good news for homeowners as house prices increase again

[nettlewine]

So the nationwide are reporting that house prices are up this month.

Seriously this isn't good news, even if you own a home as any step up becomes more expensive and even if you don't and have kids its no life to still be living stuck at home in your 20s and 30s!

The vast majority of homeowners in this country couldn't afford their home if they had to buy it now. The system is broken and its wreaking the whole country and the economy. London isn't a place for londners as they can't afford it and all new builds are sold off plan on Malaysia! Arrg every time I hear the thread title quoted I want to scream.

If only house prices were sensible and people could invest in something useful like producing stuff. I can't see this country as a good place for my children to grow up in.

Penguinsaresmall - then in all fairness, I can't really fault your view. Yes I think it's selfish, but so are we all when it comes to our own circumstances.

Penguin but what about their children? What if all the money in the house gets eaten up in care fees? Marriage breakdown? Divorse?

Doesn't take much for everything to turn to shit, especially by depending on inheritance.

On a purely selfish basis, rising house prices benefits me as both DH and I will inherit multi million pound houses from both sets of parents, on which we can afford to pay the inheritance taxes. We in turn will pass them onto our children etc etc. and it's all a bonus as we already bought own home without any parental help. My children will inherit both from me and their grandparents and not need to struggle to find a home, they will be hugely privileged.

But if this the only way to own a house in London these days, there is something very wrong with this picture. Sadly there doesn't seem to be change coming, but also remember lots of people are overleveraged and a crash would be very damaging. I really don't know what the solution will be for kids who have no financial advantage. It used to be that if you were clever, worked hard and carved a great career, a nice home was a given benefit. This is simply not the case any more, and I'm not sure if it ever will be again, in London at least.

I would prefer prices to fall, as I think that is better for society as a whole, but I think it will fall or stall a bit but not really crash to the levels needed.

nettle yes I know that - and we're not depending on inheritance, I'm just saying that our children will have inheritance from our GPs to help them get on the housing ladder.

Things can always turn to shit, yes. And I certainly haven't lead a charmed life, trust me.... just that at this point in time, the increase in house prices, for me, is a good thing. And so that must also be the case for others. Can nobody else remember the 80's or am I the only old gimmer on here?

It most definitely isn't good news. We need to move to a bigger house in a slightly more central location in a few years and it's already going to be a big stretch for us.

Not sure what you mean by remember the 80s?
My parents lived in a notts pit village decimated by poverty. Dh's father was dead and his mother was bringing him up in one of the biggest slum estates in Europe (def biggest in uk) We couldn't go to school as we didn't have shoes. All four of our parents had been grammar school educated. Is this the. 80s you mean, Penguin?

Or do you mean the excess and bounty experienced by those in London/SE or affluent rural enclaves?

That's a big chip you seem to have on your shoulder connie

I mean the 80's where house prices had gone through the roof and interest rates were 10%. Try buying your first house in those circumstances.

Can nobody else remember the 80's

Ah yes, the 80s when house prices rocketed, then crashed at the very end of the decade, at the same time as interest rates rising to gulp inducing highs, resulting in an awful lot of repo's. Also the decade when people were encourage to take on interest only mortgages, plus endowments that turned out to be not all they were cracked up to be, leaving people either panicking and selling them on, in the late 90s, well before maturity (egged on by parties with a vested interest in making money out of people's panic, of course) or simply not being able to pay for their house at the end of the term of their mortgage.

Good times.

When did I say they were 'good times' FFS

Penguin, you are being quite chippy, to say that you have 2 people agreeing with you that the decade was not all it was cracked up to be.

IMO it is only good news for estate agents, solicitors, those inheriting property and those who want to downsize.

I can't see why it would benefit anyone else except for landlords renting out property to people who can't afford to buy.

Happy days. I have no kids and own own home. No need to ever up-size.

Kvetch Once you've bought your own home though, you're stuck. Anybody who bought in the last ten years or so needs prices to keep increasing (slowly) or at least not to go down, or we'll all be buggered (to a greater or lesser extent) when the interest rates start to increase.

our I'm a chippy penguin

Great last paragraph k.

I think its all a bit silly people loving house prices going up if this money will just be used to buy other houses. No one benefits from that apart from the estage agents, banks, and solicitor s with bigger fees.

Its very sad that people to have a decent secure home have to have asset rich families.

I bought in the last ten years and don't need them to go up. Would like them to half and we have a more equal society and less likely to have some massive social breakdown.

The thing is, downsizing only works if there are people willing and able to afford your property. I think at some point there are going to be an awful lot of people wanting to downsize but no families able to buy their family houses off them.

No analysis, clearly just me talking out of my arse

It's all a good reminder to encourage our children into careers that are not London-centric too

I think penguin sums up the whole problem. 'I'm alright Jack, pull the ladder up.'

Personally I can not fathom how people can be so incredibly selfish and narrow minded, but there we go.

And with regards to the pp who said we're all selfish - well, no. There are lots of people who would rather see everything better for everyone.

A friend recently bought a buy to let and declared 'and it's already gone up £10k in price'. I said God, that's awful, another family priced out the market and her face was Just couldn't comprehend how it wasn't a Good Thing.

Prices need to get to 2007 level and stay there or just stay where they are if they are higher. No one really benefits from higher prices apart from estate agents, mortgage lenders and the tax man none of whom are really top of anyone's Christmas card list.

Yes it's selfish, but I refuse to believe that everybody else out there is so selfless that they don't put their own family's financial security first

Only on mumsnet.

No, not 'only on mumsnet'.

There are actually people out there taking part in big campaigns trying to lobby politicians to do more about the housing crisis. Lots of people making noise about how stupid the Tories right to buy proposals are... etc

Obviously it goes without saying that you wouldn't sell your £500k home for £300k to help another family out - that isn't practical, and you're part of a deep rooted problem that is ingrained in our society.

But I do not think the selfish way of thinking helps anyone - not even yourself

There needs to be a cultural shift in how we view housing for all.