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i'm not sure whether there will be a giant volcano brought about by fracking, that will lead to a price crash, and we will all live in gentle happiness and we can all have 3 bikes each.
can you tell me whether I should buy a house now or chuckle and hang on a bit
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/8915781/osbornes-bubble/
when people talk about a 'housing crash' they mean the terrifying prospect of a free-falling-price-plummet of a few percent.
if that scares you, maybe buying a house isn't a good idea ever.
It is reasonably well recognized that we have a housing bubble in the UK just no one knows what will happen to it near term or long term.
It could crash
It could have a soft landing
It could continue to grow
Anyone who tells you they know for sure what will happen with the market is lying.
bubble caused by the currently interest free loan shocker.
The desire to live in huge houses and keep up with the jones is more the problem.
learn to live within your means and be happy with your lot and life will be alot easier
a house is a home , not an investment.
learn to live within your means and be happy with your lot and life will be alot easiera house is a home , not an investment.
This +1 🙂
a house is a home
A chair is still a chair even when there's no one sitting there. But a house is not a home when there's no one there to hold you tight and no one there you can kiss good night.
HTH
a house is a home , not an investment.
unfortunately, for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in the UK, it is an investment, and in many cases it's their only investment.
because the government educated them that this was the only way to mark success in life.
because the government educated them that this was the only way to mark success in life.
Very true... current property prices are the key to wage slavery... buy a bus (or boat), pimp it out for modern living and live a life of luxury with change to spare.
Very true... current property prices are the key to wage slavery... buy a bus, pimp it out for modern living and live a life of luxury with change to spare."
is this the most fantastic post ever . i was born and raised in and around glasto, and i think the permaculture movement around there is the exit thing i've been waiting for,thanks all
a house is a home , not an investment.
Why can't it be both?
Whilst the government were pushing the huge house price crash in the media we made comfortable profits from selling our last 4 houses for more than we paid. Maybe those buying the houses of us thought they were getting a good deal brought on by listening to the hype. The Lakes is a strange place.
High house prices makes the UK uncompetitive and leads to capital misallocation - and enrich banks and people who were lucky to buy per-bubble. Planning laws need softening so houses can be built. Less than 1% is actually built on in England. The big house builders sit on land which has planning permission.
In Sweden my family have a nice big house and a summer cottage - two actually. And they are not rich - there's simply not as difficult to build. The UK needs sorting out.
We have just sold our house for 10k less than we bought it for and were about to buy at the top of the bubble again... this is a good thing right?
Buy high sell low
The bloody Mail never beats on about how the £50 quids worth of petrol you bought last week is now worth £60 due to patrol prices going up.
There's no way a young person around my way can afford to buy a house in their home town. My niece will be forced to move away or abroad. We are creating economic refugees.
The desire to live in huge houses and keep up with the jones is more the problem.
The uk has the smallest average living space in Europe, hardly anyone lives in a "huge house" most struggle for basic space to even store their bikes in.
My niece will be forced to move away or abroad. We are creating economic refugees.
Indeed, certainly a big part of my reason for leaving the UK, and when you don't fit in to that middle England two and a half kids home ownership ideal, you very much feel excluded from society in the UK.
@hosepipe - IMO, it depends where you live. In many places in the South East house prices are back to all time highs. If you have money to invest houses are still very attractive investments versus other alternatives. if you are based abroad UK houses look cheap because of how much the GBP has fallen.
WIth no capital gains tax on your primary residence (a standard policy everywhere in the world) a home makes a very very good investment. In the UK buying a home is generally cheaper than renting. A limited supply of land and a growing population means rising prices over the medium and longer term.
In my view with a 5-10 year horizon property remains a very attractive investment.
I put a chunk of money into my pension in the 1990's - the FTSE was above 6500 then, today it is 6,250 - so zero growth. The same money into property would have trebled and that is without borrowing, had I gone a buy to let route the profits would have been even larger. IMO property has been and continues to be a fine investment with the added benefit of being able to live in it.
@MSP - where do you get that "smallest living space" statistic from - most European countries even the likes of France and Germany people live in apartments for many years if not all their lives.
"In my view with a 5-10 year horizon property remains a very attractive investment."
Mine too - if you dont buy in a flood plain 😉 how ever i didnt buy it as an investment - if it gains then thats a win but even if i lose money on it im still quids in compared to renting anything similar in my local area.
