Daily Mail: Is Britain's property bubble about to burst?

[FabulousSophie]

I was reading this article in the Daily Mail today, and was particularly interested to see there is now a campaign group called Priced Out, which is campaigning for affordable house prices. I googled them and went to their website, and signed their petition.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6064685/Fears-grow-house-prices-fall-fastest-rate-financial-crisis.html

Sophie's fabulous property obsession aside, I do hope that prices will fall a bit. It's gotten totally out of control and outpaced what people earn. It would be nice if people could actually buy a house with their money and not rely on things like Help to Buy just to pay some inflated price on a shoebox.

I think all this "bubble bursting" is being discussed because some lenders started 100% morgages again... They obviously haven't learned

OftenHangry Economic irresponsibility is like childbirth, I think people are genetically programmed to forget the pain when it is over.

There is a website called House Price Crash which has been going for years. I imagine most of the contributors are rather odd men who still with their mothers. Some of them are so convinced that house prices will crash they have money in the bank they could have used 10 years ago and now property has gone up so much they cannot afford to buy.

I appreciate there are places where this is still not the case and prices are still below £100k. But in the SE and places like York, Edinbrough, etc where it is unlikely prices will ‘crash’ go down slightly but not by huge amounts.

With most of us a drop in the price does not matter as long as you can afford the mortgage, council tax etc.

With the high levels of immigration the country suffers there is always someone to buy.

Gaspodethetalkingdog I am glad that a drop in prices will not affect you. But I am also glad that a drop in prices does matter to the 'priced out' younger generation, who will find it helpful in buying a home, or moving up the housing ladder.

But FabSophie, the priced out are meant to wait an indeterminate number of years whilst prices stagnate and wages catch up, so as not to unduly inconvenience those already on the ladder. Or didn't you get the memo?

wherewithal Most homeowners here seem to be saying they are not bothered if prices fall. So it's great that, on the one hand, homeowners are unconcerned about falling prices, and that, on the other hand, the younger generation will benefit significantly from falling prices. It means the consensus in the country is in favour of falling prices to help out the young.

If prices fall fewer people will sell and banks will increase deposits and rates of interest as lending will seem more risky

Gaspodethetalkingdog It will be easier for young people to buy or move up the property ladder if prices are lower. After all, high property prices have substantially reduced home ownership, not increased it.

Posting a thread a week about this on mumsnet won’t make the prices drop you know. Round here houses are still holding value and shifting at a decent speed.

Be nice if it did though!

Where I live house prices have gone up in the last year by about 4%. Supply and demand, we don't have enough housing for the growing population, and until that changes I can't see prices dropping.

NeverTwerkNaked Unaffordable property prices are a major issue for the poor younger generation. Brexit apart, the major political parties feel the housing affordability crisis is the single biggest issue of our age. As a running problem, like other people's property problems, it is highly relevant to a property comments board, especially to those who take an interest in major national problems. You don't have to comment on the thread, if it is of no interest to you.

I think it's very regional. Our house sold (earlier this week) after a week on the market, and the few houses that come on the markeg in the area we are looking to move to are selling equally fast. (For asking price or near as dammit)

We're up north, and what's going on in Lond doesn't seem to translate to here - either the highs or the lows.

I'm not in favour of the current property prices btw - having so much of our economy bound up in a non-productive class of assets isn't a good thing.

But looking around my area, there doesn't appear to be a price crash going on. That may change, but right now houses are selling very quickly.

@FabulousSophie my job is delivering affordable housing! I could earn a lot more in the private sector as a lawyer but am motivated by the need for more affordable housing options.
But I think constantly posting these kind of threads is distasteful and fruitless

Where I live (SE London outskirts), the bubble isn't bursting so much as very slowly deflating. I have a Rightmove addiction and so many properties are listed and then I see them again in a few weeks come up again at a lower price. A year ago that wasn't happening at the scale it is now and two years ago, they'd have disappeared off the site in a matter of days. Three years ago, half of them would never have been listed, they'd have been under offer before the particulars were even fully written up.

But I think constantly posting these kind of threads is distasteful and fruitless

Why is keeping up-to-date with a constantly evolving national news story 'distasteful'? It is all over the front pages of the newspapers these days.

Because for every hopeful FTB there’s another one who has overstretched themselves to get on the ladder and would be facing negative equity if the market crashes.

Plus FTB would not gain as much as you would think - mortgage lending would be tighter (no more small deposits etc, or expensive rates for those with little equity).

All of which would drive prices down to affordable levels...

Not for those with small deposits though lilmiss ... it would most likely benefit cash buyers/ investors

NeverTwerkNaked Not discussing how the problem is changing would not make it disappear. A lot of women, like me, want to keep up to date with the problem, which is constantly evolving in the news.

I agree twerk. The last crash benefited investors, not people struggling to get on the ladder.

A housing scheme propped up with help to buy was never sustainable nor this constant belief that house prices should keep going up.

I understand there will be losers but if prices had been allowed to correct in 2008 and not propped up we would be in a much better place now.

Negative equity is only a problem if you've invested in a home to make money and not bought a home to just to live in

This comes from someone who bought at peak and just had to sell at a loss so I'm well aware of negative equity - I had to stay put for a king time and over pay to get out of that house...

I think it is pretty absurd to suggest that lower property prices would reduce home ownership. The current major issue is that high prices have reduced home ownership, not increased it.