Are prices shooting up where you are?

[Focusanddetermination]

Just that really. I'm in a small Midlands town, have a high amount of activity and prices shooting up in the past few weeks even.

I thought people would be more hesitant with a looming recession, but it's almost the opposite.

@FurierTransform that's why if you buy in London, you should try to buy in a Jewish area (Hendon, Finchley, Golders Green) because it's really not easy to move that. Getting the eruv set up requires years of wrangling with the council, never mind about the community, synagogues,shops and schools. My MIL would never leave London because of that despite having worked from home for the past 30 years.

Actually you're far better to be in London than an hour's train ride away as most of the places like that are grim commuter places (like Reigate) that have very little going for them due to proximity to London that sucks out all the life.

I really don't think WFH will long term changethat much. Bosses still want to see bums on seats and people want to interact with other people.

I'm not worried about my property portfolio in London at all.

@marysuzairn I think most people would rather be in Reigate that the sh*thole that is East London

@marysuzairn I'm not worried about my property portfolio in London at all.

Nice little humblebrag about the £3M property "portfolio" . Sure. What next love? "AIBU because my back hurts as the Lamborghini is too low?"; "Anyone else want to swap Birkins?"

think most people would rather be in Reigate that the shthole that is East London*

I wouldnt. It is my home.

@BakedBlossoms

think most people would rather be in Reigate that the shthole that is East London*

I wouldnt. It is my home.

My sincerest commiserations

@BakedBlossoms there is nothing wrong with E London

@plainsailing01 - and sorry....Reigate???????????

The whole point is that different people like different things - personally i would be happy to live in Edinburgh but that's pretty much it when it comes to places outside London and in the UK. Which is fine because thats my personal preference. Other people are happier in Reigate. I dont live in London only because of work but because thats the only global city the UK has.....and my family are here etc...And I think that a lot of people will still want to live here and experience it WFH or not

In my area I've noticed expensive houses are selling, but not flats. We pulled out of a flat purchase (300k, 15% deposit) because a) I'm furloughed and 30% likely to be made redundant, b) Scared about price falls, c) Changed our mind about buying a new flat and want a doer-upper house instead, d) Saved an extra 5% in lockdown and can get a better rate than the offer gave anyway, e) Would like more deposit for more security. The mortgage broker was pushing us like crazy to take the mortgage but we said no and I am so relieved. We are going to wait till Autumn and regroup.

However, humans aren't robots guided by what's "optimal". Happiness is the most important factor and money only plays a small part in that; for me it takes a small amount to be comfortable (1k a month really), anything over that I don't spend because there's nothing I want to spend it on. Life isn't just about maximising investment. For example, with my qualifications I could work in a bank, make 200k a year and retire early. However in reality I'd probably commit suicide out of misery, so I choose to do a 35k job where I don't have to commute to London and can leave the office at 5pm to go to hobby classes in the evening. I might even move to a creative sector (shock horror) where I earn absolute peanuts, because I enjoy the work so much! Definitely not "optimal" behaviour

Houses are much the same. Yes, we could wait 18 months, but in reality we've lived in a 1 bed flat for 4 years and want to have kids now. There's only so long we're willing to wait for the prospect of a slightly cheaper mortgage. I'm very financially cautious (save 50% of salary, planning to pay mortgage off in 15% of our joint salary per month. Therefore, buying at a slightly inflated price wouldn't bankrupt us, even if interest rates went up. Might be different for someone on a 5% deposit mortgaged up to the eyeballs on a new-build.

I have been suicidal over the thought of being trapped in negative equity. It is making me ill

@TheGuruishere- I understand you are suggest that the government will do everything they can to protect the housing market. I'm sure that's correct but from everything I have read everywhere, the statements of the chancellor, the BOE and the opinions of those on here who work in Economics/ Finance/ Property Law, etc plus personally knowing many people who are struggling, it seems highly unlikely that interventions will be enough to prevent prices from falling.

@marysuzairn- prices have fallen in London and elsewhere. They fell in 2009/10. They have simply risen again. You have been very fortunate to have bought at a time in history when property prices rose hugely particularly in London and the Home Counties particularly. It does not follow that there will be the same relative rise over the next 10 or 20 years. It would be foolish to make this assumption.

I have noticed that this thread is very London centric. London is a bubble in many ways and I'm often surprised at some of things that Londoners say (not referring to this thread in the main). Although many clearly love living in London or want to live in London on balance, I think others may well choose to move out for more space if they have the option to WFH even part time.

I live (rent) currently in an affluent area in a City in the North and house prices here are definitely increasing, but the average house price is probably around 350-400k which is expensive for the North.

The area I'm looking to move in is a smaller village and their prices seem to be flatter, but we are looking at around the 250k mark.

