Housing too expensive in UK?
Dec 3rd 2007, 6:11 pm
#16
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
Unless your great Aunt Celia leaves you £300,000 before you get to the UK, the following maxim applies: if you like an English house, you can't afford it, and if you can afford an English house, you don't want to live there. Even crapholes in the most disgusting areas of town are now out of everyone's reach.
The media is doing its utmost to induce a crash so it has an exciting news cycle, and it is doing this by publishing totally groundless and irresponsible scare stories just about every day to the effect that a crash is imminent.
It is not. There will not be a crash in Britain any time soon and those waiting for one had better get comfortable.
We are planning on letting our home out long-term (10 years, etc) as it simply will not sell in this market. I think we've had something like 30 viewers in 10 months. Nothing round here is shifting because everyone thinks a crash is imminent. When it's not.
The media is doing its utmost to induce a crash so it has an exciting news cycle, and it is doing this by publishing totally groundless and irresponsible scare stories just about every day to the effect that a crash is imminent.
It is not. There will not be a crash in Britain any time soon and those waiting for one had better get comfortable.
We are planning on letting our home out long-term (10 years, etc) as it simply will not sell in this market. I think we've had something like 30 viewers in 10 months. Nothing round here is shifting because everyone thinks a crash is imminent. When it's not.
Dec 3rd 2007, 6:23 pm
#17
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
Interesting...last January we were looking at properties in the Chester area...many had been on the market for 6 to 9 months but no one was willing to reduce the price. Made another trip back to the UK in October...same properties still for sale but again the owners are not prepared to drop the price...even for a purchaser who hasn't got a home to sell.
Dec 3rd 2007, 9:12 pm
#18
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
I remember the last crash. Greedy sellers came unstuck by the shed load. If a house is on the market for nine to eighteen months - it is not worth what you are asking for it. People will only pay what something is actually worth to them in the current market. Houses I looked at a year ago in the UK are also still on the market, some at £25k less than they were then. I had one seller contact me over the weekend asking if I still wanted to put in an offer at the lower asking price I had offered a year ago. I said no, and told him that I would look at it again when I was home. I won't give him even the lower price now, it's a buyers market in most places.
When we sold our house in Canada 2 years ago the Real Estate Agent gave us valuations/time to sell. Bottom price was sell it within a week, top price was 6-12 months. There was about £30K($60K) difference. So we went for selling valuation with 6 weeks and we sold it within 5 weeks. We could of held out for another £30K , but then it would not sold as quick and would mess up our moving time table.
Our view if you do not sell you house in a few months it either too expensive or there is something wrong with the house.
I was working in the NE of England in my last job and the houses we looked at a year ago listed for £285k-£315k are still for sale but some have been reduced to £240-£270K. So my view is that they were not worth what they had been asking for.
I agree its a buyers market in most areas, so we plan to get a decent deal not being in a chain.
Have you checked out this website for UK housing trends.
Good for seeing what is happening in the UK housing market.
www.propertysnake.co.uk
hudd
Dec 3rd 2007, 11:50 pm
#19
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
Interesting...last January we were looking at properties in the Chester area...many had been on the market for 6 to 9 months but no one was willing to reduce the price. Made another trip back to the UK in October...same properties still for sale but again the owners are not prepared to drop the price...even for a purchaser who hasn't got a home to sell.
A house is worth what the market is willing to pay. If it doesn't sell it's over priced.
Dec 3rd 2007, 11:55 pm
#20
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
I remember the last crash. Greedy sellers came unstuck by the shed load. If a house is on the market for nine to eighteen months - it is not worth what you are asking for it. People will only pay what something is actually worth to them in the current market. Houses I looked at a year ago in the UK are also still on the market, some at £25k less than they were then. I had one seller contact me over the weekend asking if I still wanted to put in an offer at the lower asking price I had offered a year ago. I said no, and told him that I would look at it again when I was home. I won't give him even the lower price now, it's a buyers market in most places.
Dec 4th 2007, 4:51 am
#21
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
I remember the last crash. Greedy sellers came unstuck by the shed load. If a house is on the market for nine to eighteen months - it is not worth what you are asking for it. People will only pay what something is actually worth to them in the current market. Houses I looked at a year ago in the UK are also still on the market, some at £25k less than they were then. I had one seller contact me over the weekend asking if I still wanted to put in an offer at the lower asking price I had offered a year ago. I said no, and told him that I would look at it again when I was home. I won't give him even the lower price now, it's a buyers market in most places.
Dec 4th 2007, 4:57 am
#22
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
But people arent losing their jobs in the US and house prices are crashing there. The same in Ireland. Why should the UK be immune from a downward movement in property values.
