Dan725

Off topic, but that website, whilst it has some reasonable information on it (if you can get past the bias) is very annoying. Bunch of moaning, often jealous, fairies on the forums who have been predicting a crash in the UK market since 2002.

I looked at it several years ago, I just had a look again now, and its still full of these idiots saying "We were right". This time around maybe it is the start of a price correction, but in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 they were wrong with their scaremongering crash predictions.

buggalugs

HI

I am also from Marple Bridge, what a co-incidence! I am often homesick but like most here lament the price of houses now in the UK. Our old house has just gone on the market OMG how I wish we had held onto it but of course we couldnt of bought ours here without the money from that one. Oh well. Where abouts are you now? and why are you planning to go back to the UK. Would love to talk to you. Good Luck!
Buggalugs

Eeyore

It's a shame you had to say "jealous".

Ridiculously high house prices are not a good thing. The only people who benefit from them are those who are moving to a cheaper property or those who are selling inherited houses.

For the people who are trying to move to a bigger place in the same area (i.e. most people), the increases in value of their own house are matched (or even exceeded) by the increases in value of the place they want to buy... and they often have to get into even more debt to trade up.

The sad thing, of course, is that if the crash *had* happened in 2002, 2003 or 2004 it would have been much smaller and affected fewer people than when it eventually does happen. Too many people taking on too much debt...

dunroving

Hear, hear. Maybe people who were not fortunate enough to own their own house during the "10-year housing boom" are a little jealous of those who did own (or inherit - good point ...) a house during that time. But being critical of such people for being jealous is about as useful (or empathetic) as crowing about how much you made on your house as if it were the results of being clever, rather than simply good fortune. And as you said, if people think they are richer as a result, it's a fallacy. They are no richer than they would have been if house prices remained constant ... they just aren't as poor as those who live in a similar house to them but are paying the majority of their income into a huge mortgage. :curse:

Dan725

I wasn't being critical of them for being jealous, sorry if it came across like that. I too would rather the market in the UK not become overblown (I don't own any property in the UK, so am not speaking from a personal perspective) - makes it tricky to justify moving back.

What I am criticising them for is their incessent "We are so right" attitude - and the references they make to people who did take the plunge and actually came out on top, and how they almost appear to be gloating that these people are now about to come a cropper.

I'm one of these "Bear" types myself, I wish I'd have bought 3 houses when I could have but didn't, no risk tolerance for that kind of thing - but I'm not going to begrudge those who did and have done well, and give then a "We were right all along" attitude, despite being wrong for over 5 or 6 years.

Eeyore

Unfortunately, the fact that these people *are* about to come a cropper means they were never on top to start with...

The only winners are the people who bought before the boom and aren't now having to commit virtually every penny they earn to servicing their mortgage. For the more recent entrants to the market, that desperation to buy (which is a very British thing - most people from continential Europe, for example, aren't anywhere near as obsessed about having to own their own place) has and will continue to cost a lot of people very dear.

Thing is, if you look at historical trends, you'd never expect the interest rate to remain as low as it did for as long as it did. Indeed, when we bought back in 2002, we were advised to go for a fixed-rate mortgage "because the rate's been so low for so long it's *got* to go up soon". Nobody would have bet on a variable-rate mortgage actually being the better deal for the next few years.

Unfortunately, a lot of people let their common sense desert them and got it into their heads that the interest rate would only ever stay the same or fall - seriously, I actually met intelligent people who laughed at me when I pointed out that they were taking a risk with such a big mortgage. One even actually said to me "Interest rates don't go up any more!"

Dan725

I've always wondered why there seems to be no appetite for fixed 30 year motgages in the UK, as we have got in the States?

dunroving

Because lenders have long-term penalty periods if you remortgage (so, effectively, you are tied in to having a mortgage with them even if you decide to sell up and move to the US).

Mortgage provision in the US is much more user-friendly, IMO

dunroving

Whichever side of the fence a person is on, must admit it really ticks me off when anyone gloats at the misfortune of someone else.

When I was looking to buy earlier this year, I was really hoping prices would drop, but if they had I wouldn't have come on here crowing about it.

Similarly, now I obviously want house prices to stay stable or (if I do end up selling up to move back to the US, that they would continue upwards), but again if they did I wouldn't come on here screaming Whoopee ... because I realize that when it comes to house prices, one person's good fortune is the bad fortune of a heck of a lot of others.

And if house prices dropped precipitously, I'd obviously be up a creek if I wanted to sell and move on, in which case I'd go bananas at anyone coming on screaming I told you so or gloating at the idea I had come a cropper. :curse:

simongb

I am from Sale, Cheshire. I am going back to Manchester in December for a break, but planning to move in July/August. Manchester has changed a lot, hasn't it?? It's an awesome city.

manc1

How long have you been away for simon?

BadgeIsBack

This is one of the most sensible musings I have ever read on the subject.

I find it very awkward that people own the same house as someone else yet are paying throught the nose for it just because they happened to, or needed to buy a home at a different time - I''m not talking about recently but say 2000 when prices first started to jump. At the end of the day, most people aren't property gurus. There are stacks of people who bought in the late 90s who just bought and were not particularly clever about it.

If these people are paying interest repayments on huge loans secured on paper money because they feel rich - well more fool them!

Dubai_Chick

Someone posted up the site www.propertysnake.co.uk on this thread.

How accurate is this site? It does not indicate where it acquires it's information from and you cannot view any information on the supposed property. Having entered my postcode I know some of the original prices they state on certain properties seem incredulous so just curious to know their source.

dunroving

I bought my house (former council property) from its owner earlier this year for 165k. My next door neighbour "bought" his house from the council two years ago for 30k. Here I am, cash poor for the next 25 years (despite being in a professional position and having spent 6 years of my life and life savings studying for postgraduate degrees) while he gets to spend most of his salary on whatever he wants each month and is cash richer than me, despite being in an unskilled job. I just don't see the justice in that. There are stacks of people on this street who ended up owning their houses cheaply purely by virtue of the fact their parents were council tenants. Maggie Thatcher has a lot to answer for.

Every week, this situation brings me closer to just packing up and looking for a job back in the States. It's very frustrating.

Dan725

Of course, some places in the US are the same - Big Californian cities springs to mind as the extreme example, which have seen a truly insane rise in property prices.