House Pricess

Atomic

Atomic

Atomic

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Joined
27 Jan 2005
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830
What's everyone's thoughts on house prices in the UK?

Good thing that they're high or bad thing?

Obviously for people selling it's good, but IMO for people who are first time buyers it's so hard to find that firght property for the right price. I understand the argument of higher prices mean a good economy, but I never buy into that -- I find under Labour government that the cost of living has gone up astronomically and it wont be long till the average house is half a million quid - add to that the high taxes this country suffers from and cost of living is so expensive.
I also find it very repulsive of labour and Blair to slam the Torrie for high rates since back then it's cheaper to buy a house than it is now and that's a good thing IMO.

I can't wait till election day.

Welcome Mr.Cameron - You are not perfect, but you are the lesser of the evils that are out there.
 
Methinks it has nothing to do with the gov't. Houses have always been "It's a buyer's market" or "a seller's market". It's totally about the location. People that live in a certain community and want to move up as their income increase will look for a new, untarnished community. Therefore it's a buyer's market in the community they're leaving, and a seller's market in the community they're going to.

Add to that the fact that people who have 7 years invested in a mortgage will have so much equity in their home they can afford to move up quite a bit, leaving the lesser homes for the lesser buyers.
 
High house prices are due to limited housing stock coupled with more people living alone than in years gone by. This causes pressure on housing and prices go up, if people weren't willing to pay prices would go down.

If interest rates shoot up like they did under the last Tory government house prices will drop because people can't afford their mortgage repayments and their homes get repossessed - is that what you want?
 
problem is we are something like 300k houses short in the UK. So simple supply and demand mean houses prices will be high and will remain high until that deficit is reduced.
 
house prices are obscene :(

there is no way that i can get "on the ladder" with houses at the current price level, even if i choose to buy a house in st ann's (one of the worst areas in nottingham you've probably seen it on the news) i'll still be looking at 70k +. if i want to live in a suburb im looking at 120k plus, more like 200k for one of a decent size.

the governement need to tax those people who have more than 1 house and those who buy to let. imho, these are some of the worst culprits especially in student areas.

nin9a
 
They've slowed down a lot in recent months (even past year tbh) and in fact locally to me a drop has been noticed.

Realistically, property has performed better than any stock over the last 20 years and it will always return a sound investment.

Labour implemented a month on month sucessive base rate drop a few years back and this had a huge effect on the housing market, new buyers, remortgages, etc, etc. Its slowly popped back up meaning the cost of borrowing is levelling out against still high(ish) house prices.

Just for comparison, exactly 10 years ago my rents paid £120k for a large 3 bed detached house with garage. Its now worth a staggering £425k, Thats a 350% increase in resale value in 10 years! Great for them, carp for me!

Other things that annoy me are thus:

My father always moans about me never being able to afford a house. Fair enough, but you have to remember that when decimalisation occured, my fathers salary went up twenty fold in a small amount of time, yet his mortgage amount remained the same.......................dammit!
 
Atomic said:
What's everyone's thoughts on house prices in the UK?

Good thing that they're high or bad thing?

Obviously for people selling it's good, but IMO for people who are first time buyers it's so hard to find that firght property for the right price. I understand the argument of higher prices mean a good economy, but I never buy into that -- I find under Labour government that the cost of living has gone up astronomically and it wont be long till the average house is half a million quid - add to that the high taxes this country suffers from and cost of living is so expensive.
I also find it very repulsive of labour and Blair to slam the Torrie for high rates since back then it's cheaper to buy a house than it is now and that's a good thing IMO.

I can't wait till election day.

Welcome Mr.Cameron - You are not perfect, but you are the lesser of the evils that are out there.
Click to expand...
Are we talking house prices as a relative measure, or absolute? In real or in nominal terms?

How do high prices mean a good economy? When is the average house price going to be £0.5m? Is that regionally or nationally?

What is the current cost of living? What is it measure against? How is it calculated? The same goes for taxes - what is our current tax burden? How is it calcluated? Does it include tax on goods and services, or just on earnings. Does it include local taxes?

