To just be so upset about house prices

[spuddy56]

We started looking in December after scrimping and saving for years and its got more and more out of reach with every passing week since then. We've had two sales fall through due to downvaluations, so not only did we need the huge deposit we had saved up for years, we needed 10k on top of that which is impossible for us. We are paying rent and have no family help. We viewed a tiny house that we love and has been on the market since beginning of April with no offers but the seller won't budge on the price. Based on one year of sold prices in the area its about 40k too much, even taking into account the 10% rises over the last 12 months. Theres just no way a mortgage company would lend that much. Been to view another one and it's tiny, has had no offers and is worth a lot less but agents don't think they will go lower. We've had to adjust our expectations down and down despite being what we thought were healthy earners. How are first time buyers managing to buy right now without help?! I'm so so upset at not having somewhere to settle and call a permanent home.

For those predicting house price crashes and it will all go down next year - a small note that news of the “housing market cooling down” or “slowing down” is not news that houses will reduce in prices across the board or even at all.

a “slow down” or “cool down” May simply mean that the RATE of increase in house prices in Area X comes down from say 10% to 3%. This would still mean a slow down/cool down of the market but all it means is Tom’s house which grew in price by 10% last year, grew in price again next year but by 3%. This doesn’t mean Tom’s house reduced in price and is now suddenly costed well below what it was last year. Tom’s house has still increased in price and May again year after year after year.

so by all means expect the market to slow or cool in 23 or 24, but don’t expect house prices to reduce, they may simply just increase a bit slower than the mad rise now.

OECD is certainly doom for the uk but agree beaucoup there is no house price crash without significant unemployment which nobody IS predicting given labour shortages.

They really aren't. There will be a slowdown which means that the market will become less heated than currently ie prices won't be rising at the same rate.

Why do people confidently come onto property thread and spout this so regularly. Unless they can quote any research, it's just a feeling in their water.

Yes agreed. And also fundamentally sometimes some people interpret phrases like “housing market will cool down or slow down” as house prices will reduce. As in - House valued £100 today will fall to £80 next year. This is just so not what “market cooling down” means. It just means house that was £80 last year, and grew massively to £100 this year May only grow a bit to £107 next year. That’s a cooling right down of the market and rates or price growth. It doesn’t mean houses across the board get reduced left right and centre and millions of houses plunge into negative equity. That’s not what a slowing/cooling of market means.

so many people misinterpret these terms and predict “price crash coming!” On these threads ..

To be honest I think the younger generations have every right to be angry. They have grown up being told go to uni, get qualifications and you will earn a decent income. Whilst the likes of nurses and teachers earn in the late twenties or early thirty thousands often less than jobs requiring half of the qualifications.

They have been grown up being fed programmes like homes under them hammer and location, location, location setting their expectations to higher levels than often possible.

They have done everything right and yet they get no where. Unless, they benefit from a situation they were born into.

Younger people have every right to be angry. Something needs to change.

Agree housing is the biggest problem - can't blame people hoping for prices to fall, but what we desperately need are more houses to do that not other families losing their homes.

Yes, this. Especially annoying when people tell you to get a better paying job. I'm a nurse, if we all left to go and work in the city for 6 figure salaries, what is going to happen? No nurses... Same for teachers etc.
Do the many people of mumsnet who trot this out on all these threads truly believe that nurses and teachers should not be allowed to own a home?

Ditto for 'move north/elsewhere'. Fine, but then there would be whole counties with no education or healthcare. It's such a shortsighted notion.

Absolutely agree.

I think it is shit for FTBs. Shit for those who won’t inherit anything. Shit for the vast majority of youth.

What ISNT cool to do though is indicate that house prices are about to reduce - or to borrow a popular word - “crash”.

it’s important to understand the shittiness staring FTBs in the face. Their target house which was £70 last year, £90 this year and already out of reach - will grow slower next year possibly to become £96.50, say. To indicate to these FTBs that said house is about to “crash” in price is deluded and cruel.

How will have no fixed abode for a year help with the OP’s mortgage application? Living in a campervan with her partner might be a fun adventure during the summer, but cramped in there all winter does not sound fun, and I say this as a happy campervan owner. Where would they put all their stuff for a year, how would they receive post etc - not everyone has a parent or friend willing to act as their fake residence.

The key thing is to make sure the van you live in doesn't actually look like a campervan

Can you imagine how stressful this would be in practice, you’d have to basically hide in there with the curtains and windows shut every evening, go to sleep every night worrying you could be moved on at any minute. And what if the gym you were showering in was shut one morning before an important work meeting? Sounds really unpractical for the OP’s situation.

Another thing about people moving some where else. Imagine how frustrating it is for people who have lived in the same area all of their lives and they can't afford to buy a house on local wages with no inheritance or help. Then all of a sudden a huge surge of people from London start moving in. They now can't even afford to rent or buy in a place where they have grown up. It causes so much resentment in communities.

Yes, it's great for those who move and suddenly get a bargain, but what about everyone else.

I don't know the answer to this as we cannot stop people moving where they want. But, if house prices were sensible everywhere then this wouldn't be such a big issue.

Yes I agree.

I don't think it's very kind to tell people to hold off buying because their deposit is going to become less and less valuable. The massive price crash of the 90s just isn't going to happen anytime soon.

