Are you still waiting for the property crash?

[raisinbran]

Back in 2007/08 I expected house prices to fall by upto 30% and have been holding out waiting for house prices to become realistic ie 600k home for 450k.

How many of you are still waiting?How long are you prepared to wait? 2012?

There is a nice house on The Wirral priced for sale at 639k but available to rent for 1800 pounds a month seems a bargin except for the uncertainty of having to leave suddenly.

Many lovely houses around 600-800k for sale but are there so many people out there with such great salarys they can get mortgages to fund,the purchases?

'Agree noddy. Lenders are asking for 10 or 15% deposit. If you are in your early 20s earning a normal wage looking for your firs home, where do you get that from when the cheapest house is 200k? Not to mention the other costs of buying a property.'

The only FTB I know in her twenties was left a fairly large inheritance. She's married, so they have two incomes (although he's works in a restaurant and she is a scientist with a master's degree so outearns him).

AND, instead of the embracing the idea of a property ladder, with rungs to move up, they were going to stay renting forever unless they were able to buy a home they could stay in for many years, a home large enough to accommodate the family they'd like to have and/or guests, pets, etc.

Most of her friends, of course, won't have the benefit of such a windfall, and so are chosing to rent rather than buy a flat, as they are afraid these won't keep their value, they won't be able to sell it to get a larger place, can't even afford that and don't want to overstretch themselves to buy such a place, etc.

Some, however, are chosing to emigrate because of the housing situation here, too.

As one friend put it, 'When you work as an academic and still don't have the ability to buy your own place without another, similar income, it's time to think of moving on.'

I think the idea that 18-year-olds can and should own their own home is going to go the way of the dodo bird, tbh.

About interest rates... Moneybox (Radio 4 programme) was saying that the easiest (most politically palatable) way for govt. to reduce its debt (scary collosal now) is to allow inflation to rise and stay up for several years.
Which means interest rates are likely to be either completely out of kilter with inflation or much higher than in the last 15 years.
If I understood rightly, high inflation would hit hardest people with fixed investments (like property investors and net savers).

i feel sort of sorry for savers.

tbh, there really isn't much incentive to save these days, is there?

bidibidi - absolutely. AKA 'paying off the debts of the debtors with the savings of the savers'. We are savers and are busy making sure our savings are inflation-proofed as much as possible.
I don't feel sorry for us because we have savings as a result of being generally fortunate in life but I feel very sorry for savers who aren't very financially sophisticated and save through being self-denying and will lose out.

What are you doing to inflation-proof your savings, SethStarketc.?

I think stethstarkadder might be right. I am kicking myself for not moving last year - at around Easter prices definitely dipped and a whole load of houses came on the market at about £450k that would have formerly been £600k odd (SE London). I think those were the people who were desperate to sell and assumed that there would be a 30% drop across the board.

We seem to be back up to half a million for a really poky little semi and I think inflation is probably a more politically expeident way out of this than massively raising interest rates. But I'm not an economist, so dunno really

expedient

raisinbran Have you spoken to the EA in the area? I'm not on the Wirral but I'm not far from you and the market has definatly dropped reaching its lowest this time last year. Its now definatly climbing. You live in an affluent area where money is no object to a lot of people and where people want to live and will pay a lot of money to live there. I think that you are not going to see the average fall that the figures used represent. Like any figures they represent an average and there are places where the fall will be much greater than that and places where the fall is much less than that.

Rebl, I havent spoken to EA as didnt want to waste thier time when I don't think the markets right for me to move yet. I need a 5 bed property so it will limit my options more too.

I am a rightmove junkie though so I see all these houses and wonder who can afford them? I have a 350k deposit ready to spend as soon as the market it corrects! However I am being cautious because I dont want it to suddenly drop. I am not expecting much growth for a while even once houses prices have bottomed.

I suppose its the British mentality to see 24k a year on rent as a waste yet it would cost that for 250k of mortgage if interest rates go to 10%. It is easier to move to cheaper rent than sell a house quickly if needs be.

The housing market drives me up the wall.

I am a teacher but gave up to look after my 3 young children.

My DH and I had children before we got on the property ladder as I fell pregnant, so we moved in together and got married a few years later.

We haven't got a chance in hell now of ever getting out of renting. We live in Bromley which is a nice area of London. My DH, has a very good job in IT but it could never be enough to raise the deposit for a 3 bed family home in this area.

I would like to go back to work but my children are very young and as a teacher, my wages would not cover all the childcare costs. It's just not worth it financially.

So we are trapped in renting for many years I think. People say move out but my DH's job is quite poorly paid elsewhere compared to central London and the schools are very good here too.

