To hope there is a house price crash this year

[blondieblonde]

I really hope there is, so we can buy somewhere. What are the chances?

I can't see it happening. Especially not in the south east.

What a nasty horrid thread.

YABU our house if finally worth what we can paid for it so we can finally sell to buy a bigger house we desperately need. Bought just before the last recession. Agree in some parts of the country house prices are ridiculous but being in negative equity is shit.

God I hope not.... We've worked so hard to save the ridiculous deposit and are about to exchange on our dream home!

As a pp said though, if it does crash then the likelihood of getting a mortgage will be slim to none anyway so it won't do you any favours...

The problem with house price crashes is that it doesn't necessarily get easier to buy. First, banks become ultra-cnservative about who'll they'll lend to and surveyors undervalue properties so, unless you're a cash buyer or have a large deposit, you're stuffed. Second, everyone talks the market down making it difficult for buyers to pay anyprice almost as they keep thinking it will be cheaper if they wait. Third, there is a dearth of good properties for sale as anyone who can, sits it out and waits for the market to turn.

I would love it as I would like to buy another house this year but doubt it will happen.

VVVVU. Yes crashes are shit. But when you take out a mortgage you are warned of the risks of rate hikes. It's horrible you suffered last time but really when taking a loan you should be prepared for flexible interest rates, it's not fair to wish that other people struggle just for a cheap loan. Read LOAN which will have fluctuating interest. Even if there was another crash those who have over stretched will always suffer. Those who plan for this will be prepared.

If they crashed to... lets say... 33k for a 3 bed semi bring it on after all thats 3 x my salary.
Buying a home is an impossible dream for millions of people and plunging people into negative equity isn't going to help anyone.
I have reached acceptance. Its nicer than wishing bad luck on others.

When you hope for a price crash, you hope for widespread unemployment, you hope for rising interest rates that put lots of people into problems with debt, you hope for repossessions that leave families homeless. You hope for negative equity that traps people in unhappy relationships they can't afford to leave.

This.

Mutton, in London a lot of the foreign buyers are Asian and Russian, so our being in Europe is less relevant.

How about wishing for a big pay rise instead of the misery a crash would cause?

Foreign demand for UK property is also heavily dependent on sterling, which is at a 5 1/2 year low against the dollar.

And if there is a crash how will you know when to buy because you might buy one day and the next the property you have bought has gone down further or you might turn your nose up at one place one week that you can't afford the next week.

Then of course if there is a down turn you might lose your job and not be able to buy however much the Market has crashed.

Do your homework and buy now, something you can afford. It might not be ideal, it might not be your forever home, it might be not in the right area but buy something.

I bought the tiniest cheapest studio flat with my dp many many years ago. In those days you looked for something you could afford. The fact the bathroom and it's contents was painted in black gloss was not an issue. We could just afford it. Nowadays I deal with FTBs and they mess you around and turn their noses up at perfectly acceptable places because they think they can afford better. Problem is that in the past FTBs held the cards, then BTLers moved in and for every flat a FTB rejected there were 2 BTLers waiting in the wings who would not mess you about and just buy the place. So pricing of property was no longer reliant on FTBs so prices rose as prices were not fixed to FTBs take home pay. IYSWIM

I have friends who still live in rented rooms, not even private flats who are in their 50s and 60s waiting for prices to return to the 1980s, it is so sad as they have not moved on with their lives and yet in the 1980s they could have bought something but refused to buy because they thought that prices would crash. Then prices crashed but they held out for it to crash some more but it didn't then prices started to rise and they refused to buy because the previous month property was £2500 cheaper so they waited for the next crash but it never returned to 1980s prices so they continue to live sharing a bathroom with students. The whole thing is tragic.

Yes - horrible thread. I bought in 1991 - flat lost over 30%of value. The stress of losing that amount of money is unimaginable. You try and you try and you beg and sell stuff and hope and move out and watch your life fall apart.

Friends went to bits, one had a breakdown - never really recovered as she lost everything: her home and her husband, her health and then her job. My neighbours who had bought on a 100% mortgage finally just ran away with their baby and left the flat.

Always wish for a positive rather than a negative OP. It tends to fuck fewer people over when it comes true.

What a horrid thing to wish for. I hope you have a rethink OP. Change your own circumstances rather than wishing bad things for good people.

Agree. SE is crazy. Saving and borrowing to the max would still buy us a shoebox. Any houses that need doing up or even re-decorating are being bought up by BTL wankers and sold on. Can't compete with them its not a level playing field at all.

Went to look at the new development in the area. Hoping to use help to buy. 90% of the development had been bought up off plan. EIGHT of the houses by a BTL syndicate. EIGHT fucking family homes.

I think the best is to hope for prices to slow in their growth to allow wages to catch up. Housing policy needs to change too, there's plenty of land but it's not in the interest of the owners to build and sell all at once. We own and have 'made' £100k in five years. It would be better for us if there was a fall back to the prices when we bought, a proper family home is not affordable now so we are stuck in a slightly too small house. If we can get planning authorised we'd be able to extend to the size of a decent family house for a fraction of the moving costs - maybe £50k more to extend to a high standard vs £200k more to buy a three bed semi.

Yanbu. I am a homeowner with equity but still think houses are too high. Need to come down asap. It isn't right some people have multiple houses while others can't afford even a small bedsit. It shouldn't be about mass investment. It's wrong when an average worker cannot afford a home.

Only place that needs a crash is London
Even if it came down a little might help potential buyers and I still think current owners will not lose out equity wise on much

"Only place that needs a crash us London."

Totally incorrect. Everybody forgets Cornwall all the time, the poorest county in the country. Here, we have the delights of the second home wankers and buy to holiday letter wankers driving up the house prices, but none of the high salary, or even full time, jobs you would find in London.

*is

Yabu while I do sympathise, wishing hardship on large groups of people is a shitty thing to do.

Most home owners don't have second homes. They are not pushing prices up.

I own my own home. I have no need to move, and have no mortgage anymore. I don't view my house as a cash cow or worry bout what I am leaving my kids.

So I am fine either way. But a property crash is shit for everyone. People struggle to get mortgages, the economy ends up in the toilet.

If house price crashes mean that everyone can afford to buy, as it's not been that long since the last crash, a lot more people would own their own home surely?

Wishing shit on people is never a good thing, especially when it's for your own gain.

it's very short sighted to wish for a crash, it's not just the housing prices that drop.
so OP you have all your money in cash/gold (tucked away in a mattress) because with a true crash bank loans wont be forthcoming and money in saving schemes may not be worth the paper they are printed on. No promotions and most likely some jobs will be shed. Basic necessities like food and fuel usually go up.
my experience (of having survived a few crashes) only the weathy can afford to buy.

We sold our house to a buy to let guy. The first one dropped out on exchange day but both times the buyer looked at the house, offered straight away, no mess no fuss. The general public didn't see our house until it was under offer as we got the first offer during the valuation. They didn't even get a look in and it's a shame as it was a cheap 3 bed semi in a not so good area. A perfect stepping stone for a ftb.

I lost my job due to the last house price crash/credit crunch I was a conveyancer had never did anything else and had no chance of reemployment in the field. But sure some people got something good from the deal .