To think that big house price falls finally on the way?

[qwertyflirty]

After years or price rises, in my area (edge of London), I'm finally seeing price falls of around 15% from peak.

Lots of evidence in recent months of house price falls starting and picking up in London/South East, and usually once they start here, price falls spread elsewhere.

House prices are down on average 17K since July 2017 in London. "The average price of a home for the capital as a whole was £471,986, down from a peak of £488,247 last July."

There is little the government can do to mitigate it this time round, as interest rates are already at record lows. All signs are currently pointing to the top of the market having been reached and prices about to crash.

Such as:

www.theguardian.com/business/2018/apr/18/london-house-prices-fall-average-uk

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-5733321/Beware-red-danger-signs-house-prices-Young-buyers-borrow-record-sums.html

www.theguardian.com/money/2018/may/12/house-prices-are-on-the-slide-where-will-they-go-now

www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/house-prices-fall-housing-market-rics-survey-april-a8343561.html

www.propertyweek.com/finance/house-price-falls-continue-in-london-and-spread-to-south-west/5096455.article

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/10/celebrate-house-prices-falling-britain-property-values

What was the MN comment then? Missed that?

Can't see it now.

No sweetie - you have had your 10 seconds of 'meaningless' virtual Fame. It amounts to nothing. You will have to Name Change if you have an opinion on any other subjects on this Forum - of course a clever little one trick pony like yourself wouldn't care about such things.

The maths don’t add up. Average salary is around £26k a year. Average property £300k - people have been fooled by low interest rates which have allowed people to borrow more. There is no property shortage- ageing population not downsizing maybe, more immigration maybe but when you work out how many properties are empty and not lived in in the UK - there is no shortage. The only thing stopping people realise that their salaries are worth less than they were 20 years ago is rising house prices. Sentiment over house prices is like an opium. People have been fooled.

MN obviously retracted their comment due to the Yawn Factor

If £300,000 is average then there is an awful lot of properties below that price.

.

I do agree with what they said about the op who wanted to pull out of the house sale.
The comments on that thread were dreadful.

HateIsNotGood

Your comments are getting increasingly weird:

"No sweetie - you have had your 10 seconds of 'meaningless' virtual Fame. It amounts to nothing. You will have to Name Change if you have an opinion on any other subjects on this Forum - of course a clever little one trick pony like yourself wouldn't care about such things."

I've been on MN for over a decade! I nc regularly.

Thanks for the advice though!

Are you going to acknowledge you were wrong when you called me a liar OP? You have conveniently avoided addressing my post at 16:59

Sparkles - people can read my post and see exactly what I said and what you said and if they think it was fair.

If you think AIBU you can report my post.

As from now, I will be reporting ALL posts which merely make vicious personal attacks on me in an attempt to derail the thread.

Here are some more up-to-date news on the subject of house prices - especially in London and the SE.

inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/half-of-people-would-struggle-to-afford-weekly-shop-if-supermarket-items-had-risen-at-same-rate-as-house-prices-study-suggests/

"Over half of people in Britain would struggle to buy their weekly food shop if the cost of supermarket items had risen at the same level as house prices, while a third would need financial aid, a new study suggests.

The research has been carried out by Property Rescue, which buys houses for cash, and found that a weekly shop would cost consumers £207.37 instead of the current average of £53.20, while people aged between 25 and 34 would be most in need of financial assistance.

The study found that if the 46 per cent inflation rate on house prices since 2006 were applied to supermarkets items, it would see the cost of items such as steak increase rapidly, with 78% of people likely to exclude it from their diet due to cost."

And this is why falling house prices would be so good for existing homeowners too:

www.thesun.co.uk/money/6142592/second-steppers-cant-move-rising-house-prices/

Current house prices mean that many second steppers who are in need of more space are having to stay put because they can't afford to move

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/teachers-and-police-officers-are-getting-priced-out-of-london-property-market-a3841441.html

Only eight per cent of London homes can be afforded by a police officer on an average £44,824 salary, according to the analysis from home-moving comparison site reallymoving.com.