I honestly don't know HOW ANY young people are managing to get on the housing ladder with student loans to pay off and high rents.

The only person I know who is in his twenties who has managed to get a property ( small 2 bed house) is one of our friends. He has an excellent job in the city, lived at home rent free until he was 28, saved like mad and then moved into a house that needed renovating. His girlfriend has moved in and they have a joint mortgage.

If you are on average salary, have children while still renting or have no inheritance/parental help,like us you are doomed!

I so wish we could have a family home of our own but I don't think it will happen.

The irony is the rent we pay here is 400 pounds a month more than the mortgage would be. The landlord bought it as a buy to let!

I DETEST renting - everyone should have the chance to buy a home for their family and future security. Paying off someone's mortgage,( and giving them profit!) increasing their assets while making them richer at your expense is totally wrong.

If you have a reasonable salary of say 20-30k then 3 and half times should buy you a two up two down or a 2 bed flat.

As you can see -I live in a fantasy world!

I do not see renting as a waste of money because shelter always costs.

Nor do I see it as a right that everyone should be able to own his/her own home.

The trouble with renting in this country is that it is a very insecure way to live, particulary if you have school-aged children and especially given how horrible catchment areas and school places are allocated.

round here things seem 'stag-flated' - not much moveent, but prices are higher than they were last year...many houses with unrealistically high prices as estate agents over-value to get vendors on board....

although i shouldn't complain as this mans if we were in a situation to re-mortgage, we'd have sufficient equity to get a better deal...

though very little in the 400k plus band sells round here becaus i isn't the kind of area where that kind of house is easily saleable.

i agree that high prices only benefit those who can afford to own more than one house, ..but making more land to build on is the answer...and whatever national govt says about this, the local political parties will always fight tooth and nail against development because exising locals (existin voters...) don't like it...

there sure are a hell of a lot of people out there who don't need to sell, is my guess, because there are so many vendors who just leave the house sit on the market for ages.

ah yes..that's the thing...things seem to have gone up, but nothing has sold, so how can anyone know?

nethousprices seems not to be working any more - am i wrong? You know, it lists real sold prices...

island witch - yes I totally agree with you. I am a teacher and my husband works. Together we earn about £37,000 a year. We have got 2 dds and cannot buy although we would love to. We won't be able to buy for years to come or unless something changes. If you are an average family on average salaries with no financial help from parents or whatever it is impossible.

We are not in our twenties either.

Does annoy me cos we work bloody hard.

Expat, i agree it is not a waste of money in that we are living in a lovely area with good schools but like you said renting is not a secure way to live and at the end of the day i do worry about the future and not having anywhere to live when we are older.

procedes of crime, Fio?

i dunno.

must be a helluva lot of people who have rich parents able to help them out.

I was waiting for the crash (well not so much a crash than slow decline I think). Now we are hoping to buy our rental as LL selling up and we'll be homeless otherwise

We are getting a LOT of parental help to do this - not everyone is in this situation so I can't imagine how prices will be sustained long term especially when IR go up.

Noticed lots of properties coming onto the market here over the last month - very few have sold and some price reductions already. I live in a very popular village with high prices and I think everyone is starting to get very jumpy about the election and impending cuts!

A house around the village from us has recently gone up for sale-£575 for a 4 bed bungalow!Dh and I are watching with interest to see how long it takes to sell.

101 - I don't know if you think that is a low or a high price because it could be either depending on the area

Islandwitch I totally agree. I think when we are ready to buy we will move back towards the midlands where comparable houses to here in Oxfordshire sell for almost £100,000 less. We have no parental help and no savings, so even that won't happen for a good number of years yet.

Incidentally, I was reading moneywise mag today and the future looks pretty grim in terms of another, worse, recession. I am actually relieved I have no property to potentially lose! So maybe prices will crash (some say by as much as 40%).

Right now though, we are concerning ourselves with paying off the last few months we have left on debt, accruing some savings in ISA's and an emergency fund of a few months wages. When the next crash comes, we'll hopefully be well placed to ride the storm.

Seth,it is hard to tell-I think it is a lot,but most of this village is owned by a private estate and very very few houses come onto the market as most are rentals.A comparable property in the nearest town would probably be under £300,00.I think it is overpriced,but who knows,the rarity value might just swing it.

We are East Midlands btw,so not in the expensive bits of the country.

In London, the initial asking prices are mostly at 2007 levels however the actual selling prices tend towards 5-10% below this so no signs of the 30% price crash yet, but stock for good detached family houses is very low and the best properties are sold usually without ever coming onto the open market as there are enough cash buyers or city workers with substantial bonuses who get first viewings.