To be pissed off that house value is all that seems to matter in uk?

[3asAbird]

Met friend this morning.

They were renting

but managed to buy a house within last 8 weeks.

They due to move into new house soon putting in new kitchen/bathroom before they move in think the whole things been more stressful/time consuming than they thought, they had some equity from another house her husband inherited but never lived in was really pleased for them as they were paying crazy rent but was nice area big house.

Today she said they might sell as house prices in our area have shot up-seems nuts where heck would they live? Unless theres more to it then shes let on.

Then this afternoon popped into shop and faced by express headline.

Ps dont read express just hit me

houses increased by 7k in 4weeks

www.express.co.uk/news/property/436981/British-house-prices-rise-to-record-high-as-inflation-remains-steady

Just dont see why house prices are only measure of a good economy.

Given up on buying ourselves as house prices never crashed.

combined low interest rates, help to buy can see another boom happening.

just seems sad a house can no longer be seen as a home always an investment.

I would love to have more security but priced out buying, high rents and no chance social housing makes it harder every year.

Funniest (well it would have been sad had I liked the woman) was a colleague being all smug about how house prices had increased so now she'd be able to sell her starter hutch (in which she had eff all equity) and buy a larger house

We wont bother buying again now. Its a British thing owning your own home and alot of Europeans never bother to buy. What is laughable is the prices for size of houses. Smallest homes is Europe in Britain.

I refuse to buy a home now when I see poor sods who have gone without many luxuries all their lives as a slave to their mortgage only to have to sell it all up to get old age care where the people down the street who were not slaves to a mortage get the same care for free.

Owning is seriously overrated. Any money that you save on rent you spend on having to maintain the building, which is a huge expense over the years, and if you're unlucky enough to need residential care in your old age it's sold out from under you anyway.

I know renting has its downsides, but it has some very attractive benefits too.

I think this whole sorry house price business will end in tears. Because wages aren't rising so people and people are being encouraged to take on large loans. It's probably a good market in some areas for first time buyers who are looking at the lower end of the market for a starter home. But for everyone else I don't see any positives.

I don't think the general public will support a massive increase in social housing until the majority know they have a chance of being able to access it.

Social housing is reserved for the lucky few nowadays, and the idea of it being available to everyone is long gone. I know I don't want to have to pay higher taxes to provide subsidised homes for other people when I can barely afford to maintain my own to a decent standard.

We've benefited from the increase - our maisonette has gone up in value to 35k more than we paid for it 3 years ago, apparently. The only advantage is we've been able to secure extra borrowing to do some long-overdue work to it.

It's a big steaming pile of shit, though. Vast majority of our friends and family of our generation are being/have been priced out or given up ever owning.

Yes, we're in London. But not because it's trendy or any crap like that. We're here because it's our home (both born half a mile away) & our families and whole lives are here.

It does not matter what you own now and how much its increased unless you intend to downsize you will either never see the balue or need to borrow more than you would have pre boom to get onto the next rung of the ladder.

The only people to benefit are the mortgage lenders really. All that money they need to lend and get back with interest. The rest of us are fucked - unless of course you time it justt right and sell up and do your round the world cruise or whatever just before you need full time care in your old age.

people who've invested in property other than their own homes can benefit because they are in a position to liquidize their assets when prices go up.
Other than that (as per Vinegar's post) only those who are moving to a smaller property or cheaper area will be able to use the profits from a rise in property prices

*that should read as per Headfuck's post!

I think the increased population is what has caused the problem. Too many people living in separated families (me included) too many immigrants (my family included) and too many people having too many children.

Has this problem (which I think is true) ever been mentioned by a politician? They always seem to keep very very quiet about it!

One of the best articles on housing I have ever read was about how the problems of housing are generally misrepresented by groups pushing their own interests and agendas.
It said that on a whole over the UK there wasn't a shortage of housing stock compared with households.
The problem mainly lies with distribution and secondly with people being more fussy about what they will consider living in.
Distribution of housing stock (shortages in SE, empty houses in other areas) requires addressing but the best way of dealing with this (& the linked shortage or resources/infrastructure) would be to sort out the distribution of jobs from the concentration in the SE. This is ultimately a complex problem and one politicians don't want to address as it takes long term strategic planning (which doesn't get a quick election win) it's easier to promote a system of shortage / economic bubble which can promote short term wins (without addressing wider issues) as this is easier and gives the illusion of a solution for example 'Help to Buy' which is essentially a flawed short term solution but can be sold to voters as it helps alleviate peoples immediate problem.
One of the other problems is that we are simply pickier than we used to be. In some areas of the country there are large numbers of empty homes within miles of new development. The justification for new development is that there is a need but this is't always the case.
A better solution would be would be to make renovation more attractive by reducing the VAT on renovation / refurbishment. This would help with upgrading existing stock to new requirements.
The problem is complex and building new houses is only part of the solution unfortunately currently it's the only one getting focus.

There is very little affordable housing here. There is a lot of new builds popping up and an industrial estate is presently being cleared for new housing. However the signs that have just gone up are for 3/4/5 detached houses. This is ridiculous, the lowest priced house is around £200k mark, even for a 2 bed maisonette in the less desirable parts.

I rent and pay less rent than I would on having a mortgage/endowment/insurance on same size property. yes the actual mortgage would be less than my rent but by the time the insurance added its a bit more.

At the moment moving to a cheaper area is not feasible, I work and the children are settled in schools/college, if I moved to an area I could afford, I would not be a commutable distance to my work, and I doubt I could secure a job that is as flexible with my family needs on the same salary, therefore id still be renting and probably unemployed until I found work. Also upheaval for the children, so whilst presently I can just about stretch my salary to cover my own rent and bills plus clothing and food, I will stay put. I don't receive any form of benefit so it is highly unlikely I could access social housing and even when I was on a significantly lower salary and had some of my rent paid by hb I was told that it was really not worth me even going on the housing list as I would never be eligible. I was on the verge of homelsessness and still the la said that they would provide temp accommodation but I would be expected to find private housing and I would not be eligible for priority status for social housing list!

Something does need to happen in this country with regards to housing, however I do not know what the answer is. I do totally agree with a pp about peoples attitudes today and seemingly people wanting the 4 bedroom house and moaning that they cant afford one when a 2bed terrace would be adequate and a perfectly nice home for their needs.

Wonky thanks for your very interesting post!

Do you know where I could find the article that you mentioned?

Personally I would recommend to anybody to rent and not own - it's been a major error for us. Bought our first house 5 years ago knowing it needed a lot of work but living amongst a building site has become very tough once DD came along and saving up the money to renovate is almost impossible when utility/food/childcare bills are through the roof and wages are stagnant (and we've been lucky to have kept our jobs at all). We had to move away from the South East in order to afford a home.

Add that to the fact that we have hellish neighbours who have been giving us problems since day one. Police not interested, neither are the council - if you complain/keep noise diaries etc you have to declare it when you move which puts buyers off and nothing gets done anyway. If we'd have been renting we would have moved out after 6 months. When renting you may be at the whims of others but you're not tied down to a place that bleeds your wallet dry and affects your mental health.

Most of the first time buyers I know have to wait until they're slightly older to get the cash together, and want bigger houses so they don't have to have to stress of moving to a larger property within a few years. They want somewhere with extra bedrooms so they don't have the stress of selling when they start families etc.

The days of hopping up the property chain (certainly for my generation of late 20's-early 30's) seem long gone now.