To think that house prices will ever fall to affordable levels?

[MumNWLondon]

I saw this in the Daily Mail:

link

For those that know me, I have been a property bear (ie I think that house prices will fall) for a while now; I think its very sad that its no longer possible to buy an average family house for three times family income, and ever sadder that many bought in at the peak and now face negative equity in small properties and hence will not be able to easily move to a family home.

So am I being unreasonable to hope that house prices will decline to sensible levels and do you think its likely?

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this on this thread but one of the major problems affecting the housing market is not just the general economy or the supply of housing but also the social attitudes. The biggest issue in the UK is the strong attachment to privatised household living - people believe they should live in a private family home occupied by a nuclear family.

IMHO many of the problems (eg of older single people living in larger underoccupied houses of singles and young couples unable to afford more than a shoebox in Middlesbrough...) could be tackled with an inventive attitude towards communality. Elders and youngers could share housing with sensible tax and inheritance arrangements, providing support and even care in lieu of equity etc.

This used to happen fairly naturally in middle class families, and in working class families, as Xenia pointed out, it happened with rental agreements transferred between generations.

But why not pursue it outside the immediate family? There must be older single residents who would be happy to have a young family around? It just needs a bit of inventive social policy and financial planning from the govt... And of course a bit more openness in people's attitudes.

Good point above.

Also, in theory, labour market mobility (renting) helps the economy to be more efficient.

Ah, but as I think I mentioned above, some letting agents, at least in our area, have been trying to distort the market. In any case, there is no Land Registry of rental prices agreed, so all you have is the letting notice to go on, and that might well not be a final price.