to think thank god the London property bubble is looking like bursting

[lexiepix]

www.property-time.co.uk/news/Featured-News-227/articles/Latest-Index-Shows-London-Housing-Bubble-Has-Burst-111171.aspx

Its been long overdue and the lr figures for the last few months show that pretty much all of inner London is falling. I know some will have pain from this, but its been waiting to happen for ages and the longer it inflates the worse the pop will be.

For what it's worth I don't live in London, but I think when they do pop the whole country will be better off. When I was working in London most of my older workmates were on about the UK average pay (22-30), but living in property worth between 500-800k, and calling a 300k one bed flat "cheap"

I find it odd when people are pleased at the prospect of misery for others.

Noddy forgive me if I'm wrong but aren't you a property developer?

Presumably that's one of the reasons you'd like house prices to be lower.

It will bring normality and hope and tbh if its a home in the long term the number who will experience 'misery' is nothing compared to those who are so priced out. It has to become easier to just live in the UK or all out intelligent young people will go elsewhere. The average wage where I live is 23k and the average very basic house near an ok school is about 375 and rent is about 1600 for a family house. Not sustainable in any way. Osborne once said that a crash was no longer a guaranteed vote loser as it had been previously as there are more people who would benefit from a reversal than a boom. A reasonable fall plus stagnation for a few years would restore sanity

Makes no odds to me I make money on the design and never have owned more than one house at a time and never would.

SE London ...

Woolwich, Plumstead, Charlton have changed out of all imagination since the 80s ... with Penthouse apartments overlooking the River ( where the halls of residence used to be ). Like Brixton in the 90s ....

I find it odd when people are pleased at the prospect of misery for others.

I have a cosy little fantasy where it's only the wealthy buy-to-leavers who are affected. The value of their apartments in all those horrible shiny new ugly blocks by the river plummets, and they all make huge losses. The only way they can recoup a part of their initial investment is to sell their flats to the local councils, for use as social housing. Some of them are so badly affected they have to let the superyacht go.

That prospect pleases me greatly .

Zone 1

The bubble bursting would be a disaster.

If that happens, the market just stops, which means no work for estate agents or conveyancers (sob?) or removal men, or double glazing companies, electricians, carpet fitters , decorators, furniture retailers, kitchen and bathroom companies, landscape gardeners....all the things that people do within a year or two of moving into a new home.

It's Ok (is it?) to laugh at the downfall of the wealthy whose homes aren't worth what they were, but the real impact is on ordinary working people.

Oh and then of course the carpet fitters and decorators stop buying take-aways, new clothes, cars, holidays.......

Remind are you another poster notorious on these pages under another name?

Bubbles burst some are winners some are losers. Anyone that didn't overstretch themselves will be OK, life goes on. Its not one sided.

I don't think I've ever been notorious anywhere in my life. What have I done?

An adjustment would be welcome and overdue but that's not going to help "ordinary" people buy houses that would once have been considered ordinary.

A big crash is bad news for everyone.

THERE IS NO LONDON HOUSE PRICE BUBBLE
I have that in writing from a nice man at DCLG.
He assures me that the market is just fine
that the housebuilders are NOT choking supply
and that rates on high value homes do not need to go up

then again half of DCLG seems to be staffed with people on secondment from housebuilders

As far as the houses themselves are concerned that's true lexie, but what about the knock on effect for the whole economy?

A family living in their £500k house is now worth £400k. As long as they stay in work they can still afford the payments and their life isn't much changed, apart from the fact that baby no3 is due and they had been thinking of moving. They can't now though because they have some negative equity. Never mind, they'll have to manage where they are. But, if they'd moved they'd have bought new carpets, redecorated, maybe had the bathroom done.....

I disagree a big crash is bad news in the short term, but in the long term most people would benefit. We have q zombie economy in the uk ATM.

What short memories (or no memory) people have of the 70s and 80s.

Crashes and booms are both bad for planning, investment, confidence, stability and sensible actions. Booms generate overspending and over borrowing. Crashes don't need explanation.

Such volatility only benefits speculators, not businesses, workers and people.

If the property market stalls (i.e. fewer transactions) more people will choose to extend or renovate rather than upscale. At least I recall that being reported during the most recent slump.

It is also worth remembering that some parts of the UK are showing and have shown little to no house price inflation. Properties there remain relatively affordable.

The awful thing about a property crash is that it is people already in a difficult situations who are affected: the bereaved, the newly divorced, those living in overcrowded surrounding, people whose financial situation has changed for whatever reason (illness, job loss), those who need to sell care homes.

Shame on you for wishing more misery on these people.

*What short memories (or no memory) people have of the 70s and 80s.

Crashes and booms are both bad for planning, investment, confidence, stability and sensible actions. Booms generate overspending and over borrowing. Crashes don't need explanation.

Such volatility only benefits speculators, not businesses, workers and people.*

Great post!

I think the post of the thread goes to MN164

Nailed it.

We need a decade or two when prices do not increase, and wages catch up to make property worth, relative to wages, what it was worth 20-30 years ago.

Let's hope so, especially just before general election, Cameron, Osbourne et al watch out!

To those saying wishing for a house price crash is wishing misery on others- I do agree, but equally house prices far outstripping earnings causes a lot of misery too.

I grew up in an area of the country which is very popular with second home owners. No-one who grew up there with me still lives in the area, as wages are low and house prices are very high, and there is not a lot of investment. They have all had to move away and have no prospect of returning. Don't you think that's a bit miserable for them? Equally, it is storing up long term problems, as who will look after the elderly people who will live in these areas in say 20 years? They've lost their sense of community and support networks, which can make things very hard for them.

Equally, there are a lot of families who rent, who would love to buy- they know that the landlord can ask them to leave in 2 months time at any time, and they may have to pay agent fees, and move to less than suitable accommodation if it's all they can find. Again, for these people bereavement, job loss etc, could all be a disaster.

That said, I don't think a fast crash would be good, but a bit of stagnation and a bit of deflation of property values with wages rising would surely be good for the majority of the population?

Aghast at people who think a property crash in the financial centre of our country would be a good thing . Poor understanding of economics.

Come on, surely everyone must realise it is not sustainable. Get your fucking head out the clouds. House prices are at least double what they should be ffs!!!!!

Well, according to official Land registry figures, house prices in London are down 0.2% in January, but they rose 12% over the last year. And a lot of areas are still on the rise, though the average is brought down a bit by falling prices in very expensive areas (eg Kensington&Chelsea)
www.gov.uk/government/news/january-2015-market-trend-data
So hardly the 15% drop reported by propertynews.

You choose which one you want to believe.