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Original poster

"More people want house prices to fall than to rise"

143 replies

southutsire · 12/05/2008 11:48

House prices

As a wannabe first-time-buyer obviously I am pleased with the current turn in the market... but am surprised at this. Just wondered if it's really true (obviously MN is a far more scientific barometer than a survey )

OP posts:
OrmIrian · 12/05/2008 11:54

I do.

I don't find it that surprising. Huge property prices only translate to real profit when you sell up and don't need to buy anything else. Which most of us won't do.

We need a bigger house and if prices fall we might just about be able to move.

mumblechum · 12/05/2008 11:58

I don't mind if house prices rise, as obviously if we sold for, say £100k less than the house was worth a few months ago, so what? The next house will have gone down in proportion, so maybe by £120k.

That's £4,800 less capital gains tax than I'd be paying if they were static.

The only people who should be worried are those who are in danger of negative equity and repossession, or those who are worried about the value of their estate when they die.

mumblechum · 12/05/2008 11:58

Durrrr

Obviously meant "if they Fall" not "if they rise".

RedFraggle · 12/05/2008 11:59

Don't mind as long as it's not too much! We are currently in the process of selling ours and moving. If we get knocked down a lot then obviously we will just be knocking down the people we buy from...
It's only if it drops into negative equity for people that it becomes a huge issue surely?

mumblechum · 12/05/2008 11:59

Double Durr Not CGT, Stamp Duty.

Really must start to preview before talking bollocks

ivykaty44 · 12/05/2008 11:59

If house prices fall then the gov will lose out on tax - death and capital gains etc so will be better for people

jellybeans · 12/05/2008 12:01

I also hope prices fall. The prices at the moment are ridiculous. I want my DC to be able to afford a house one day without taking on silly multiples of wages. Few people gain from massive house price inflation. I think prices will drop dramatically in the next 5 years.

Original poster
southutsire · 12/05/2008 12:03

It's weird though when you look at all the media headlines - why is even the possibility of falls always reported as 'doom and gloom'. There's no doom and gloom in our house at the prospect!

OP posts:
OrmIrian · 12/05/2008 12:06

I agree southutsire. It's always painted as a really bad thing that everyone must dread. Why? For the majority of us it's not real money anyway. And even if you go into neg equity it's only a problem if you need to move. And even then not neccessarily a huge problem - we had to move when DS#1 was a baby as the house was a one-bed cottage. We took on a 125% mortgage but we've more than made up the loss since.

PeachyHas4BoysAndLovesIt · 12/05/2008 12:06

Well my sister is finally looking at getting on the ladder as prices just dropped enough for them, so great for her.

Won't affect us much personally as we're renting in a house that has no mortgage on it. It would ultimately eman a smaller proportion in rented accom though (as more could afford) so if we ahd to move (when the woners kids are old enough to want it) there shouldn't be so much competition for rented houses as before.

MrsTittleMouse · 12/05/2008 12:12

I think that people feel rich if they have an expensive house. My Mum used to keep going on about how much her house was "worth". She has stopped now, I think because she realises that house price increases are stopping us from buying a house of our own. Why did it matter to her though? She isn't going to sell and get any of that money. It's just a number on a piece of paper. I know that she wants to leave us some inheritance from it, but we'd be a damn sight better off being able to buy a family home now, than getting a windfall in (hopefully) a very long time from now!

Callisto · 12/05/2008 12:49

Where are house prices dropping though? Certainly not in the Cotswolds the last time I checked and prices in Oxford are still rising supposedly.

AbbeyA · 12/05/2008 13:01

I hope that house prices fall, it is so difficult for people who are starting out and I would like them to afford a house.

expatinscotland · 12/05/2008 13:03

I don't get how this is good news for first-time buyers.

For one, the prices would have to fall dramatically for the majority of first-time buyers to be able to afford anything.

Secondly, it has become harder to get a mortgage.

Thirdly, market downturns usually go along with very unpleasant things that affect everyone, like unemployment and natural disasters.

I couldn't care less.

It will change nothing for us, for one, or many others.

Original poster
southutsire · 12/05/2008 13:12

It's good news for us expat - we've been renting at a low price a long, long time and have been able to save up a big enough deposit that a mortgage won't be a problem. Plus in the area we're looking we are watching prices fall. I realise that we're in a better position than most ftbers (though I suspect we are older than most!). And I do think we will see dramatic falls.

OP posts:
Original poster
southutsire · 12/05/2008 13:19

Callisto: house prices down 5.2% in a single quarter in the Cotswolds

OP posts:
MrsTittleMouse · 12/05/2008 13:25

House price falls will do us good - we have a big deposit as when we were both working we saved up (I'm a SAHM now). So getting a mortgage is no problem. And I would rather have a smaller mortgage with a higher interest rate than the other way round (after all, who knows what interest rates will do in 5 or even 10 years).

Cloudhopper · 12/05/2008 13:41

I despair of our house prices in this country. I thought it was unbelievably bad when they rose, and even if they halve now it will be a pyrrhic victory.

There will always be people who will lose out and never the people you think deserve it. Plus the ensuing recession will bite us all, I'm sure.

Prices should never have been allowed to get so ridiculously high in the first place, and the government should be ashamed of this. Every time there is a housing boom in this country, lots of tiny dwellings are built on tiny bits of land with no outdoor space, creating huge profits for landowners and developers.

The younger generation have been thoroughly shafted over this because of our reluctance to build the right number and sort of homes.

So even if prices go down, progressively our housing stock is becoming worse. IMO.

AitchTwoCiao · 12/05/2008 13:44

prices are still mental where i live.

TheFallenMadonna · 12/05/2008 13:47

House prices are on the slide a bit here, but mostly it's a shortage of first time buyers meaning nothing is moving. Either they're holding out for a better deal as prices drop more, or they can't get a decent mortgage.

mummyjaguar · 12/05/2008 13:47

I'm pleased but that's because I'm trying to buy a house at the moment.

I think most people will be pleased unless they've bought with a large mortgage in the past couple of years and might therefore find their house is worth less than they paid for it. Ultimately lots of us want to trade up and so we need those bigger more expensive houses to be within financial reach.

VictorianSqualor · 12/05/2008 13:50

We're just outside of Oxford they certainly aren't becoming wonderfully cheap here, could do with them lowering to be able to afford a decent size house closer to DD's school tbh, where we want to live it's a good £200k for a normal sized house.

Callisto · 12/05/2008 13:51

Thanks for the link Southutsire. Realistically a 5.2% fall on tiny, massively over-priced cottages doesn't make a difference to first time buyers.

Cloudhopper - completely agree.

MrsTittleMouse · 12/05/2008 13:52

Where we are, we're looking at £300,000 for a decent family house. A drop of 20% would be lovely to take us under the 1% stamp duty limit. That may be wishful thinking though...

expatinscotland · 12/05/2008 13:53

Hmm, caravans are reasonably priced .