10 out of 10 for optimism though.
Anyone who buys a property in the UK now would be mad - 100% guaranteed you will pay less for it in 12 months time
10 out of 10 for optimism though.
Anyone who buys a property in the UK now would be mad - 100% guaranteed you will pay less for it in 12 months time
Dec 4th 2007, 8:08 am
#23
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
But people arent losing their jobs in the US and house prices are crashing there. The same in Ireland. Why should the UK be immune from a downward movement in property values.
10 out of 10 for optimism though.
Anyone who buys a property in the UK now would be mad - 100% guaranteed you will pay less for it in 12 months time
10 out of 10 for optimism though.
Anyone who buys a property in the UK now would be mad - 100% guaranteed you will pay less for it in 12 months time
Dec 4th 2007, 8:26 am
#24
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
You beat me to it. People were not losing jobs last time there was a crash. Consumer greed, Thatcher, the banks inadvisable lending, and dodgy sub-prime lending did the trick. A crap house in a crap area will not sell. A nice house in a good area will - if there is enough demand for it, regardless of the Colin and Justin makeover tricks. If a nice house in a nice area is not selling....duh......
The best bet is keep hold of your properties and let them out long-term. They will go down if there's a crash, but the general trend over decades is recovery after crashes and then continued increase in prices. I guess this is obvious or we'd all be paying £4000 for a house. I know landlords hanging on to properties is part of the problem, but that's the smart thing to do if you can't sell before a crash.
Also, I add again that I'm not sure there's going to be a "crash" in early 1990s style. The economy is very different now. Britain has a population increase of 500 people a day and they all need somewhere to live. While this demand continues, and the government keeps on dithering about building new homes, a crash is impossible.
The best you'll get is stagnation.
Dec 4th 2007, 10:43 am
#25
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
But people arent losing their jobs in the US and house prices are crashing there. The same in Ireland. Why should the UK be immune from a downward movement in property values.
10 out of 10 for optimism though.
Anyone who buys a property in the UK now would be mad - 100% guaranteed you will pay less for it in 12 months time
10 out of 10 for optimism though.
Anyone who buys a property in the UK now would be mad - 100% guaranteed you will pay less for it in 12 months time
We are returning hopefully in March 08 and we do want our own home asap but we will rent and see how the market is going.....
Good luck to everyone and lets hope we all get fab prices for our homes where we are now and get excellent homes for cheap prices in the U.K....a girl can dream!!!!
Jackie
Dec 4th 2007, 7:18 pm
#26
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
Jackie have you bought your tickets to leave and where in Manchester are you thinking of renting?
Dec 4th 2007, 8:47 pm
#27
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
I partly agree, but I think it's more complicated than that. Until very recently people were borrowing nine times their salaries in some cases to buy properties. This would never happen if common sense prevailed. The fact is people will pay anything for a house if they think it will rise in value post-purchase.
The best bet is keep hold of your properties and let them out long-term. They will go down if there's a crash, but the general trend over decades is recovery after crashes and then continued increase in prices. I guess this is obvious or we'd all be paying £4000 for a house. I know landlords hanging on to properties is part of the problem, but that's the smart thing to do if you can't sell before a crash.
Also, I add again that I'm not sure there's going to be a "crash" in early 1990s style. The economy is very different now. Britain has a population increase of 500 people a day and they all need somewhere to live. While this demand continues, and the government keeps on dithering about building new homes, a crash is impossible.
The best you'll get is stagnation.
The best bet is keep hold of your properties and let them out long-term. They will go down if there's a crash, but the general trend over decades is recovery after crashes and then continued increase in prices. I guess this is obvious or we'd all be paying £4000 for a house. I know landlords hanging on to properties is part of the problem, but that's the smart thing to do if you can't sell before a crash.
Also, I add again that I'm not sure there's going to be a "crash" in early 1990s style. The economy is very different now. Britain has a population increase of 500 people a day and they all need somewhere to live. While this demand continues, and the government keeps on dithering about building new homes, a crash is impossible.
The best you'll get is stagnation.
Dec 4th 2007, 9:33 pm
#28
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
I wouldn't of thought the lender could care less so long as they were getting there money.
Dec 4th 2007, 9:44 pm
#29
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
Jackie
Dec 5th 2007, 6:29 am
#30
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Re: Housing too expensive in UK?
I think many people simply don't tell their lender. My brother had to get a legal agreement written up with his lender ... check the conditions of a regular mortgage and I think you'll find I'm correct ... otherwise, why would there be a specific type of mortgage for BTL properties? (Which generally have VERY different conditoins than a regular residential mortgage).