And boomers wonder why millennials are bitter towards them..

[touch]

I suppose even dodgy Russian mafia types using London housing stock to launder their money is "demand"? (This is a real thing).

Yes. Of course.

The "demand" means the number of people wanting to purchase the property. It doesn't matter who they are or what their intentions are.

 

[Narj]

Yes. Of course.

The "demand" means the number of people wanting to purchase the property. It doesn't matter who they are or what their intentions are.

Unfortunately the ridiculous sums paid seem to have a "ripple effect" on the rest of the market too, so it's still not good for anyone else in the lower tiers of the market.

 

[FoxEye]

Yes. Of course.

The "demand" means the number of people wanting to purchase the property. It doesn't matter who they are or what their intentions are.

Well other countries seem to have taken steps to limit demand by disallowing foreign ownership of residential property. Not sure why we can't do the same.

There are a raft of measures that UK gov could make to help people who just want to own a single property and live in it.

Sadly they don't. They see other forms of demand - such as BTL or foreign ownership - as equally valid as a person buying a house to live in it.

 

[Fusion]

The biggest driver of prices is ultra low interest rates. As has been said, a significant proportion of “demand” is from speculators and investors. Tax and regulation changes would help here. Even increasing supply may not help, as stock can still be snapped up by investors and people over-leveraging.

 

[FoxEye]

The biggest driver of prices is ultra low interest rates. As has been said, a significant proportion of “demand” is from speculators and investors. Tax and regulation changes would help here. Even increasing supply may not help, as stock can still be snapped up by investors and people over-leveraging.

And what some don't seem to grasp (or care about), is that housing is different from some consumer product. Unlike a car or an oil painting, we are all literally forced to live in a house (realistically - I know somebody will start talking about house boats or something daft).

Also unlike consumer goods, housing is limited by land space. There is a built in monopoly of sorts. It can't be treated like any other type of goods, where you might say, "It's fine for the rich to own 5 cars and the poor 1 (or none). Live according to your means!" Well, that just doesn't work for housing. You *must* have somewhere to live.

 

[roy_g_biv]

I think one of the posters above hit the nail on the head where they said those in power/with money are the ones with a lot of skin in the game. Turkeys won't vote for Christmas.

It's infuriating - I really don't think it's good having the value of property constantly going up in such a ridiculous fashion. Mainly because it means percentage wise, if you want to "upgrade" then the gap between what you have now and what you want to move to just gets bigger and less affordable. I really don't know how my nephews and nieces will ever afford their own homes.

It's easy for people to say, "live in a house share" or "buy with a friend" but some people need their own space and living with someone else is their definition of hell. I've been lucky to have 2 decent lodgers who were no trouble at all but given the choice I like to live alone.

I wonder if it'd even be possible to raise interest rates to dampen that growth at this point. So many people are so leveraged, it'd ruin a chunk of the UK population

 

[BongoHunter]

I wonder if it'd even be possible to raise interest rates to dampen that growth at this point. So many people are so leveraged, it'd ruin a chunk of the UK population

A return to 5%+ interest rates would see many forced to sell I would think.

 

[stockhausen]

A return to 5%+ interest rates would see many forced to sell I would think.

Whilst that might be the case, would people being "forced to sell" result in a collapse of the housing market, allowing those who do not currently own their own home to buy at the reduced price albeit with a more expensive mortgage?

I suspect not

 

[Pipe & Slippers]

A return to 5%+ interest rates would see many forced to sell I would think.

Along with millions of personal bankruptcies

 

[BongoHunter]

Whilst that might be the case, would people being "forced to sell" result in a collapse of the housing market, allowing those who do not currently own their own home to buy at the reduced price albeit with a more expensive mortgage?

I suspect not

I don't thing 5% would be enough to collapse the market, but it would bring down pricing a little I would think - I'm sure more people would be looking to turn to interest only mortgages as well.

Increasing wages at this point is more sane than pulling the rug out on homeowners anyway - a market collapse would go a very long way to wrecking the economy completely (or at least UK banks) - far to much of UK wealth is tied to property values and mortgages for it to go well....

 

[Sankari]

 

[Scam]

(stupid pic here)

That meme is total nonsense. Rising property prices do not make a good economy..

I'll just leave this here, I think some people need to take it on board;
Inheritance, not work, has become the main route to middle-class home ownership

At a time when many ordinary homes appreciate by more each year than what the average employee can expect to earn, employment by itself is less and less able to serve as a route to middle-class status. In that sense, we are seeing a return to the days when wage-labour was a condition of social marginality, condemning people to a life of day-to-day survival and excluding them from building up a stake in society.

The millennial generation is the first to experience this reality with full force.

 

[stockhausen]

. . . I'll just leave this here, I think some people need to take it on board;
Inheritance, not work, has become the main route to middle-class home ownership

Thanks for the link - to be honest, I am not sure how exactly it supports your assertion that "People born after 1981 should feel bitter towards people born before 1981"

The problem appears to be substantially due to the supply of reasonably priced housing failing to match the demand for reasonably priced housing.

I would suggest that a significant part of this problem can be attributed to the right to buy Council houses at a huge discount and Councils being "discouraged" from providing social housing.

I will leave it up to you to work out who people born after Margaret Thatcher was elected should consider to be responsible for their plight

 

[roy_g_biv]

I'll just leave this here, I think some people need to take it on board;
Inheritance, not work, has become the main route to middle-class home ownership

If nothing is done about that it'll really snowball eh. A minority inheriting 3-4 houses in 20 years, after already getting deposit help when younger
I wouldn't hold my breath on any action

 

[Fusion]

I wouldn't be so sure that government will strive to keep interest rates rock bottom at all times in the future. The Thatcher government made it their upmost mission to bring inflation down, particularly in the first term (79-83). Interest rates were jacked up to try and squeeze inflation out of the system. Business casualties were seen as acceptable- as was a massive rise in unemployment. Times were different then for sure, but can we guarantee that inflation won't runaway again in future?

 

[Maple Leaf]

Perhaps I should have transformed myself into bricks and mortar and sat there doing **** all for 14 years, I would have earned more!

Well, now you know the importance of your home in the UK as a tax free long-term investment. So wait until after the next house price crash (not long now what with Covid and Brexit) and then borrow as much as you can and set up an illegal House of Multiple Occupation (if you need to) so that you can buy a good house in a desirable area and then you can be filthy rich when you get old, just like me!

 

[roy_g_biv]

Well, now you know the importance of your home in the UK as a tax free long-term investment. So wait until after the next house price crash (not long now what with Covid and Brexit) and then borrow as much as you can and set up an illegal House of Multiple Occupation (if you need to) so that you can buy a good house in a desirable area and then you can be filthy rich when you get old, just like me!

Some are saying covid will actually inflate house prices due to severely constrained supply

'Wait for a crash' is just another way of saying 'time the market', which sounds good in practice but rarely works. If you were being serious that is

 

[Ayahuasca]

We moved in two years ago and based off two other houses that have recently sold in the street, that were in older condition than ours was, we would be £20k up if we sold right now.

 

[touch]

Misread posts

 

[stockhausen]

Some are saying covid will actually inflate house prices due to severely constrained supply. . . .

I think that you are right there.

I know of two "professional" couples who are renting one-bedroom flats and are of necessity now spending a lot of time working from a cramped home.

In both cases they are on the market to buy larger properties. A significant factor is that they can now live further from their offices and are looking in lower priced, more congenial areas with fast broadband availability.