Social consequences of house price boom

[Upwind]

comment at the guardian.co.uk [click]

One of my pet subjects but I have not seen this in the mainstream media before:

"If food or energy prices were rising at 8% per year, let alone at 20% there would be outrage. There would certainly be alarm that such price rises were not sustainable and that increasing numbers of people were unable to afford a basic commodity.
Academics at the university of Aberdeen are currently running a project on this, and other, changes in society and believe that "when the implications of these developments are taken together, they hold the potential to produce profound and, as yet, largely unanticipated social consequences for this age cohort, as well as for UK society as a whole".
Astronomical prices mean that couples who cannot afford to buy, or move to larger properties, or lose half a joint income, are having children later in life when their fertility rates are lower. You do not have to own a home before you have children but many people desire at least some stability before they do so. "

The words fight and roof over your head don't go together imo what bollocks!It might be a dog eat dofg world but that is a shocking way for people to live No one should have to suffer just to have a home I think you are harsh xenia because you are privileged I have made a fair bit from property and am now seeing it for what it is and would gladly see it half if it made for a fairer system.There is no way your standard of home shopuld be dtermined by how much you are prepared to be a slave to hours at work

Erm nobody gets free anything from the Government Xenia

EVERYONE p[ays taxes in one way or another- even if just on clothes.

This idea of hand outs or houses etc being free-

bollocks.

Its paid for by us. If I need housing in some eventuality it will have been funded in a good part by my contributions.

read this site for more info:
www.housepricecrash.co.uk/newsblog/

there should be a correction one day, prices cannot double indefinitely

Does Xenia really believe she is a better person because she managed to get a mortgage at the right time? Could she afford to buy her house at todays prices? Bear in mind the lending multiples keep you from stretching your salary to the new prices.

i think she believes anyone who puts themself in a ridiculous position just to be a homeowner is a better person-weird!i really don't think a basic human need should be something to strive or make sacrifices for

No. I was just saying there is no reason Governments will provide homes at cheap prices. Prices go up and down and always have but over a 40 year lifetime of owning properties most of those who could ever aspire to own somewhere usually are able to enter the market. I doubt the very low paid have ever been able and nor will ever be able to own their own house. Teh only person who temporarily made it possible was my hero Lady Thatcher but I doubt those days will come again.

One can only hope, Xenia, one can only hope

(that those days wont return obv)

God forbid anyone might think me a Tory

It was either have kids or have house I could have got a mortgage if I was to not have kids as I would be in a more stable position to borrow wads of cash. I suppose I can buy a house any time in the future but I cannot say the same for having kids.
PS we have above average salaries, god knows how all the graduates with massive debt who end up working in below average salary jobs will be able to buy. There will always be a need for the First time buyer, the market could never sustain itself as it stands now. Anyways, look across the pond, the correction is already happening:
www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USL1470530620070314
and read here:
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&sid=aaxEGhOqB5eg&refer=home
and here:
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=apKbQNSz4iXs&refer=columnist_gilbert
the bug is catching, it's heading our way:
www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/money/2007/03/28/cnfrance28.xml

that house price crash website may eventually see a correction if it stays long enough..it has been going for years and prices have carried on up

Ha ha! Ever the hot topic, bloody house prices!

Granted, the correction should have happened years ago, maybe 2003 IMO. But the bloody BoEngland made sure that didn't happen:
news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2377729.ece

The bank of england deliberately kept interest rates low to stop a recession.But the delay only means when it does happen it will be worse

I haven't read the thread (I did read the comment!). My pet hate is people who have their own little 'property empires'. I think it is so selfish to buy more houses and put up house prices - when you have a roof over your head. I know some people make a living out of renting and it is their sole income - I don't necessarily mean them - just the many, many, MANY people who have 2-4 properties and use the rents as 'extra money'. IT BUGS ME.

My MIL and FIL go on about the Housing Market and how it will come down. I listened to them in 2001 and they said it was inflated and not to buy!!!!!
I was only young and believed it. Now they keep saying the market will go down, as it will one day one day but too late, they will never return to the bargain prices that 2002 prices were (the year I wanted to buy).
Thing is in the same breath they say that they will buy a house to rent when it does, I think they are rubbing salt into my woulnds cos they know how I worked and saved hard for a home, they can just buy another now if they wanted, thats what they tell me and it winds me up!

