This is some pretty insane price changes in the context of the overall market. Has it become significantly less desirable - bus depot built next door or something?
Who doesn't own a property?
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Oh completely agree with you that the movement is quite different to the majority of the market, actually surprised me a little looking into it this afternoon. I always put it down to the fact it's a leasehold flat (had almost 1k years on it when I owned it mind so practically freehold albeit with a service charge etc) and people don't like leaseholds - I'll certainly never own another admittedly.
Nothing wrong with it though, in the middle of lots of housing so no prospect of anything material changing around it really.
Nicer flat around the corner from it is £145k sold recently
The governments attitude towards building enough new homes doesn't help matters either though. I think Dispatches on Ch4 made a documentary a few years back on how new build developers sit on banks of land and don't commence building until the time is right so they can manipulate the prices.
If you work from home I suppose the question is why continue to live in London?
I appreciate it's where you've lived all your life, but it seems as though you have the ability to move away, if your standard of living improves as a result I would take it.
Soldato
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Well this is the realisation I had to go through - although it's not just that I've lived here all my life, my family are here. Plus the majority of people and connections I have.
But yes, I clicked about 3 or 4 years ago that leaving London was the only chance for improvement (aside from maybe 15 years of saving while massively limiting my happiness). Girlfriend didn't see it this way until 9 months ago when she had a shakeup with family who we were supposed to move in with. I understand - she doesn't drive, plus she's not as capable of getting out and making a journey back into London due to health and mental health reasons. Whereas for me being 50 miles away is inconvenient but not a death sentence.
So ultimately we will be improving our quality of life largely by the fact we spend most of our time indoors anyway. But the risks are real - isolation, lifestyle changes etc. I'm just at the point where something has to change so we're taking the plunge.
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I'm 28 and currently living with my parents. Work 3 job's 7 days a week and currently saving around £1.3k, sadly living in Oxfordshire most two beds near my work start at £250k+ 
Was going to buy this year but currently debating if I should buy now on a fixed or wait for the house prices to drop.
Was going to buy this year but currently debating if I should buy now on a fixed or wait for the house prices to drop.
The single biggest issue in the housing market is when the lenders decoupled income from maximum mortgage. In the late 90s it was capped at 3.5x single income, 2.5x joint income. The enforced a tie between house prices and salary. Sadly that was done away with and since then house prices have rocketed. They need to bring this back in, but they cant due to the massive negative equity it would put lots of people in. Government schemes to prop up an artificially inflated market do far more harm than good.
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Eh? Maximum mortgage and income are very much tied together, it's just 4.5x or 4.75x
Soldato
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Not financial advice but ... in my opinion, with the way the system works currently, you won't see any significant drop in house prices. In general house prices continually move up over time, and this reflects the continued money printing from thin air that the privately held central bank, The Bank of England, is able to do. This money printing is the inflation of the money supply, and this then gets reflected by the banks favoured asset to lend against, i.e. a house. The property market is not like a "normal" supply and demand market, because the demand side is actually an absolute essential, i.e. you have to pay for somewhere to live. Hence no significant house price falls over time. An unlimited supply FIAT currency such as Sterling has to be continually inflated to keep going, until you reach hyperinflation and a crack up boom, and at that stage there is a reset and it's replaced by something else.
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That must have been introduced since the last time I looked - all the banks / building societys had moved to an affordability assessment as opposed to a pure salary multiplier.
Soldato
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Affordability is still a big factor but there is still, ultimately, a cap on maximum lend. Meaning you can be offered less than 4.75x but not more due to affordability.
You'll be waiting forever. Look at how much money the government threw away with the stamp duty holiday last year. It was billions in lost tax revenue that could have gone to the NHS, small business forced to shutter because of COVID etc. But not they felt they needed to 'support' the housing market
Literally all they care about is propping up the housing market so that they can stay rich as landlords, so their mates can stay rich as landlords, and ordinary plebs that don't know better can feel rich because their house is worth more and more every year. Labour is just as bad, just look at the Blair family and their property empire. This country subsists on the housing market, it's front page news when there's a minor drop or rise, it's absolutely pathetic.In short, if you can afford to buy now and not be struggling every month to pay the mortgage, do it. Even if there's some sort of house price crash you'll be able to ride it out for a few years and the cycle will return to 'normal'. It's not like the 'big crash' of 2008 really affected anyone did it? Really? We were back the next year with massive rises... /rant
Based on 4.75x there aren't a lot of people I know (guessing at their salary in most cases but still) who could afford the house they are currently living in... and a fair few who'd slide off the end of the scale...
Never wait for "the crash" or even "a crash". "THE" big crash will never happen in our lifetimes. "A" crash never really has happened. In the 2008 financial crisis they fell back for a few years, but soon recovered. The only way is up. Baby.
Back in early 2020 just as COVID was growing we had the only chance in my lifetime we really had of getting on the ladder for the house requirement we had. I said to my Mrs that it was typical that as we finally come to buy our first house, we could be on the brink of a financial crisis with COVID and "The big crash". She told me if we didn't go now we never would.... I had my reservations but just remembered back to one simple piece of advice I once heard which takes all complications out of it.... as soon as you can, buy. Since we bought our house has apparently risen in value by between 5-10% already.
Back in early 2020 just as COVID was growing we had the only chance in my lifetime we really had of getting on the ladder for the house requirement we had. I said to my Mrs that it was typical that as we finally come to buy our first house, we could be on the brink of a financial crisis with COVID and "The big crash". She told me if we didn't go now we never would.... I had my reservations but just remembered back to one simple piece of advice I once heard which takes all complications out of it.... as soon as you can, buy. Since we bought our house has apparently risen in value by between 5-10% already.
Soldato
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Could you like, start a thread for this?
And go there to post.
It's on topic.
It's only the mortgage capped at 4.75x, not the house price. They may have had substantial deposits.
Sure for some - but that was taking into account the kind of deposit people would realistically be able to save for.
For instance a couple on somewhere around 30K each living in a house, which sold for £202K when they bought it, currently valued around half a million.
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