[easy2012]

 Oxford_Guy, on 25 January 2012 - 02:00 PM, said:

Newbie here, have been holding off buying for house in Oxford for years, despite having a reasonably respectable deposit and good credit history, in the vain hope that house prices here will come down, but I've not seen much evidence of this - at best they seem to have stopped rising so fast, though perhaps I've missed something?

Anyway, we're starting to get sick of paying £900/month rent for a (small) 2 bed terrace house in Headington (though its nice enough) and we're actually starting to think about buying, as prices don't seem to be coming down and perhaps never will here and soon I'll be too old to get a 25-year mortgage... The problem is that a house similar to the one we're living in now in an "okay" area would likely be well over £250k and we're not going to be able to get a mortgage for that much (probably only for £200k, £225k tops), and even if we could, the monthly payments would stretch us to the limit. Is a flat all we're likely to get for less than £225k within the ring road in Oxford?

If you must buy to live (and not having an investment hat of any sort on) and expect to remain in Oxford for a long time, if you do a central postcode OX1 3HY and search within 1 mile / 3 miles on RM, there are a few properties that are still under £250k. If you are willing to rent a room out, that might work.

However, as often discussed here, £900 rent is not comparable to £900 mortgage repayment as the commitments are totally different.

Finally, you are of course under zero obligation to offer the asking price or anything close to it.. offer what you think the place is worth.

This post has been edited by easy2012: 25 January 2012 - 08:02 PM

[funkybadger]

 easy2012, on 25 January 2012 - 07:27 PM, said:

If you must buy to live (and not having an investment hat of any sort on) and expect to remain in Oxford for a long time, if you do a central postcode OX1 3HY and search within 1 mile / 3 miles on RM, there are a few properties that are still under £250k. If you are willing to rent a room out, that might work.

Thanks for the tip, though can't see us wanting to rent out a room, we only got married 2 years ago and moved in together only shortly before and before that I spent years in shared houses and feel I've "done that"... I do see us being in Oxford for a long time, and whilst not expecting to make any money in terms of the house itself increasing in value significantly (or at all in the short-medium term), at the end of 25 years (or sooner) we should own the house and be able to live rent/mortgage free in our retirement, at least.

Most of my deposit money has been tied up in unit trusts in the stock market for the last 10 years, and their investment performance has not exactly been spectacular, think the only thing I own that has significantly gone up in value are some gold sovereigns I bought back in 2007, though I suspect their value has peaked or is near to it

 easy2012, on 25 January 2012 - 07:27 PM, said:

However, as often discussed here, £900 rent is not comparable to £900 mortgage repayment as the commitments are totally different.

True, but it still means I'm paying someone else's mortgage for them, when I could be paying off my own...

[Hmmmm]

 Oxford_Guy, on 25 January 2012 - 02:00 PM, said:

Newbie here, have been holding off buying for house in Oxford for years, despite having a reasonably respectable deposit and good credit history, in the vain hope that house prices here will come down, but I've not seen much evidence of this - at best they seem to have stopped rising so fast, though perhaps I've missed something?

Anyway, we're starting to get sick of paying £900/month rent for a (small) 2 bed terrace house in Headington (though its nice enough) and we're actually starting to think about buying, as prices don't seem to be coming down and perhaps never will here and soon I'll be too old to get a 25-year mortgage... The problem is that a house similar to the one we're living in now in an "okay" area would likely be well over £250k and we're not going to be able to get a mortgage for that much (probably only for £200k, £225k tops), and even if we could, the monthly payments would stretch us to the limit. Is a flat all we're likely to get for less than £225k within the ring road in Oxford?

I am in almost exactly the same situation as you and frankly, you have come this far, don't risk it now. Look at the trends, Prices are falling everywhere now and the tide might be slow to turn but it is turning. Once it gains momentum it will really become more affordable. I am renting at the moment and a nice place at that. Used to pay almost the same as you for a place near the shell station. Live a bit further away now and the money goes a lot further. Don't get suckered into it, everything is pointing to disaster in the economy and anyone who says it won't happen just aren't seeing the facts. 20 years ago they said it could never happen in Japan, then the US more recently, then Europe, Ireland and now pretty much everywhere but the South East, although frankly it's only prime London now that is holding up (and barely at that). My calculations show that prices in the bracket I am looking at are falling faster than what I would nominally be losing if combining everything into a net worth calculation (ie interest on my fairly substantial savings - rent compared to mortgage - depreciation in the value of house. At least wait it out for this year. The UK will officially enter a recession this year and then we'll get a clearer idea of where things are going.

