25% by 2013"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7528248.stm

was about to post that one.

Media trying to do good again

Dolph · 28 Jul 2008 at 10:13

PaulStat said:
"The National Housing Fedaration reports that house prices will be up by 25% by 2013"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7528248.stm

Stinky said:
was about to post that one.

Media trying to do good again

Remembering that this current price issue is caused solely by (potentially short term) reluctance of the banks to lend money, caused in turn by investors being unwilling to invest in mortgage bonds (due to external pressures to the UK housing market), and not a lack of demand, they are quite possibly correct.

There are still a lot of people wanting to buy one way or another, but many are now unable to do so, or unable to do so at a cost they are happy to accept. If the financial situation changes again, prices will rise.

Stinky · 28 Jul 2008 at 10:19

Dolph said:
Remembering that this current price issue is caused solely by (potentially short term) reluctance of the banks to lend money, caused in turn by investors being unwilling to invest in mortgage bonds (due to external pressures to the UK housing market), and not a lack of demand, they are quite possibly correct.

There are still a lot of people wanting to buy one way or another, but many are now unable to do so, or unable to do so at a cost they are happy to accept. If the financial situation changes again, prices will rise.

that is totally true, we have agreed 3 times more sales this month than last! and have spent the last 2 weeks calling all 100 applicants on our system to find out there position / weather they are still looking etc. and we are now down to 120 people, 50 of which are in rented accommodation or have cash available. there is no shortage of buyers but there are a lot of properties on the market. Defo a buyers market

clv101 · 31 Jul 2008 at 08:43

Here's July's report from Nationwide (charts on page 3):
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/historical/July_2008.pdf

Down another 1.7% in July, down 4.5% in the last 3 months. There have been 9 consecutive months of falls now. The average price is now £16,728 or 9% lower that the peak in October 2007.

aardvark · 31 Jul 2008 at 10:59

don't worry, they will be up 25% by 2013 - yeah riiiiiight.

R4z0r · 31 Jul 2008 at 11:51

Dolph said:
Remembering that this current price issue is caused solely by (potentially short term) reluctance of the banks to lend money, caused in turn by investors being unwilling to invest in mortgage bonds (due to external pressures to the UK housing market), and not a lack of demand, they are quite possibly correct.

Surely high inflation, high food/energy/oil prices and the possibility of recession have somehting to do with the falling prices as well!?

Dolph · 31 Jul 2008 at 12:12

R4z0r said:
Surely high inflation, high food/energy/oil prices and the possibility of recession have somehting to do with the falling prices as well!?

Four of those five things are related to the credit crunch problems in the US (High energy/oil prices are not being caused by a lack of supply, but largely in part due to the devaluation of the dollar, which is in turn caused by the problems of the US housing market), high inflation is being mainly driven by high fuel and energy prices, and the possibility of recession stems, again, from the lack of liquidity available in the market plus the above factors, and the drop in house prices caused by lack of available funds

So yeah, if the banks and governments can sort out the credit market problems, then most of the other issues will go away, as they can all largely be traced to the same source.

Whether the actions currently being taken by various governments can achieve this I'm not sure, but it could certainly turn things around.

Stretch · 31 Jul 2008 at 12:39

Dolph said:
There are still a lot of people wanting to buy one way or another, but many are now unable to do so, or unable to do so at a cost they are happy to accept. If the financial situation changes again, prices will rise.

There are many still wanting to buy (me included), but not in a falling market. I have significant saving so dose my partner and we could probably get a mortgage tomorrow if we so wished. But you’d be daft to buy now when you know a similar property will be cheaper next month. I know in the long term prices will rise but I'd prefer to buy when the market bottoms out rather than while it’s still falling.

The factors you mention (credit crunch, inflation etc) may have triggered the falls we're seeing now, but this crash has now picked up a momentum of it's own, and will not be solved quickly by a drop in interest rates, loosening of lending criteria or any other silver bullet. The affordability of houses needs to become more realistic before prices rise again and average prices are still way in excess of average earnings.

Morba · 31 Jul 2008 at 12:43

Stretch said:
There are many still wanting to buy (me included), but not in a falling market. I have significant saving so dose my partner and we could probably get a mortgage tomorrow if we so wished. But you’d be daft to buy now when you know a similar property will be cheaper next month. I know in the long term prices will rise but I'd prefer to buy when the market bottoms out rather than while it’s still falling.

the thing is, other people are doing the same, so at some point people will start buying before prices bottom out because they know if they dont buy the property they want now, it will be gone soon to someone else.

if you can safely afford to buy now and are aiming to be in the property for a long time then don't worry about the current drops.

Stinky · 31 Jul 2008 at 12:44

Morba said:
the thing is, other people are doing the same, so at some point people will start buying before prices bottom out because they know if they dont buy the property they want now, it will be gone soon to someone else.

if you can safely afford to buy now and are aiming to be in the property for a long time then don't worry about the current drops.

follow the media

they think 25% increase by 2013!!

so you can go wrong with buying now

Stretch · 31 Jul 2008 at 12:57

Morba said:
the thing is, other people are doing the same, so at some point people will start buying before prices bottom out because they know if they dont buy the property they want now, it will be gone soon to someone else.

if you can safely afford to buy now and are aiming to be in the property for a long time then don't worry about the current drops.

I admit there are other people doing the same, but I'm still prepared to wait. I think prices will continue falling at the same rate for some time yet. I'm keeping a close eye on the market and think I'm better prepared than most when the time’s right to buy.

cheets64 · 31 Jul 2008 at 12:59

Too many people think about a house as an investment first and home second and that is why we are in this mess.

Dolph · 31 Jul 2008 at 13:22

Stretch said:
There are many still wanting to buy (me included), but not in a falling market. I have significant saving so dose my partner and we could probably get a mortgage tomorrow if we so wished. But you’d be daft to buy now when you know a similar property will be cheaper next month. I know in the long term prices will rise but I'd prefer to buy when the market bottoms out rather than while it’s still falling.

But that demand is what means that at the first sign of good availability, the market will pick up again. The market could, if banks started lending again (which requires people to be purchasing the mortgage packages), pick up very quickly, or bottom out very quickly. There is no necessary indication of continued long drops if the market changes.

The factors you mention (credit crunch, inflation etc) may have triggered the falls we're seeing now, but this crash has now picked up a momentum of it's own, and will not be solved quickly by a drop in interest rates, loosening of lending criteria or any other silver bullet. The affordability of houses needs to become more realistic before prices rise again and average prices are still way in excess of average earnings.

Houses are affordable, they were before, as evidenced by the fact that demand was still there. Demand only dropped when mortgage availability dropped, which was caused by lending patterns in the US, not the UK. Bring that back, and prices will rise again. The UK mortgage market, unlike the US market, is not plagued by bad borrowing or by ease of defaults (A US homeowner can simply walk away and is not persuable for the difference between house value and mortgage value, leaving the bank holding the damage with no prospect of recompense, a UK buyer is not able to do the same (source)) and it's the US market that has driven the credit crunch, not problems in the UK market. Because the problem is not fundamental to our market, it's easier to manage.

Whether the latest idea to insulate us from their mess (see here) is enough to protect our market is up for debate, but the idea that it's unresovable is unlikely to be true, there's a lot more freedom now than there was in the early 90's to take steps to protect the market (no ERM for a start that was the only reason for sky high interest rates).