I think it depends on the area or the price range your looking at

@yellowymellowy yes - the way people talk is as if jobs only exist in London. In my area (statistics/data science), there are so many jobs in the Home Counties. Ocado, Tesco, EasyJet, TUI, GSK, Roche, AstraZeneca, Airbus, Fujitsu - all these companies have head offices not in London. Plus Cambridge is a science & tech hub. I haven't ever had to commute to London regardless of WFH trends!

@marysuzairn
I think people are dillusional thinking house prices will fall while central banks are printing so much money.
Yeah, that's never happened before . Maybe do a quick Google search before you share your wisdom on MN?

I really don't think wtf will affect London much. All the jobs are here, people may start working 1 or two days a week but will still need to go into the office.
It will. There's a huge difference if people are asked to WFH 50% of the time or more. It makes an hour plus commute more bearable and people will want more "working space" + garden etc. at home. Several people on MN and in real life have commented on how their home buying requirements have changed as a result of the lockdown and anticipated work pattern changes. This will make the outer zones and commuter towns far more desirable than the inner zones.

@ComtesseDeSpair This is why you can meet Londoners who don’t think of a £100k salary as being a high-earner, because many people on that salary won’t have the trappings usually associated with being well-off. As this thread has demonstrated, we have a man in his thirties who claims to be a very high earner with the ability to raise a mortgage of three quarters of a million; yet is looking to buy a very average house in a very average London suburb because that’s all he can afford.

1. I'm a woman, 2. I earn a little more than £100k , 3. I only borrow what I can afford and I keep a serious buffer + allowance for my quality of life - my mortgage payment would be less than 20% of my take home salary per month 4. Find me a better place where I can get such a house for under £1M, has great schools, low crime, a park and is a 40 minute door to door commute to my office near Bank station if you think Finchley is so "average".

@BeijingBikini
For example, with my qualifications I could work in a bank, make 200k a year and retire early. However in reality I'd probably commit suicide out of misery, so I choose to do a 35k job where I don't have to commute to London and can leave the office at 5pm to go to hobby classes in the evening.
I'm sorry that you have such a negative impression about what it's like to work for a bank. I have pretty decent work life balance, go on holidays often, meet up with family and friends at least twice over the week days etc. Not all high paid jobs make you work crazy hours. Conversely, not all critical and hard working jobs pay well - take doctors and nurses as an example. Associating the amount of money with work life balance is a fairly archaic concept.

@yellowymellowy There's a reason this time around they won't be able to do anything to save property prices. It's because they have "borrowed" far more than the last financial crisis and they cannot do much more without losing market credibility.

A few posters here said "the government will just keep printing money..." so I feel compelled to address this as they simply do not understand how QE works. I'd highly recommend reading up on it but in summary, the Bank of England (not the government) "prints" money and then buys government debt from investors etc. so they now have money to invest in other assets.

Does the government need to pay back this "debt" to the Bank of England?
Absolutely YES If the government didn't, the UK gilt will become instantly meaningless. The Bank of England, pre-Covid, owns only 30% of government debt. The rest lies in pension funds, banks and foreign investors. If any of these parties gets even wind of the fact that British government isn't planning on paying it's debts, the gilts (the debts, "IOU"s) will become worthless.
Will these investors buy houses now that they have money from the gilts they sold to the Bank of England?
Unlikely. Because they just sold the safest investment you could buy in an investment portfolio. What happens is they will usually buy other government debt with longer terms, or safe corporate debt (think Apple, Amazon etc.), or other government bonds etc. This is because the investors holding government debt tend to be institutions and they want to "balance portfolio risk". This is why during the crash of 2009 and the subsequent QE, house prices were unaffected. House prices jumped only in 2013 when credit was more easily available via HTB scheme encouraging normal people to buy residential property.

I think I'm done explaining in this thread to be honest. You either get it or you don't. Either way, good luck!

Yes! It’s ridiculous. The market is suddenly flooded and everyone seems to be asking silly money - i.e. £1.5M for a 2 bed cottage in the Midlands. A lot of the more expensive ones are listed as vacant/no upward chain too so may be assets being sold before ... what comes next.

I had to laugh at this retirement bungalow though, £400,000 in the North Midlands with a basic builder finish (the rest wont be like the show home). It looks like a correctional facility!

www.follwells.co.uk/properties-for-sale/property/9757709-woodlands-court-newcastle

Not all high paid jobs make you work crazy hours

True, my husband earns fairly well and sits on his arse watching Netflix and dialling in to a few meetings where he says "OK, yep, bye" and clocks off at 4:30. However a lot of my friendship group work for banks/big 4 and they all seem to work 10-12 hour days a standard. One had to miss her own birthday dinner. I release not all workplaces are like that, but it seems to be more of a thing in London (in Home Counties jobs are more chilled and people leave early because of kids) but I really value being able to just do my contracted hours and then going to planned evening activities.

