AIBU to want house prices to fall

[Viviennemary]

I thought a house price fall was on the cards but it doesn't seem to be happening. It would have been a good chance for first time buyers to buy their first house and get out of rented accommodation. And a chance for people to move to a bigger house for more space.

@Viviennemary

I was thinking of young people not myself. And that house prices in general have risen more than earnings.

Earnings need to go up. Not make people bankrupt

Perhaps a bit off topic but I was working in a city centre apartment block the other day and its normally full of overseas students. These apartments are usually around 1400 pcm to rent. The concierge told me that due to the lack of overseas students the owners had been 'forced to drop the rent'. I'm not anti landlord by a long shot but these inflated rents have driven up the cost of rentals for ordinary homes in the area.
moist of course get a better job! Why didn't OP think of that? The reality is that even people with good jobs struggle to get on the property ladder. When paying inflated rents its quite difficult to save. Best hold off the avocado on toast OP. You'll have the keys in no time!

The only good way house prices could go down is if there was massive increase in social housing which allowed all the people claiming housing benefit to move out of private rented accommodation, and thereby saving the councils millions of £s

Many landlords would then have to sell up causing a natural correction in the market, but that never going to happen with a Tory government.

Young people need better quality jobs, why not focus on that? We don’t see so many mumsnet threads about bad wages for young people, just lots of excitement about housing crashes.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

And how would people move to a bigger house if they lost their equity in the smaller house?

Exactly this.

I wonder if more commercial property may get redeveloped - of course that means commercial landlords will lose out, but of office space demand does permanently fall that is possible.

@SchrodingersImmigrant That is some very bad maths, leading you to entirely the wrong answer.

I've nothing against landlords but the profitability of buy to lets have driven house prices up and the tax regulations have been too favourable for landlords keeping buyers locked into high rentals.

As someone who lets out their house because we needed to move before we sold, it’s not as profitable as some may think. And tax regulations are favourable? Really? In what way?

YANBU. Housing is too expensive in Britain.

But this won't significantly change as long as most of the population live in owner-occupied homes. Renting is on the increase but it's still a minority. Only once we have truly become a nation of renters will the people vote for policies to correct the price of housing.

Is it? I welcome corrections. Math isn't my strongest. Can't have it all, can I.

I hope not. My dad and her husband in their 30s have just signed contract in their first house together, after 5 years saving for a deposit, with a mortgage at the full extent of their salaries. If either loses their job and the house value drops, they're fucked.

My dd. Not dad

I would welcome a fall in house prices, it's the only way I could afford to buy. It would be shit for the economy and everything that goes with that but for my family it would be a good thing

House prices won't fall that much. They've stagnated, maybe dipped a bit - now is the time to buy; wait longer and they will rise again due to SD holiday.
I bought in 2011 when prices were still fairly moderate due to the crunch of 2007/8. I'm in the SE, Home Counties, and the signs of a recovery were already there. People were still harping on about a house price crash then, but if I'd waited, I'd have been priced out. I've now got 60% equity in my home - far preferable to waiting and renting!

I bought last time just after the uk voted for brexit, and the estate agents had deals lost and were panicking. We nearly pulled out and if we had, we’d be trying to find an extra 10 percent to buy the same place now.

It’s always a nightmare decision when it is the biggest amount of money you’ll ever spend on a purchase.

It's never a good idea to wish ill on others just so you can better your own situation.

Prices might be going up but mortgages companies are being cautious! We put ours on market for 240k, sold for 257k. Buyers mortgage company valued it at 230k from a desktop study, so we've had to come down to 245k. And they have a 35% deposit!!

Why is it wishing ill on others wanting house prices to be affordable.

I would welcome a fall in house prices, it's the only way I could afford to buy.

That's how I felt once, so I do sympathise. But as @SchrodingersImmigrant says, that assumes that the only thing that happens is a price drop, like a BOGOF deal in Tesco. In reality, it would be accompanied by a recession, job losses and, crucially, a credit crunch so there's no mortgage lending, and also no available properties because nobody wants to sell at a massive loss.

I honestly do sympathise. I know how much it sucks. I don't have a solution but I hope you get there.

It's bugging me now🙈 Can someone correct my math there please.

@Viviennemary

Why is it wishing ill on others wanting house prices to be affordable.

Because it wouldn't happen in a vacuum.

Second home owners. Reducing housing stocks, pushing up prices. They're to blame. It should be better regulated.

Well dh, ds and I are in a 2 bed flat with another baby on the way and desperately trying to sell. Ive felt and continue to feel suicidal over the terror of being stuck here in negative equity so its nice to know you wish ill on people like us. We arent rich, we scrimped for a decade to just scrape a 10% deposit together.

Surely we need more housing - every govt has failed to meet objectives for building new homes. So much finger pointing, not dealing with the fundamental fact that the housing stock isn’t sufficient and so the prices keep rising faster than earnings (and weak earnings growth the other part of the picture).

2nd home owners, landlords, people already on the ladder - so much easier to target than the fundamentals of insufficient building and poor earnings growth.

House prices are high compared to your earnings, not mine. Get a better job?

I agree, house prices are high compared to wages. Not easy to just get a better job. I love mine but won't get paid much more than 30k

We are lucky interest rates are so low. I'd hate to see them go up to 15%.