I've been surprised it hasn't dropped yet. When I divorced in 2003 I thought my husband was getting his money at the very top of the market and then we'd have a crash and I would seriously lose out but it hasn't happened yet. It's hard to predict exact timings and it is more likely to be a correction than a 1920s style or even 1970s style property crash. I think if you need a home and can buy it's best to get on with it rather than trying to predict a crash like my brother did and then he found in the last 3 years prices going up even more. If instead you have 100 buy to lets you might well want to cash some in but that's a different issue.

it may drop in the short-term or the rate of increase may slow but the fact is there's a shortage of supply so inevitably this will put pressure on prices. From what i've read, in the US there's an oversupply in many areas, hence the slump in prices.
As for people making £ out of houses, well why not? We only have 2 (and that's lucky,I realise) but are taking a gamble on them being a worthwhile long-term investment.We are mortgaged to the hilt to pay for them and have a relatively small disposable income left after monthly repayments. It's our choice and it's somewhat of a sacrifice which we hope will pay off. Also we are not unscrupulous landlords but look after our asset (the house) and our tenants who are by no means exploited.

it's ultimately all a risk, I know we're lucky to have at least some equity.If I'd have waited a yr or so to buy my first flat I'd have found it unaffordable (bought in 1998). However, there's always someone else who bought at an even better time and has tons more equity than us, but that's life, isn't it? Just have to do the best we can.

Depends where you buy and your gearing too. My father who bought in 1961 has made less money than we did in cash terms even though his £6000 has increased about 70 times in 46 years. I wonder how the stock market has gone up between 1961 and today as a comparator? Or what would happen if he'd put £6k had he had the cash which he didn't, in a buildling society and the interest compounded.

"We live on a dog eat dog planet riven by war and strife where people are dying of hunger and disease, where communism has always failed and no Govermnent owes anyone free or even cheap housing for life."

Since when does a desiring to own your own home at a non-overinflated price make you a communist?

I'm not looking to the government for cheap housing. I'm looking to the banks to stop supplying cheap credit to morons. I'm looking to the media to stop the endless pro-HPI hype from the media. I'm looking for some sign that there is a functional, Lady Thatcher Approved Market in Housing, complete with Invisible Hand(TM).

All I'm seeing now is hype, low interest rates and endless Estate Agents press-releases, cut and pasted into broadsheet property supplements. Markets only work when there's a free flow of information, to allow the buyer to judge the best pros and cons of a decision in a balanced way. This doesn't happen for houses at the moment. Outside of the Financial Times (boring!) and the Guardian (muesli-muching liberal scum!) it's a non-issue. Most house price news is reported in newspapers which rely on estate agent advertising for a large part of their revenue stream. Are they going to report something the EA's don't like? Like hell they are.

How about we take the opposite tack; what happens if this is the ways things are going to be like from now on? Low interest rates, endless ramping, buy-to-lets outnumbering first-time buyers, an ever inflating property market vampirically sucking the money out of trade, industry and all the real wealth creators and into housing... I guarantee the result of that will make the Winter of Discontent look like a closing time pub tussle.

Once upon a time a bank would offer a mortgage of up to 3.5 times the main wage earner's salary, and you had to have the deposit in cash. Now, if you want to own a big house (and get ahead in this dog-eat-dog world...), you can borrow the deposit off your credit cards, lie about your income and get a self-certificated mortgage. Then rent it out and repeat to build your own property empire.

It's not going to be popular round here, but the housing market needs crippled. It's going too fast and too high. House prices need to be brought to a more realistic level. A compulsory 25% deposit, funded from cash reserves (NOT credit!) should do it. That would kill of the flippers, gazumpers and assorted other spivs and allow the people of this nation to invest in genuine wealth creation, rather than the fake sort which just leaves you owing more and more and the banks getting richer and richer.

Well this Thursday is the first on in the month. So I will lay money on the interest rate going up.

Anyone care to tell me different??

Please feel free to tell me about my dreadful grammer.

I think they will rise too and further rises as the yr goes on.We have seen our houses as investments and piggy banks for too long What about those who just want a home?Kevlar have you been reading too much hpc.co.uk

Totally agree noddyholder - these people with a 'proerpty portfolio' make me so mad. They are so proud that they own several houses and take great delight in telling you they have made a fortune from their investments.

Hoo-fucking-raah

What about us mere mortals who would just like a foot on the property ladder?

Well said Kevlarhead, nicely put.
Why is it the rest of the world is so blind?