Who knows, if I get made redundant then will have to change sector!

The housing advice has been very interesting, and reassuring to renters with a decent deposit, I am just unsure if we will be able to hold out for 18 months. A potential baby in a 1 bed flat wouldn't be great.

@BeijingBikini "there are so many jobs in the Home Counties. Ocado, Tesco, EasyJet, TUI, GSK, Roche, AstraZeneca, Airbus, Fujitsu - all these companies have head offices not in London."

I agree in principle with this point. However, I know that some of the companies you've listed are in the process of making redundancies and cuts (e.g. easyJet, airbus).

However, I suspect GSK, Roche, AstraZenca and Tesco will do quite well out of the changing markets atm.

@BakedBlossoms

I have been suicidal over the thought of being trapped in negative equity. It is making me ill

Remember negative equity is only a problem primarily if you cannot afford the payments, as you repay the capital you'll gain equity in any event. Also even if you do fall into negative equity, you may well find the house you're wanting to move to has also fallen too. If your flat isn't selling why don't you just drop the price whilst there is short term interest in the housing market? Better to take a 5% hit now than 20% plus further down the line IMO

@thequantofmontecarlo not to diss finchley as its also my area. But when DH was growing up in the 2000s, most of his friends in secondary school lived in Finchley Central and the profile of their parents was more like 'lecturer and admin assistant', 'journalist and teacher' than six figure earners. It was considered a perfectly respectable but not a 'desirable' area. However of course at that time, the secondary school options were more limited as Archer did not exist.

Also with regards to school options, the primary schools near N3 are pretty good, but other than Archer (which has a tiny N3 catchment), I am not aware there are any other good secondary schools in the area. Other than the grammar, faith and private options- but that isn't really determined by postcode.

[quote PerfidiousAlbion]Yes! It’s ridiculous. The market is suddenly flooded and everyone seems to be asking silly money - i.e. £1.5M for a 2 bed cottage in the Midlands. A lot of the more expensive ones are listed as vacant/no upward chain too so may be assets being sold before ... what comes next.

I had to laugh at this retirement bungalow though, £400,000 in the North Midlands with a basic builder finish (the rest wont be like the show home). It looks like a correctional facility!

www.follwells.co.uk/properties-for-sale/property/9757709-woodlands-court-newcastle[/quote]
OMG, that development looks like something out of Black Mirror

@Desiringonlychild

Now because of covid, 50% of the population is wfh. A sizeable percentage would stay that way.

Interesting news report on Ch4 tonight, discussing the Govt's mixed messaging re Covid, vs that of the experts. Chris Whitty, for example wanting people to stay working from home, whereas Boris is keen to get them back to work. The reporter focused on the the fact that working from home encourages people to spend less, and perhaps that's why Boris and co have been on news recently, purchasing sandwiches from Pret etc, trying to encourage the public to get out and support businesses.

They need the public to spend, and it's in their best interests that we do. WFH goes against this.

@BakedBlossoms Please don't take this the wrong way, but is your asking price realistic?

@Smallgoon

That is very interesting. And very true too.

What a weird year this has been.

@BakedBlossoms

Hope you are ok. If it's of any help - one of my good friends (a teacher) is in a 2 bedroom flat in London without a garden and has coped ok with her DH and baby.

Worst case scenario, could you stay where you are and ride out the storm?

[quote plainsailing01]**@marysuzairn* I'm not worried about my property portfolio in London at all.*

Nice little humblebrag about the £3M property "portfolio" . Sure. What next love? "AIBU because my back hurts as the Lamborghini is too low?"; "Anyone else want to swap Birkins?" [/quote]
@plainsailing01

You've previously bragged about spending over a million on a boat (in another thread where you were getting worked up, and attacking those that wished to buy property), so I'd call you a bit of a hypocrite...

Either that or a vile troll. Money can't buy class, clearly. That's if you even have anywhere near as much as you like to brag about having...

@BeijingBikini-yes there are plenty of decent jobs and opportunities based outside London, obviously not if you want to work for Deloitte or a top law firm but not everyone does. Funnily, my own profession is one of the ones mentioned by @thequantofmontecarlo and definitely needed outside of London.

@thequantofmontecarlo-thanks. It seems common sense that, because of the last financial crisis and the current levels of borrowing, that we are at/ approaching the limit of interventions.

@BakedBlossoms-if it's any consolation, raising a baby in a flat is far, far, easier than when they become mobile or you have several of them. It's definitely manageable.