What high rates is anybody being slammed for? Inflation? Interest rates? Unemplyment? Money supply? Child pregnancies?

<baited breath>
 
Raist said:
Methinks it has nothing to do with the gov't. Houses have always been "It's a buyer's market" or "a seller's market". It's totally about the location. People that live in a certain community and want to move up as their income increase will look for a new, untarnished community. Therefore it's a buyer's market in the community they're leaving, and a seller's market in the community they're going to.

Add to that the fact that people who have 7 years invested in a mortgage will have so much equity in their home they can afford to move up quite a bit, leaving the lesser homes for the lesser buyers.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The government doesnt set house prices any more than they set any other commodity price.

As for David 'No policies' Cameron, its hard to say whether he'd be any different, as he hasnt actually set out any policies yet, while playing the 'Nice, but dim' card to perfection.
 
Oracle said:
Labour implemented a month on month sucessive base rate drop a few years back and this had a huge effect on the housing market, new buyers, remortgages, etc, etc. Its slowly popped back up meaning the cost of borrowing is levelling out against still high(ish) house prices.
Click to expand...

The government (labour) didn't do anything with interest rates, the bank of england did.
 
Visage said:
Exactly. The government doesnt set house prices any more than they set any other commodity price.

As for David 'No policies' Cameron, its hard to say whether he'd be any different, as he hasnt actually set out any policies yet, while playing the 'Nice, but dim' card to perfection.
Click to expand...

Not directly no, but they do implement base rate changes which are linked massively to peoples ability to pay a mortgage.....so in theory, yes, they do control a stake of housing value

Interesting side note, something I learnt as an IFA. The Queen (bless her soul) could take your house off you and throw you out on the street at any time without having to pay you a penny! Nice bird! :o
 
nin9abadga said:
house prices are obscene :(

there is no way that i can get "on the ladder" with houses at the current price level, even if i choose to buy a house in st ann's (one of the worst areas in nottingham you've probably seen it on the news) i'll still be looking at 70k +. if i want to live in a suburb im looking at 120k plus, more like 200k for one of a decent size.

the governement need to tax those people who have more than 1 house and those who buy to let. imho, these are some of the worst culprits especially in student areas.

nin9a
Click to expand...

There's no doubt that a tax on BTL would lead to more houses on the market, but that in turn would lead to the entire market crashing.

BTL owners sell up = prices drop
prices drop = more owners cashing in on their gains of the last 5 years = more dropping.

All those people who lose money will most likely vote for opposition parties = the government losing power.

In other words, a tax on BTL wont happen.
 
since when has it ever been easy to buy a house?

my parents had to save for ages to meet the deposit requirements back in the late 70's early 80's ... same with my grandparents.. jeez the stories i get from my grandfather about him trying to buy what was then a £2000 house ...
 
Visage said:
There's no doubt that a tax on BTL would lead to more houses on the market, but that in turn would lead to the entire market crashing.

BTL owners sell up = prices drop
prices drop = more owners cashing in on their gains of the last 5 years = more dropping.

All those people who lose money will most likely vote for opposition parties = the government losing power.

In other words, a tax on BTL wont happen.
Click to expand...

Whilst true to an extent, I don't think it's quite as clear cut as that. A lot of people see these property programmes on television and think BTL is a good way to make a quick buck. A tax on BTL on houses sold after xxx date (say, a year's time) might be a better way of doing things.
 
Visage said:
Exactly. The government doesnt set house prices any more than they set any other commodity price.
Click to expand...

They set new build targets though which in some places are way too small.
one borough near me had a total ban on new homes for half a year as they had reached there " quota ", they would only allow low cost homes to be built and no one wants to build those.
 
nin9abadga said:
the governement need to tax those people who have more than 1 house and those who buy to let. imho, these are some of the worst culprits especially in student areas.
Click to expand...
If these folk are taxed, and it becomes more expensive for them to service the mortgage on their rental properties, it would be the renters that foot the bill.
 
the govt is also responsible for what is considered greenbelt land ... a lot of land you simply arent allowed to build on...
 
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