to tell my friend I think she's making a huge mistake buying an ex council studio flat for 200k on the outskirts of London at 35 when she doesn't earn much

[entiledornot]

My friend is an estate agent in London. She's currently living in shared houses but wants to buy something. She's had her offer accepted for 200k on a small ex council studio. She has only ever seen house prices rise in her few years as an ea so she thinks this flat will be her way to a millionaire rather than somewhere to live. She only earns 20k and is making virtually no commission as the housing market is dead. Shes looking at it as an investment not a home and can only afford it as parents have given her 60k. If interest rates rise even a bit she will be screwed and she will be paying back for this tiny studio until she is in her mid 60s.it isn't in a great area, zone 3 20 min walk from any tube. Prices are already in a bubble and this could pop at anytime.

Should I just stay quiet or tell her my concerns?

The price is irrelevant once you've bought it as it's a home not something you sell. Most of us aim to die in our own home, I have never fixated on house prices or thought of the equity in a place as in any sense cash (unless you fall on hard times and need to sell up and live in a caravan). Instead getting stability, ownership, certainty and the like tends to be the important bit about ownership.

As someone else said Jilly, once you own a house the prices become irrelevant and your house is just a 'housing voucher' that can be used as part payment to the next one.

I've just been reading some of the threads on HPC. What a tedious bunch. How can a whole forum exist on just talking on about house prices? Some include graphs and charts.
Do men people like this take the piss out of mn because they can't cope with the idea that women are having more fun.

People interests vary. I have been on a school mother's night out (I kid you not) when they were talking about brands of sun cream when I'd rather talk about say tax law. Each to their own.

I'm sure she knows the market, unless she is a very bad estate agent.
If London prices are dropping now maybe it is a good time to buy, before they rise up again.
If she is buying a less than perfectly decorated flat she can still make some money upgrading it, and in any case she will be saving on renting.
I'd say always buy, if you can get a mortgage rather than rent in that respect. It will be her own space and it will end up being an asset, that she can trade up or rent out later.

I bought my first flat as a couple later than we should because it looked like prices were going so high in London that they would burst soon. They didn't.

Then we traded our flat for a house, when it seemed like prices really had peaked. The market did dip a bit for a couple of years, only to go up again.

If she wants to treat a house like the stock market, then perhaps she shouldn't buy this.
If she is thinking long term, then maybe she should buy it. Worst case, it will be hers and rent free when she retires.

Wandsworth has definitely been falling in the last few months.

landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/hpi/view?from_m=1&from_y=2000&loc_0=Wandsworth&loc_uri_0=http%3A%2F%2Flandregistry.data.gov.uk%2Fid%2Fregion%2Fwandsworth&m_hpi=1&source=preview_form&to_m=1&to_y=2015

Depends if it will keep falling or not though.

If you will own somethi9ng over say 40 years like most of us I don't think there has been a period of 40 years in the last 200 where house prices end up after inflation worth less than had you not bough. yes we have crashes and slumps but they never have gone to less in real terms over a several decades than what people paid. It usually ends up being a bit silly to wait in the hope of a price crash. My brother sold in London and in my view waited too long to buy elsewhere again as he was sure there was going to be some massive property crash which did not then happen. Waiting for a crash is always pretty risky. best to get on with as young as you can and nowadays buy before you breed as lenders are so strict since the rules changed last year over assessing your childcare costs or loss of a wage.