To think it's good news about house prices falling

[brexitstolemyfuture]

The sentiment has really changed in comments sections all over the place.

It is a bubble, no way can something keep rising indefinitely. From my area in the south it's been 10% increases for years yet wages are the same. Average wage is 26k where I am, average house is over 300k.

A slow poping of them would be best for the economy and give hope to those not born when they were affordable. I speak as someone that owns.

Btw whack- I don't think you're quite right there. No expecting the bubble to burst (which it hasn't really, for many many years despite localised dips) doesn't mean you have a vested interest.

Also, not offence to any estate agents but they're not important in terms of the actual housing market- they're only sales people. We don't worry about what recruitment agents think/ do about mass unemployment do we?

AntiHop - fair suggestion. Unfortunately we're Priority 4 of 6 in our local borough (1 being the highest, 6 the lowest) and their website makes reference to a very high number of applications being received.

Plus there are the horror stories like this www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2013/sep/03/hidden-dangers-shared-ownership
and various dangers outlined here - the things about repairs being unenforceable and service charges that can rise sharply would terrify me www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/sep/15/shared-ownership-risks-affordable-housing-rent

We also have two small caged pets - no bother to anyone, and here with permission from our current landlord. Vastly beneficial for our MH, and about as close as I'll ever get to a child, but this would seem to present a significant barrier to shared ownership schemes which often seem to ban even the least offensive of pets.

It doesn't matter what you're housing priority is, shared ownership is for anyone. It's actually fairly freely available in London unless you're fussy about area.

You need to know all the facts but don't worry about the horror stories. You'll be much better off than private renting. I've personally never heard of restrictions on pets- it's your property after all. There is just another investor in addition to your mortgage company

Most newspapers yesterday ran stories about an impending housing recession due to three months-in-a-row house price declines. Apparently, the last time that happened was before the 2008. Yet a lot of people on here seem to believe it will never happen and they've heard it all before. Boy cries wolf too many times etc ?

Rightsaid, I'm not criticising, or saying you are wrong but I think you would have a much better idea of what you can or cannot afford if you go and see the bank and get out there and actually view some properties. You may still find that you can't afford to buy, but I struggle to understand the fact that you've decided what you can and cannot afford on the basis of an online mortgage calculator and Zoopla estimates. The shared ownership scheme is a fab idea. It has been hugely beneficial for people wanting to move into our area where house prices are generally above the national average and there have been many new housing developments.

"They don't mean people being stuck in negative equity, being unable to move even if their families have outgrown where they live, having banks chasing them years later, no no, nothing like that. "

Oh A house too small for a growing family? Are your diamond shoes too tight as well? Trying to pay constantly rising rents while benefits are being cut and having no home security and being told you shouldn't have kids if you can't afford to house them (well, I could at the time actually but I doubt I will for long the way rent is going).

Rightsaid are you using a Lisa to save? As ftb they look good. Also what about moving to Manchester or Bristol? I find it hard to believe you jobs are so specialised you could not do them in these city's. They are both fantastic cities and you could get on the housing ladder.

Rightsaid

The best advice I can give is to think very hard about how you can move out of London. Not all jobs are in London - yes - a lot of the best jobs are in London but I'm going to tell you an important secret.

(Whispers quietly)

How big your salary is is irrelevant unless you want to show off. What matters is what you can buy with the money.

We did the move 200 miles North over 10 years ago. (We weren't in London but were in commuterville.) I was lucky and was able to move within the company I worked for and so only lost my (pretty rubbish) location allowance. Dh had to take a job in a different sector on quite a bit less money and (to be honest) with less "prestige". But he's bright and hard working so he soon managed to work his way up.

But - here's the kicker - we were able to buy a much bigger house for much less money.

I've done a quick Google and I reckon we could each earn about twice as much (or maybe more) if we worked in London. But housing would be at least 3 times the price (we have a 4 bed detached that is worth less than your flat!), we would pay about 3 times the tax we pay at the moment and childcare would also be more than double.

So if O was you I would have a very very serious look at your jobs and how transferable your skills are and look very very seriously at income : house price ratios around the country! And don't be afraid to take less prestigious jobs.

Puffpaw'Cross post!

There still aren't enough houses, and there are far less than there were 10 years ago.

What happened to them all? Where did they go?

I am fucking ecstatic that house prices are going up.
We bought at the end of 2007 and had bought on an interest only mortgage.
We've been stuck for 9 years with a house that lost £25,000 in value and we were paying interest on the original value.
It's been fucking awful.
Please house prices keep going up.
We also saved to manage to get a deposit to be able to buy.

House prices levelling out and more affordable houses being built (ideally on brown land, NOT green belt) are a good thing. Anyone who wants them to fall and thinks that will happen in splendid isolation is being a muppet - it always goes hand in glove with a recession that will bring job losses and misery to many people. Be careful what you wish for cos you just might get it, as the pussy cat dolls once said.

www.economicshelp.org/blog/1032/housing/why-falling-house-prices-cause-a-recession/

We're first time buyers in an affordable area of England so it's great for us. Houses we couldn't afford a year ago are within budget.

But it's crap for almost anyone else.

Today 15:30 LakieLady

Obviously nothing happened to them. People live in Them. There are more people demanding houses. I thought it was obvious but hey, when did that stop some patronising smart arse on MN labouring a point?

I have a colleague who is adamant that she and her partner will never be able to buy because they can't save enough for a deposit.