Two years ago the figure was 14 per cent, but tiny wage increases and continuing rises in prices in the outer suburbs mean that even fewer parts of the capital are now within reach.

It was the same story with teachers, who can afford seven per cent of homes on average salaries of £42,359. Two years ago the figure was 13 per cent.

However, they still had more choice than workers in some other sectors, with bar staff able to afford only one per cent of the capital’s homes, sales assistants two per cent and taxi drivers four per cent. Train drivers, whose average salaries are £66,320, can access 27 per cent of the city’s housing stock.

Doctors, who earn an average of £86,785 in the capital, can afford less than 49 per cent of homes.

www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/14/construction-of-central-london-new-build-flats-fell-by-a-quarter-in-2017

This is a follow-up to the article we discussed here yesterday.

Interestingly, developers did reduce construction:

"Construction of luxury flats in central London dropped by a quarter last year, with apartments housed in developments dubbed “posh ghost towers” struggling to sell."

BUT they are still struggling to sell it:

"Developers have slashed prices to shift stock: the average cost of luxury London properties has fallen by 14% from its 2014 peak. The number of £1m-plus sales has fallen by 24%, according to the bank Coutts.

It said 53% of prime property on the market was being sold below asking price, compared with 42% last year. Prime-property buyers can now expect to achieve an average of 12.1% off the asking price, which works out at £300,000 off a 2,000 sq ft property."

And prices are still expected to fall:

"The estate agent Strutt & Parker has said prime-property prices in central London could fall 5% this year. "

Ah ok. Yes I thought that’s what you’d be like. Shame as it could’ve been a decent debate without you involved

House price drops wouldn't help any second stepped left woth a tonne of negative equity

Qwertyfly what do you think on your research and gut feeling. Not what is written in a newspaper.

You have to have your own opinion. Not fuelled by inflammatory headlines which can be declared bunkum with a little common sense applied.

Qwerty The London ghost towers and the rest of the UK is completely different. You can't compare the two.

The towers were built especially for the foreign market and set artificially high buy greedy developers.

The reduction in the prices doesn't reflect the UK housing market.

Life where I live (just outside London) house prices have been pushed up because people have moved out of London. I think a correction is due in the South East/London - for sure. People have bought into house price rises - no one seems question it, it's all panic and herd mentality. Qwerty is pointing out that none of it makes any sense. I agree. And more fool people who bought houses that they couldn't afford. Because that is the reality. Cheap lending, allowed by central banks and colluded by governments because it was the only mechanism which prevents us from realising most of us are poorer, even with a house, and it's only relative.

My advice to any FTBs now would be future proof, future proof, future proof. Even if that means buying on the outskirts of London or Folkestone, Reading etc. Even if you do it as a BTL & continue to rent closer to your chosen location. This isn’t this best solution & causes problems in other areas but FTBs need to look out for themselves as no one else will.

Ah @qwerty, come on now. You did get that wrong I think... the thing with @sparkles. And I’m on your ‘side’ I think. If there is such a thing. As in, I think you could be right about there being a crash, I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing and I’m glad you started this thread.

Also find some of the “you’re WRONG op” comments at the beginning of this thread a bit too, but that’s already been said.

I have no problem being challenged and no problem with robust debate. I DO have a Problem with being called a liar and mocked. The very least someone who has made that mistake could do is apologise, otherwise it just makes you look like a bully OP.

The thing is with newspapers is they are a business that needs to sell its product. So needs the drama.

I notice what is written is just blanket statements with no specifics.

Like your statement that house prices had fallen 15% but then you quote figures showing a little over 3% fall.

Sprinklesinmyelbow - this thread is not about you.

If you have something to say about house prices and not about me or about you, then say it.

What do you think about the future direction of house prices and why?

OP I’ve detailed my thoughts throughout the thread, feel free to re read them. I’m sure you could’ve worked out how to do that yourself

Oliversmumsarmy - you know that's not what I said. Please stop making things up.

If you disagree with all the newspaper articles quoting property experts all suggesting that prices will fall, can you expand on why that is and give some convincing evidence that explains why we should believe you (an anonymous MN poster) and not them?