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.

Oh anyone can own, you only need parents to effectively give you 20,000 Rent, electric, water, council tax. Sweet.

I'm not trying to pick on you garden but you haven't actually busted any myths. I'd say most people assume that young people who buy homes were either given a deposit or subsidised while they saved. So you've reinforced exactly what everyone already knows.

I'd say most people assume that young people who buy homes were either given a deposit or subsidised while they saved.
True of my experiences too. 75% have help like that and the only reason I think it's not higher is because house prices in the region are lower.

We're in a London commuter town and some over-optimistc asking prices around, which get no interest and then gradually drop over the following months.

But overall most stuff now coming on about 15% below peak (March last year). Which sounds a lot. But isn't that much, given prices literally doubled in the two preceding years.

So they've got loads to fall before they're even at 2014 prices again, astonishingly.

But at least now going in the right direction. 2014 - 200-250K. 2016 - 450K. 2017 - 375K.

From what I've seen keeping an eye on Rightmove around me over the past couple of years, standard family-size homes seem to get snapped up fast and are still going up in price, but are usually still below £300k (and below £250k for semi/terraced). Anything above that seems to sit on Rightmove for significantly longer, months rather than a week max, and I've seen a fair few get reduced or go to fixed price. Not sure if that part of the market always moves slower or if it's just sluggish at the moment though.

I can afford to buy now. So we'll be moving from a rented house to a house we own. Rent: just over £1000/mo. Mortgage: just over £700/mo, for a bigger house in a nicer area.

But £700 per month will not cover everything that is not needed when you rent.
On top of that £700 per month you will need to pay buildings insurance, life insurance, some kind of boiler cover / home emergency cover and you will need to save for cyclical repairs. Add all of that on top of the £700 and there might be not much difference from the £1000 rent. If interest rates go up home ownership could end up being the more expensive option in the short term.

And home ownership doesn't come with the safety net of housing benefit should you lose your job or find your income vastly reduced. Of course you can pay into an insurance policy to protect your mortgage payments in the event of redundancy but again that adds £££ to the mortgage cost and most policies only pay out for around 9 months.

Yes, I know this, but as I said above: renting us usually more expensive because you're paying for landlord profit (and/or coverage of void periods) on top of both the mortgage and maintenance/upkeep. Plus of course with a mortgage, you're paying off the equity. My mortgage could go down in future even with static house prices if I remortgage; my rent will only ever go up, year after year.

And home ownership doesn't come with the safety net of housing benefit should you lose your job or find your income vastly reduced.

Does anything? Housing benefit wouldn't cover my current rent, so either way (renting or owning) I'd likely lose my home and have to move if that happened.

But if you lost your home and had a mortgage you could still be pursued for a large debt for many years.
I am all for home ownership but I think the comparisons that people make of rent being so much cheaper are often misguided and don't consider the full cost of home ownership. in some areas it is cheaper to rent.

If house prices crash, yes. At current prices (still rising in my area) on a 75% LTV mortgage, I'd still owe the bank a lot less than the house is worth.

and don't consider the full cost of home ownership. in some areas it is cheaper to rent.

And those also largely don't consider the additional costs of renting insecurity, which has drained my savings several times over. Slightly better now with deposit protection schemes but still massively expensive having to move every 12/18 months on short notice, with all the expenses that entails.

(Also we have a government scheme that can support homeowners who hit a crisis and can't pay their mortgage here, but I'm aware not everyone in the U.K. has access to that.)

The govt scheme to support homeowners in redundancy etc has been changed to a loans system. What a great plan - you have no income and can't pay your mortgage so we will give you a loan to pay the mortgage and expect it to be repaid
Like I said, I support home ownership because I think it does bring more security and less exposure to unscrupulous landlords but the idea that it is always cheaper is often not the case when all things are considered.
They reckon most buy to let landlords make a yield of around 7%. Out of that 7% they have to pay for cyclical repairs so it isnt the gravy train that many people believe. Of course property, whether as a landlord or homeowner, is a long term investment which will always eventually pay off regardless of market fluctuations.