Englishmum

Yes but don't forget that you also have the non-taxable personal allowances to take into account. eg. every person with an income in the UK gets at least the single person's allowance - and I can't remember the details of it but I believe that my husband and I get some sort of allowance between us - our mortgage is in joint names.

dunroving

Sorry, didn't realize you were so sensitive.

loubol

A point worth noting about "buy to let" - you WILL be taxed on the income if you own two properties and live in one (primary residence) and let the other to tenants.

If you are letting your primary residence to tenants because you live elsewwere (regardless of whether you are abroad or not), your tax obligations are likely to be different, so check with the Inland Revenue.

I've just moved back to the UK and am shortly expecting the sale of my Dutch property to come through. As soon as that happens, I will be transferring the proceeds to the UK and banking them.

I currently live in my partner's house and plan to buy another property in the same town to let as an investment for me while living with my partner, so this question will affect me too.

Oh and don't be fooled by thinking that property prices are hotter in the south-east of the UK, it's not true. I live in Chester where prices rose 28% in 2003. Manchester also saw steep increases and Liverpool is now doing the same as it will be Capital of Culture in 2008. Some northern cities are undergoing massive redevelopment and house prices are reflecting that.

donglemouse

Englishmum you raise a good point.

Obviously whilst we are liable to pay tax for any profit on UK rentals whethre we actually have to pay anything will depend on our various tax situations e.g. if we have any other taxable income be it dividends. interest or whatever else in the UK

To verify your point non-resident British citizens still qualify for a UK personal tax allowance

So to generalize if you only have profits from rental property (and not massive amounts of other income) and are non-resident it is probable your UK tax liability would be zero.

Beware though there is still the possibility you may have to pay tax in your country of residence on the renal profits.

dunroving

I sent you a PM - check the "My Forum" tab at the top of the page.

Stifler

How strange I found this thread!
I'm putting my 1 bed flat on the market in Bromley, KENT!
155,000 is what I'm asking. Apparently its just above the average for the area.

eurotramp

We would not buy, but rent first and see what will happen within the next year.
Since we would be coming to Northwood/London we think this would be the right thing to do, if house prices come down, they will come down in London first and I would kick myself

nmw

Not wishing to put anyone off here, but I always believe in a good solid bit of research and awareness of the realities of life. May appear to be a doom and gloom site for some - but there's a lot of useful and relevant information (and links) on this site ...

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/

Also linked from this site, but which has some good graphical summaries (suggest you interpret the graphs yourself and reach your own conclusions!) ...

http://www.firsttimebuyerhelp.co.uk/...icle.aspx?id=3

Basically UK house prices are the most "off-trend" they have ever been, and the average house price is now 6-7x the average income - well above the affordability range for most people. Of course everyone has their own view on how things will go, but at it's most basic there's probably only a couple of options:

1. The average household income rises substantially (i.e. 20-30%) to make mortgages more affordable
2. House prices decrease
3. House prices stabilize and the "average" person not currently on the property ladder goes into rental (and probably stays there unless option 1 comes true over the next 5-10 years)

Option 3 is also likely to drive option 2 as the number of house buyers will decrease reducing demand.

On average, house prices inflation has been increasing well above salary (up to 4x higher) for over a decade now, and for most people there's been no obvious way to move up the ladder short of a cash windfall or exceptional income growth. Also, because inflation is percentage based, mid/ top end houses have increased in price faster, so have "moved away" from peoples affordability zone over time. The net effect is most people are unable to maintain (or aspire to) the type of property they would historically associate with their income level, or the standard of living their parents were able to provide when they were children.

For example, to afford a 3 bed house, in a good area, with decent schools in the SE is probably around £350-400k now. Therefore, you need a minimum household income of £80-90k assuming you have a 10% depost (~£40k) and you borrow the maximum recommended multiplier on a mortgage (3.75x).

Since the vast majority of incomes are less than £40-50k, most families need both parents working to stand any chance of achieving this income (and for many even then they don't earn enough), which is putting a significant amount of pressure on social values at home imho. You can of course get cheaper houses in different areas of the country - the main problems encountered here tend to be lower salaries (and hence your price bracket comes down) and/ or long commutes to maintain income levels for your desired property.

I know that for every house I've bought over the last five years, six months later I wouldn't have been able to purchase it if buying at that point in time, which is madness imho. It's a big gamble not jumping on the UK property market for the reasons outlined above (i.e. can't afford the same price 6 months later), but all the indicators are currently showing a drop in house prices is needed.

Ultimately house prices can't keep rising faster than salaries indefinitely - there has to be either a long term slowdown to allow salaries to catch up, or a sharp correction in prices. Place your bets on which one you think it's going to be, and when it's going to happen

Hutch

Nobody gives a rat's arse about that web-site you keep spamming here mate. It's alarmist shit at its finest. Got any comment on this http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4314754.stm ? Didn't think so,

woodyinoz

That's wierd I have just read that the actual sale price (not asking price) is down again this month! House price drop

spottydog

Sorry but that's the rightmove report which is ASKING price (their website which they get their figures from is used by agents to advertise properties).

Unfortunately asking price does not reflect sale prices. e.g. we added £10k onto the price that we wanted for our house for our inital asking price. After our 1st buyer pulled out we reduced our asking price by £10k (so would have shown on Rightmoves figures as a reduction) and instead only accepted (and received) offers at the full asking price.

The most accurate actual prices are those from the land registery but due to the length of time it takes for a sale to be registered cannot be trusted on any figures less than 6 months old (which is also why the numbers look so low when they first come out then increase so much as the next release 3 months later.

Muzza04

hmm...that report is from The Halifax BANK....dont suppose they will have a vested interest in the house market ....what with mortgages sell ???etc.

And, how do they actually acquire this information? Is it year on year or has it changed recently? VI spin IMHO.

nmw

Actually I would - which is that the web site referenced clearly provides to links to all of these reports (including the latest Halifax report) - some show up, some show down. It all depends what on how they conduct their surveys.

Also, not entirely sure how I can be "spamming" given that the above was my first post on british expats.

Personally I believe there's nothing wrong with having as much information as possible available when making a decision, both positive and negative, so that you can then make an informed decision... clearly you don't.

Each to their own ...

eurotramp

I believe nobody really knows whets going to happen.
Depends on so many factors....I believe that house prices will fall once interest rates will go up... with other factor coming together and we will have a drop coming..but who knows

I just know that we will sit and wait what happens

Angry White Pyjamas

"Last month the Bank of England reported that the number of loans approved for house purchase but not yet lent - widely seen as a good indicator of future trends - had risen to their highest level in more than a year."

But that does fail to mention the fact that the last year of data is the lowest since 1995.


Well you pays your money and makes a choice. I do have to say that on the face of it it is improbable house prices can continue to go up simply for one reason: Market forces. If no one can afford to buy into a product then that product must come down to a level the market will accept. The price rise (boom) is self sustaining to a point as everyone clammers to get into the market to make a fast buck. However there comes a point when no matter how much someone wants to get into the market they simply cannot afford it. At the point that more people cannot afford to enter the market it runs rapidly out of steam and a correction occurs, normally fairly rapidly, as those that are already in the market attempt to offload. Its fairly elementary economics and applies to anything not just houses. Take the stock market for instance. How many people got burned by that during the dotcom boom?