Colleague opposite me right now is from aberdeen but lives in accapolco(sp) mexico.
secure compound - 3 bed house with a pool - 80k DOLLARS - never been to mexico but im sure i could live with it for that 😉
Apartments can be much larger than the tiny boxes built across the UK.
jambalaya - i was thinking similar there. My experiance with the dutch is that the majority of their appartments are small(even more so due to the size of them) - due to the non travel nature of their mentality - the live in communities close to their work.
@MSP - where do you get that "smallest living space" statistic from - most European countries even the likes of France and Germany people live in apartments for many years if not all their lives.
Just google average home size by country and you will get loads of examples like this.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14916580
My German, average, 1 bed apartment is 65sqm and that doesn't include the storage room in the basement which is another 20sqm. An apartment this size is largely considered a one person home here.
Most country's sell houses by the square metre, not by the number of rooms, Here in Germany they have quite strict rules about what can be included so basements are not included as living space, although they are very common.
cant argue with that sizing.
my last 2 bed house rental in uk was 70 SQM - and your right it was a joke - and the mortgage on my 130SQM place is less....
But your link states new housing
Britains new housing is a joke. - as my dad who has been a builder all his life said(and hes not a lone in the quip) - theres a reason the NHBC warrenty is 10 years ...... its the expected life span of a new build.
- yet everyone scrambles for a new house. My friends all laughed when i bought a 60 year old ex council house(but in a decent area) that needed complete revamp, some of their new houses have more cracks and shrinkage in the plaster work than my house had after 60 years of hiding under wall paper.... Then when they came round and saw the size of my rooms and my kitchen were astounded by how much more space i got for significantly less than their new house.
the building and planning here does need a significant shake up.
Mine too - if you dont buy in a flood plain how ever i didnt buy it as an investment - if it gains then thats a win but even if i lose money on it im still quids in compared to renting anything similar in my local area.
Ditto, renting would be a lose lose situation for me.
I knew about UK houses being small. Interesting to see just how small on average. Bit of an eye opener.
I agree most houses here are ludicrously small and badly thought out, especially new ones. Can't see how it can be a bad idea to buy (if you can) when it's generally cheaper than renting though.
secure compound - 3 bed house with a pool - 80k DOLLARS - never been to mexico but im sure i could live with it for that
Ever since I was a boy I've always dreamed of living in a secure compound.
The only advantage I can think of with renting is its easier to move.
*minor whinge
Why do estate agents feel it necessary to reclassify a Dining Room as a bedroom. It's a effing dining you you plebs.
*whinge end
Grum - folks i know from jo' burg keep trying to get me to take a job down there and move down - i keep saying yeah but you all live on a secure compound for safety that would drive me nuts "yeah but we have all we need on the compound" ....... "yeah but you dont have all i need - i want to go out on my bike for hours...... - can i do tht on the compound ? "
When renting in a recession, you aren't stuck with a depreciating asset after being made redundant.
My own view is rather than maintaining high house prices by increasing lending, the Government needs to make investment in housing a much less attractive prospect.
Pie monster - I think the dining/bedroom thing may have something to do with sustainable living rules - certainly new builds in Scotland have to have a room that can be converted to a bedroom on the ground floor, along with a bathroom/shower room (or. A cupboard large enough to install a wet room in), to avoid being forced to move if someone becomes disabled or too infirm to climb stairs.
Not sure if those rules are still in force, as its been a year or so since I was involved in domestic new build.
swedishmatt
Planning laws need softening so houses can be built. Less than 1% is actually built on in England. The big house builders sit on land which has planning permission.
Your rightly noted their are about 600k planning permissions that have been granted but not built on and that we have a lot of land not built on. So I fail to see how it's planning that is the issue more the lack of developers actually building outside London.
jambalaya - Member
A limited supply of land and a growing population means rising prices over the medium and longer term.
We have plenty of land, only a real shortage in London and a few other little hot spots across the country most of which are in the south east. Maybe if we didn't have economy so centered on London things would be better.
But your link states new housing
Plenty of examples for all housing, just that was a piece with focus on new housing.
I bought a house when I had kids as short hold tenancies had been a PITA. Adding kids to the mix made it seem worse
when you don't fit in to that middle England two and a half kids home ownership ideal, you very much feel excluded from society in the UK
Don't be so melodramatic!