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.

There are a couple of ex-teachers (single, by the looks of things) down my road where a semi detached three bed with 90 sq m are on the market for £875,000. I somehow doubt they could afford their homes now. You can snap up a two bed for £735,000 though.

No idea. Possibly they think it's grim up North.

Or we can read statistics? Dunno.

Yes Kvetch15 I could. I only bought it 8 months ago.

jessy I can read stats.

Average house price London city £514K
Average house price Edinburgh £216K

Average salary London £34K
Average salary Edinburgh £29K

Unemployment rates London 7.3%
Unemployment rates Edinburgh 6.6%.

And you think this is not a problem that the SE/London has

*generally only in the areas where the job economy is non-existent"

*blue24"- I have pointed out that unemployment rates in Edinburgh are actually lower than in London, and the property prices are 60% cheaper.

Could you afford to buy your house today?

Yes. Because it hasn't gone up in value whatsoever. So it's a double-edged sword. Although Londoners are stuck if they want to move within area, if they are prepared to up sticks then a lot of people will have a huge cash windfall. Whereas elsewhere prices haven't shifted.

We'd never be able to move back to London for work and buy a house now, for example.

Could you afford to buy your house today

yes I could - so could all my neighbours - house prices have risen slowly but they have dropped back a bit and I don't think process have went up here in the last 5 or 6 years.

as I said upthread there are 1 bed flats for sale from 25K upwards where we are - not just 1 or 2 either. yes they aren't in the best areas but not everyone can live in a nice area and have a cheap house. a decent 3 bed house with a garden in a decent area could be had for about 100k.

don't understand why people on this thread don't seem to understand supply and demand - you all want to moon on a stick.

Whereas elsewhere prices haven't shifted

Yes,they have.

Have a look at the Halifax site

www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/economic-insight/house-price-tools/

It's not been as much as London and the SE - and again, regional prices still mask differences.

fulltothebrim and I pointed out that I was talking about the South

generally only in the areas where the job economy is non-existent, and too far to commute to a better areas

erm what a load of nonsense. there is a good growing economy here with quite a lot of jobs attached to the oil industry starting to appear on the market. I can get to 2 major cities in Scotland within the hour and a third within 1hr 20 mins. its not that far away... traffic is half of what it is down south, less people - all in all a calmer, better way of life.

OrlandoWoolf going by that site houses prices have only went up 2% in 6 years where we live. houses weren't expensive to begin with and they still aren't.

Stats for Scotland

Terraced 127,580
Semi-Detached 164,727
Detached 275,183
Bungalows 186,025
Flat & Mais. 128,843
All Properties 169,610

Bare in mind these are average prices for the whole of Scotland.

peggyundercrackers as I already pointed out to fulltothebrim, that comment was made specifically in relation to the South of the UK. I'm sure Scotland is lovely, but last time I looked, it was in erm, Scotland.

peggy

The reason house prices haven't gone up much in your area is either:

a) People don't want to live there
b) There is enough housing available so the house prices won't go up

Cheers, fulltothebrim. That's not really relevant to what was being discussed though, is it - which is changes in relative affordability of housing and changes in same?

I simply said 'this isn't an issue confined to London' in response to some predictable 'Londoners are so stupid and this is only a London problem' posts. Responding with Edinburgh stats doesn't really prove anything.

There are expensive areas everywhere- I think the least affordable city of actually oxford, officially.

I used to work in Nottingham (building houses actually ) you can buy houses very cheaply there. But most people wouldn't want to- they would want a nice house in a decent area and that isn't that affordable (ie £250k vs £80k) there is a reason why very cheap houses are so. There always is.

But this only demonstrates the point- London is a huge black hole that people seem to get sucked into, scrabble over each other like rats and them complain that property prices are too steep.

Living elsewhere in the UK give you an objective view point.

The North or even Scotland ( shudders) are not the boggy hinterland that some London dwellers seem to think it is.

It is appropriate to respond about Edinburgh. Some suggest it is high wages in London that cause the prices to be so high, and although there is a slight disparity it's nothing like is suggested.
Those who want to compete in this mad market are welcome to it.

There is plenty good living to be done in the other 99% of the UK.

There is plenty good living to be done in the other 99% of the UK.

And there are jobs that can only be found in london.

There is plenty good living to be done in the other 99% of the UK.

You do understand that wages vary in the UK?

This is the affordability index.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2467191/West-Cumbria-affordable-property-rural-Britain--Halifax.html

No one has disputed that there is a huge and distorting problem in London. But saying (disparagingly) that it's only a London problem is inaccurate and ill-informed - that's all I'm saying.

There are pockets of greater affordability, but also large areas where the trend towards greater unaffordability also exists, and continues to grow, albeit not growing at the same pace as the London problem. Sticking one's head in the sand and pretending it's only those thick Londoners who are affected is not going to stop problems in other parts of the country continuing to grow and pricing people out of housing.

I've lived in lots of other places, cheers. Some of them (gasp) not even in Britain.

Orlando - really interesting, I'd not seen those ones.

peggy are you in Dundee?

Houses in my area have give up 12.5% in 2 years. Unfortunately we moved to this area for dhs work 2 years ago after selling our house and decided to rent here to get a feel for the place. Big mistake. Can't afford to buy anywhere now. Can't move as the 3 dc are settled st theor new schools. I know it's not the end of the world as we have roof over our heads but having lived in my own home I hate renting now, can't decorate any of the kids bedrooms, can't put any play equipment on the grass in the garden, not allowed pets, etc.

No point in living in a cheap house in a cheap area if there aren't any jobs for you there.

Houses in certain areas are cheap for a reason. No jobs, no one wants to live there, deprived economy.

Somewhere to work is vital. Jobs can be done elsewhere - but the local economy is so important. I live in "the Golden triangle" in Yorkshire - economy doing ok, a popular place to live, limited house building - and house / rental places reflect that.

Like I said upthread - there are currently 4 affordable houses in my city. 4!!

Yes it's all relative but your equity goes up, so u have a bigger deposit to get a better mortgage rate. This has made a huge difference for us.