Speak&Spell

I've been with Santander (and before that Abbey) for the past 15 years and have never had any problems banking with them. Their online banking has always worked for me, and it only took a phonecall to update 2 of my existing Santander cash ISA's to their new 2yr 4% fixed rate deal.

Because I still find the forum interesting, even though I bought in December of last year.

The truth is nobody knows about rates. Nobody knows whether we'll have another crash or not. Stop speculating and live your lives. I fear a lot of you will miss opportunities that suit your own personal circumstances because you follow the hurd on this forum.

I know! It's all relative though. Due to rates being so low we got a good fixed rate mortgage deal, which wouldn't have been the case back in 2007. We're also going to try and overpay in the next few years as much as possible - taking advantage of low rates, which will knock down the overall interest by quite a bit. In case you're wondering though, I'm still happy with my decision to buy when I did, and I'm loving doing little projects around the house.

Which is exactly why I bought in December of last year. The transaction is now on nethouseprices.co.uk and another house that sold at a similiar time sold for £3,000 more. Another house we viewed has just gone Sold STC at £2500 less. All are similiarly priced. I must admit though, the best time to buy where I live was in 2009. They were a lot cheaper then, but all the transactions in 2010 were at 2007 levels in terms of pricing.

I completely agree when you say look around you and your area, but I completely disagree that everywhere other than London has reductions in pricing. This is not the case. Like I've said many times before, if the location is in demand prices are not falling. There will be massive reductions in undesirable areas though.

I feel for your mate, but anyone that pays the asking price is stupid. First rule is find out what they paid for it and you know you've got room for negotiation from that point, if there house is on the market for more than they've paid. Rule no. 2 is check what other houses go for in the area. If it really is a sought after development, then pricing won't manouvre much. But this depends: If 6 houses are on sale in the development you can play a bidding war. If you really want to live in that location and there aren't many houses for sale, you're in less of a bargaining position. Timing is crucial. If one house is left and there are 6 people wanting to live in that location, expect to pay more than if 6 houses were available and you happened to be the only buyer at that time. If you're not adament you want to live in a certain development and you can be more flexible, you're more likely to increase your chances of getting a better deal, as you're not stuck on a certain road location or mindset.

... and this is exactly one of the reasons why interest rates won't be rising dramatically for a long long time. The government have to think about those 23% about to to be repossesed, let alone what an IR hike might do to those that are just about managing, who have not been accounted for in these figures.

During 2007 people who bought then didn't cope. We had a wave of liar loans and self certified mortgages, which gave the impression people could cope. Also at this time all looked well and most people still has a job. The people doing okay at the time were those who bought years back and didn't move up the ladder, as they had considerable equity in their properties and rates at 5% were manageable for them. Look at liar loans, self certified mortgages and easy credit from 2005 until the banks went bust, and think about the amount of people who bought during this time at the peak, regardless of whether they were first time buyers or moving up the ladder. There are thousands if not millions. Think about second home owners that bought at this time too. People investing in Buy To Let and Cornish holiday homes, all around this bubble. 2007 was the year of Buy to Let properties and amateur landlords. Don't forget that even if some were coping at 5% rates in 2007 we didn't have a recession at that time. So much has happened since then! Retail outlets closing down, banks going bust, liar loans being exposed, thousands losing their jobs, and thousands taking pay cuts. Due to what's happened post 2007 the economy is in a poor state. I speak to loads of people who are managing okay at the moment but wouldn't be able to if rates were to rise considerably, to 2.75% base as the article suggests. I know inflation needs to be tackled, but I think the BoE and the government are more concerned about making sure we don't have another bout of repo's and that families can keep up with their mortgage repayments in such volatile times. We haven't even seen the outcome of the public sector cuts at the moment, or the VAT rise. I just can't see it happening because it truly will cripple the country, due to events that have occurred in the last 5 years. I'm not saying rates won't rise. They probably will, but it will take years before they get to 5 or 6% base. Edited to answer one of your questions: If the base rate rises to 2.75% then people on a SVR of 3.49% which is very common with recent mortgages, would end up on a rate of 6.24% as most SVR's are on top of the banks base rate. Do you really think that's going to happen? This is just one rate example, from having looked at the offers available on 2 year fixed terms with an average 15% deposit.

Yawn. You can't generalise and predict one outcome for the whole of the UK. How many more times do I need to say this? Some areas may see falls, other areas may see no movement at all, and some areas may see a lot of falls. It depends on so many factors. Local wages, commuter belts, general employment, blah di blah blah, I could go on. Why do so many of you follow HPC as some kind of guideline to life and money? Everybody has a unique situation, and you should buy according to your own life and when is right for you. Just focus on what's happening in YOUR AREA and make your choices dependant on that only. So many people here speak tosh and I gaurantee a lot of people haven't bought yet because of the strong views on this website. These same people have been on here for years cos they will never find the right time to buy. There will always be an excuse not to do it.

The article says Interest Rates will rise to 2.75% by 2012 Not going to happen. It would cripple the country. If we have rises they will be spread out in small increments over the next 5 years. They may push the base rate to 1% and see what happens for about 6 months to a year in 2011, but we will not see base rate rises to 2.75% by 2012.

I'm not going to put you off buying. All I'll say is on 4th December I bought a home. A few weeks in there are a few niggles, particularly with the parking situation. Me and my bf payed 2007/2008 prices, but there is hardly any movement in this area (newish development with a 3 minute walk to the station). I am not worried about house prices going down in the next 7 years, as we will be living here for hopefully around that length of time, if not longer. We got a good fixed rate deal, and the extra money paid over what we were paying in rent is the repayment portion of our mortgage. The aim now is to:- repay the mortgage progress in our careers save cash I couldn't care less what happens to the house prices in the area in the next couple of years. As a long term plan we now have a home, and there is something great about knowing we've got a base. You really do end up concentrating on other apects of your life, which are not HPC or savings rate related. All I can say is if you follow too many people's opinions on this site, you may NEVER end up making the move, and before you know it another 3 to 4 years will have passed. Do what is right for you and your circumstances and life goals.

I'm not bored. I've been extensively researching the housing market in a few areas for a number of years. The whole UK market doesn't appeal to me, and house prices cannot be generalised. I am buying now and I'm happy with that choice. I can afford to do so, and putting the home in place helps with all other aspects of my future. I'm not going to end up like people on here who have been waiting since 2004. What is your situation? What type of falls are you expecting? Do you have a large deposit? I'd like to no more about your circumstances to make this a worthwhile debate.

Some people here will always find an excuse not to buy. Wait for this, wait for that. I got bored of waiting, and when we have results like this 1.8% increase it just proves my point that nobody really has a clue what's going to happen to the housing market. I for one do not believe there will be this massive crash most of you are expecting. It's going to level off, with small increases and decreases. If one is looking to buy a place to live in for 7+ years just get on with it if you can afford to do so.

You are right. For me prices will not drop enough for me to want to wait. The house I'm buying is going to be a home for me and my partner for 7 to 10 years. Every week I keep an eye on the development and what's happening on Rightmove/Property Bee. Another house has just gone Sold STC for 5k more than what my offer was accepted at. I can't stress enough that if you're trying to buy in a desireable development and you want to only move there, to one of the preferred layouts, you'll end up paying the price for it. Two property's are not selling in this development, and that is due to the layout (there are 4 different layouts as they are townhouses). I will agree that these two sellers need to reduce their prices by about 15k to sell them.