to think that at least a house price crash would be a sliver of silver lining

[yougottheshining]

I voted remain. I am beyond upset that we are leaving. However, if house prices in my area come down by 20% I could afford to buy. I'm not even that bothered about being a home-owner per se but I can only afford to rent because I get tax credits and housing benefit (despite working full time). For years I have been shiteing myself about what will happen to me and my kids when these top-ups stop, all the while being subjected to programme after programme about property porn, and headline after headline about how good it is that houses are worth so much money . I have had a permanent knot in my stomach about what will happen when my oldest hits 18 and we have to move to a smaller house because I will no longer get enough to house us all, and again what will happen when my youngest hits 18 and I will have to move to a room in a shared house, and there will be nowhere, I mean absolutely nowhere, for the kids to go. Because rents keep on going up, and I can't afford our (modest) house anyway on what I earn alone, and the only way around that is to buy, but I can't buy because I'm paying out so much in rent. I cannot explain just how worried I have been about this, for years. I really don't want to leave the EU. I have been crying and swearing around the place for the entire weekend. But actually I am in a fucking horrible situation in regard to housing and shelter for me and my family, so AIBU if one of the effects is that house prices fall to a level that will make it affordable for us to have a family home?

[katemiddletonsnudeheels]

AndNow, I don't think that's quite correct: there is a savings limit to TCs as well.

[StickTheDMWhereTheSunDontShine]

Silver lining for people looking to buy. Disaster for anyone needing to sell.

[yougottheshining]

Barbara, it's around £60k of my own money including tax credits. I didn't count the HB because I don't see it so it's just gone. I doubt very much if insurance, maintenance etc would have cost me £60k. That's just gone into my landlord's pocket.

[OrangeFluff]

OP do you have enough savings to pay for a deposit and fees? Don't forget you need to borrow a bit less than you can actually afford, so that you have a buffer in case of interest rate rises. You also need to factor in paying for maintenance, repairs and insurance.

I know your situation is bad, but unless you can afford the above, you need to find another solution. I'm sorry, its shit and I feel for you.

[yougottheshining]

Floggingmolly - I would support a plan to bail people out who need to sell. Even in the 90s there weren't that many of them. I would make it a condition that they had to be an owner-occupier though - none of this buy to sit money laundering investment nonsense. It would cost a bit in the short term. But how the housing market is at the moment is not sustainable. I mean, it's ridiculous that I'm getting housing benefit even though I'm working full-time (and I'm not on minimum wage either). Collectively, people like me are getting around £10 billion a year in HB and giving it to our landlords. If we took that £10 billion, maybe by capping rents and bringing them to a price that was affordable for someone working full-time, we'd have a pot of money to compensate people who did have to sell due to negative equity. It might not make up all of the shortfall, but it would go a long way. Or, like I said, use the magic £350 million (actually £125 million) a week that isn't going to the EU any more.

[katemiddletonsnudeheels]

Well, the thread does illustrate quite nicely that people vote in their own interests :) obviously current homeowners don't for the most part want a crash: those struggling to get on the market would relish one!

[SanityAssassin]

I am a homeowner and obviously don't want a crash (although my house would have to lose an awful lot for me to be in negative equity).

If there is a crash though I will definitely be buying another property to rent out (don't need a mortgage). I wouldn't assume that it will just me first time buyers snapping up an bargains - specially given that mortgages are likely to be more difficult to secure

[temporaryusername]

Maybe people do mostly vote on things like that, I didn't and nor did several fellow renting friends. We all knew prices were more likely to fall (still not sure they will) with brexit but we all voted remain. I wish I could change the result we ended up with.

[Griphook]

Don't worry op, I'll save you a place in the work house.

[PurpleRainDiamondsandPearls]

Of course you are relying on benefits. I am too, so not judging you. If you're needing them to meet your basic shelter needs, then you certainly are. I think you have an interesting perspective towards paying rent. I do think rents need to be more controlled. However, I pay for a roof over my head. I'm not giving it to my landlord out of the kindess of my own heart in return for nowt.

[BombadierFritz]

Can you afford to buy without tax credits? And if interest rates are increased? And if you lose your job again for 6 months or so? If so, maybe it will be ok. But if not, then in a recession, when we go back to a world without tax credits (you know, like the 1990s) and possibly higher interest rates and no housing benefit for mortgages, that house buy might not be such a good idea

[frikadela01]

My dp bought our house at the height of the market and in our area property values havent recovered to pre 2008 like down south. We live in a typical starter home and are already quite cramped but have very little prospect of moving up as it is... a crash would just solidify us staying here as I imagine it would for most people. People have to be willing to sell and that's just not likely in crash so yabu.

[Geekmama]

OP Yes!!! YABU a market crash is not a good thing for anyone and a very silly thing to wish for. I do hope your situation improves tho.

[hmmmum]

Yabu. But I massively sympathise with your situation. The housing crisis in this country needs to be sorted out, but a crash would make things worse not better.

[yougottheshining]

Actually, in the 1990s people did get housing benefit for mortgages, and not only for the interest as they do now. And katemiddletons, I voted remain. You can see it there at the top of the thread, if you can fucking read., Griphook it's shit, isn't it? There was a feature on the radio the other day about 60 year-olds living in houseshares. That's going to be me, that is. And my kids won't have a home. I've come up with a solution about what to do about negative equity - I don't want to see anyone homeless. There is money in the pot - it's just about how you spend it. And I'd be more than happy for it to be spent on keeping people housed. Because I know how gut-wrenchingly awful it is to face the prospect of not being able to house your family, even when you're working. But it seems that from this thread at least that home-owners don't actually gives a shit if renters lose their family homes.

[Floggingmolly]

Housing benefit for mortgages...

[MsRinky]

Actually, that money has probably gone into the bank's pocket. Someone who borrows £200k over 25 years has to pay back £320k if interest rates average about 4% for the whole term.

[MsRinky]

But I appreciate it's a shit situation for you.

[yougottheshining]

But nobody is doing anything about it, hmmmum. I wouldn't mind if someone was. But those of us who didn't get in and buy for whatever reason (in my case because I was paying for my education and then after that developing a chronic illness) have been hung out to dry. So if there are no policy initiatives (which there aren't) and no economic leg-ups (which there aren't) then if the fickle finger of fate just for once, for once in my fucking life, might benefit me to the point of me not ending up cooking beans on a fucking Belling grill and having no family home to house my kids then yes, I'll take it. Because I really will, unlike most people in negative equity, be homeless otherwise.

[AndNowItsSeven]

No katemiddleton there is no savings limit for tax credits.

[AndNowItsSeven]

"Although tax credits are means-tested, they have no capital limit. This means there is no amount of savings that will automatically stop you being able to claim tax credits. Income from savings can however be taken into account so as to reduce the amount of your award; the first £300 a year of such income is ignored."

[AbyssinianBanana]

Your kids will be adults and I do find it odd that you are so certain they will be unable to work or support themselves as adults and need to live with you for free.

[yougottheshining]

Are your kids going to move out at 18 and become completely self-supporting, abyssinian? Or are they going to go to uni and come home in the summer? Perhaps they will live with you for a while after they graduate and look for work? Maybe they'll need somewhere to go if they're in a relationship and it goes tits-up? Or if they get made redundant they might need to move back to the family home for a bit? If any of these considerations apply to you, why wouldn't they apply to me?

[SanityAssassin]

But owning a home isn't a right or a necessity. Plenty of people live in rented accommodation (either private HA or council). The roof over your head is the necessity not who owns it.