@Yourstory it’s a bigger spiral than that, I think. People can’t afford to buy in London/SE because so many people who are not originally from there move there for work. It’s not that people move for a bargain, it’s that they can’t afford to live where they’re from either. The problem is that so many industries are concentrated in very few places.

Sleeping in your 'camper' van is not actually illegal. Looking like a normal van just means it much more discrete hence you can pretty much park anywhere. A van parked in many residential street would get no attention at all.

If shower in the van is a necessity for you, your ensure you van build includes a shower.

'Van life' isn't for everyone - I admit I never have tried but if my circumstances changed I would consider it.

We have a camper van, and for it to look like a 'normal van' we would have to get rid of the curtains (even though you'd need them shut to hide anyone was living in it), we wouldn't be able to use the pop-top so it would be ridiculously cramped with two adults living in it. If you have just parked up on a street then you can't open up the door and sit outside, or open the door when you were cooking. A shower would take up quite a lot of room in the van too.

OP do you live near a canal? I have had friends that lived on houseboats, which would be much cheaper than buying a flat, and you can get permanent moorings with toilet/shower facilities.

👏👏👏
We’ve needed change from the day it started to happen, back in the early 00s. As op says, it feels like you’ve wasted your life working and doing the right thing for nothing.

But here we are, and there has been no change for 20 sodding years.

So. What do people in this much-proclaimed “democracy” think we should do about it?

What address do you use for insurance/phone contract/internet/bank accounts/mortgage applications?

Help to Buy is closing in 5 months. Wonder what impact that will have on the cost of new builds. Might be worth waiting OP.

It's the down valuation that are making this really difficult for us as they require so much extra cash up front.

Surveyors are the qualified professionals in the house buying process (along with conveyancers). Estate agents are non qualified sales people who are pushing prices up beyond what surveyors consider those houses to be worth. It's the estate agents that are causing the issues with their up valuations, not the surveyors and their realistic valuations.

Their target house which was £70 last year, £90 this year and already out of reach - will grow slower next year possibly to become £96.50, say. To indicate to these FTBs that said house is about to “crash” in price is deluded and cruel.

Strange that you are absolutely guaranteeing house price growth next year. There seems to be dissent amongst analysts as to whether we are looking at continued growth, stagnation, or a small drop in prices. On what basis are you guaranteeing continued growth?

Agree housing is the biggest problem - can't blame people hoping for prices to fall, but what we desperately need are more houses to do that not other families losing their homes.

House price falls doesn't necessarily mean people losing their homes 🤷‍♀️. Most people can ride it out. It only has an impact on those who have bought in the last few years AND had a small deposit AND need to sell. That's a very small proportion of home owners.

You misunderstand. Often on these threads the phrase “growth might slow” or the “market might cool down” is interpreted as house that is £100 today is likely to become £80 next year. I am pointing out that these phrases do not necessarily mean this at all. Growth may well slow, stagnate or cool down and it could still be the case that the £100 house becomes £101 or £102 but not “crash” to £80.

It's so depressing. I actually do just sit and cry about it and I am actually depressed about house prices. I wish I was born 15 years earlier. I've saved and saved for over ten years to reach my dream goal of home ownership and house prices have risen so fast in the last few years, along with inflation, my savings are worthless. Not to mention, all the stories I hear about people putting in well over the asking price all the time so it is even more depressing. The bottom rung of the ladder has been well and truly pulled far out of my reach. One FT worker could buy a house twenty years ago. Now myself and my partner both working FT can't afford a house at all within an hours drive (we can't WFH at all and we must consider petrol costs). I work with people who all own houses as I'm the youngest by 20+ years. They all complain about the cost of living.... they all know I can barely save and all their mortgages are at least HALF the cost of my rent if not more.. plus home owners have made all this profit overtime, who can release unearned equities to buy another house/build an extension/use for emergencies.. must be nice to have that safety net. My savings are literally for a house I don't do anything - I don't go on holidays abroad, I only shop in charity shops and buy reduced food, I barely save into my pension (don't even get me start on the great pension rip off - young people really don't have those fancy final salary pensions anymore god knows what we will live on). There is literally nothing more I can do. I'm also the same as OP.. can't WFH and can't go too far away and also petrol costs to take into consideration. Sorry if this sounds like a bitter rant but I am beyond depressed. I can't even bring myself to look at right move etc any more. Whenever anyone talks about even small things like decorating their own place.. sitting in the garden, putting up pictures on the wall... as well as home ownership these things I cannot do I just want to cry. I have put off children and a wedding to own a home and it is likely I never will. The only way it will happen now is if there is a market crash (highly unlikely) or if I move back in with my parents in my 30s still with no guarantees. I have had people look down on me but they've had help to buy a house (money from parents, in laws etc) and we don't have that kind of help nor would we expect it anyway!

Growth may well slow, stagnate or cool down and it could still be the case that the £100 house becomes £101 or £102 but not “crash” to £80.

But prices may drop. Some analysts are predicting drops in prices of 5-10%. My point is no one actually knows.

And so screw those people that had a small deposit, bought recently and need to sell eh? Good times.

So you'd rather screw those who've been saving for years and still can't buy due to extortionate rents and ever increasing house prices?