But her and her partner both have expensive phone contracts (£50 pcm each) Sky tv (£75), leased cars (£550 for the 2) 2 foreign holidays a year (£2,000?). That's £10k a year that they could be saving, especially if they stopped going out for meals at least twice a month and clubbing most weekends. We earn less than they do, and still manage to save a few hundred most months, even disregarding the fact that our mortgage is £200 a month less than their rent.

If they were prepared to move back with their parents for a year, they could probably save another £10k.

They could easily buy a flat within an hour's commute of where they both work (Sussex) for less than £100k. Their mortgage would be peanuts, less than the £700 a month they're paying in rent.

I think a lot of people who say it's impossible to save aren't really prepared to cut back on the luxuries and drive around in old bangers. And even if you work in London you don't have to live there. That

House prices going up for pre-millenials are just an unearned bonus. I might have been one of them but when interest rates went to 15% I couldn't hold on to what was affordable for two people and a child but is now worth 1.5m. Rising interests rates are going to be a lot more serious.

Talk about unforseen consequences - when Gordon Brown raided pension schemes in 1997 ( basically negating tax allowances on dividends) he also crashed the final salary pension benefit schemes, pension fund returns and many private pensions. So pensioners with any money at all put it into buy to lets.

And no one controlled the foreign investment in major city properties - where people from (often dubious regimes) parked their money in major properties and new builds. London, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow ...

The other problem is major building companies who are prepared to put up houses if they're 4 bedroom rubbish and not build starter homes. Many of them are having problems now because there are not enough skilled builders/electricians/plumbers/plasterers because successive governments haven't supported technical colleges - and there are fewer workers now from eg Poland because the pound is sinking. To say nothing of the crap architecture which means most locals become NIMBYs because the look of the designs are offensive (to say nothing of unliveable for anyone buying one).

I don't want to make unearned money out of my property. I would like my DCs and others to be able to afford a home on one salary if not two. I would vote for anyone who came up with a solution.

I think a lot of people who say it's impossible to save aren't really prepared to cut back on the luxuries and drive around in old bangers
I think to suggest that a lot of people just aren't willing to save is a bit patronising.

Couple in my family, could only buy because instead of having a big wedding thru asked if they could use the money for a deposit on a small house.

Another couple in my family, by the time they've paid the bills and childcare they have less than £100 a month float. Hardly going to get them a deposit when the average house prices are about 5 times their household income.

Sure, some people do go travelling but when I look at the people I know travelling it's because they can either enjoy their 20s by taking one holiday a year or they can try and save each penny and hope that in 10 years time house prices might be lower and they might just have enough for a deposit.

I feel fortunate that me and DH are able to buy our first house. I wouldn't dream of implying that most of those who want to and can't simply just need to cut back.

DP would say that people who can't afford to buy a house mean, I can't afford to buy a house where I want. Before I met him, he worked in London. Realised he couldn't afford london, so he looked for where he could afford. Ended up buying in Folkestone and commuting in on the HS1.

(When he met me, it actually took him longer to get to work in north London from my flat in zone 1 than it did from Folkestone, the HS1 is so quick!)

DP would say that people who can't afford to buy a house mean, I can't afford to buy a house where I want.

He would be wrong. And I say that as someone who can now afford to buy a house, after a lot of saving (and nowhere near London!). If you're on minimum wage, insecure contracts, and paying a ton in rent, you really really can't afford to buy a house.

53rd
And he would be wrong. Because as many people have said, if you're living pay check to pay check then where the hell do you get your deposit?.

And location will be part of it for some people. I COULD HAVE bought somewhere 3 years ago, if I wanted to live in an end of town with higher crime rates, high records of anti social behaviour, sandwiched between industrial estates and dual carriageways.

I chose to rent a little longer because I don't want to live in that area.
I have a choice.
I am lucky to have a choice.
Many people don't. To pretend otherwise is just homeowners being smug.

I don't think he was being smug. He was being practical. 3 bed terrace in Folkestone cost him £150,000 a few years ago (it was a bit of a fixer upper). He worked from 16-30 to save the deposit. It meant buying somewhere away from all his friends and family. That was his choice.

It would be good if things could stay flat for the next 6 or 8 years so no increase or decrease.

And some people who have been working from 16 to 30 still can't afford to buy, not in London or in Folkestone or in anywhere else.

Then that means their life choices have brought them there (not talking about people with disabilities or other reasons why they can't work/save). I know that's v harsh. But life IS fucking harsh. For DP it meant saving just over £1000 a year - less than £100 a month. If you can't manage that, you have to look at why. Could you move; what could you do differently; could you do a second job like bar work etc. If the answer is no, then maybe you can't buy a house. I do know that DP hadn't had a holiday in over 8 years when I met him, for example.

Making that choice worked for him, great. It is still smug to suggest that people complaining are only complaining because they can't have a house where they want.

It's just like earlier posters saying people could afford to buy if only they cut back a little and saved.

Plenty of people work just as hard and simply do not have the money to buy. There are many reasons but high cost of living sky high rents probably factor in front people on lower incomes. Or buying a house so far from work means an issue with childcare opening early enough for you to get to work, or the round trip to work means that you can't really afford it.

Anyone who suggests that people need to just stop being picky, save a bit more or work harder is (in my opinion) just being smug.

(And I say this as someone who's lucky enough to be about to buy my first home in a nice area so this is not some pity party.)