[thehowler]

when I could be paying off my own...
[/quote]

In Oxford, we all breathe the opium of high house prices. If you're not trapped, why don't you move somewhere you can afford a house you like?

[easy2012]

 Hmmmm, on 26 January 2012 - 04:34 PM, said:

I am in almost exactly the same situation as you and frankly, you have come this far, don't risk it now. Look at the trends, Prices are falling everywhere now and the tide might be slow to turn but it is turning. Once it gains momentum it will really become more affordable. I am renting at the moment and a nice place at that. Used to pay almost the same as you for a place near the shell station. Live a bit further away now and the money goes a lot further. Don't get suckered into it, everything is pointing to disaster in the economy and anyone who says it won't happen just aren't seeing the facts. 20 years ago they said it could never happen in Japan, then the US more recently, then Europe, Ireland and now pretty much everywhere but the South East, although frankly it's only prime London now that is holding up (and barely at that). My calculations show that prices in the bracket I am looking at are falling faster than what I would nominally be losing if combining everything into a net worth calculation (ie interest on my fairly substantial savings - rent compared to mortgage - depreciation in the value of house. At least wait it out for this year. The UK will officially enter a recession this year and then we'll get a clearer idea of where things are going.

In Japan, central Tokyo remains extremely expensive, (something like today Mayfair prices), outside the area, it took about 20 years for the price to fall 50% and 20 years is most of one's life. Sometimes we are victim of the circumstances/environment/situation and we just have to make the best out of it. However, I certainly don't see house price rising this year or next, so other than the rental which the poster believe is "paying for other people mortgage", there isn't that much to loose for waiting. Ultimately, there will be some force sellers.

Not sure if I want to live outside the ring road if I have to work inside the ring road though..

[shavedchimp]

Annual change +4.9%, Quarterly change -8.9%??

http://news.bbc.co.u...s/html/38uc.stm

Sounds rather dramatic doesn't it? Or is there more to this than meets the eye? Are there any reasons to be cheerful?

shavedchimp

[shavedchimp]

And here's a tasty £50000 whacked off the top 4 months after going on the market - quite a drop in one go eh?

http://www.propertys...detail/38501226

[Still_Waiting]

Not sure who i have more resentment for, the owner of this converted garage with a conservatory attached or the tw4t of an agent who valued it at 200K

Either way i wish both of them financial misery for the rest of their lives!

http://www.rightmove...4.html/svr/3111

[Son of Taeper]

 easy2012, on 26 January 2012 - 04:57 PM, said:

In Japan, central Tokyo remains extremely expensive, (something like today Mayfair prices), outside the area, it took about 20 years for the price to fall 50% and 20 years is most of one's life. Sometimes we are victim of the circumstances/environment/situation and we just have to make the best out of it. However, I certainly don't see house price rising this year or next, so other than the rental which the poster believe is "paying for other people mortgage", there isn't that much to loose for waiting. Ultimately, there will be some force sellers.

Not sure if I want to live outside the ring road if I have to work inside the ring road though..

I'd like to know how long you would wait.
A five year span is about enough for most.
Many old timers to these boards have bought and sold in the last 10 years, then bought or sold again.
As for living outside the ring road Oxford, depends on a lot of factors.
I find the southern and south easterly approach quite nice.
The Eastern and south eastern approach is a mess.
Getting round to the northern side even at 7 in the morning is not easy.

It's bicycle country at the best of times.

[shavedchimp]

I am getting quite a lot of marketing emails from Rightmove recently of properties reduced in price. Anyone else noticed this?

Do you think it is coincidental, ie., the price is reduced and therefore they are just naturally announcing it - or is it perhaps a change of marketing strategy to highlight the direction of the market?

Anyway, the drops are mostly pretty small, but every little helps

[easy2012]

 shavedchimp, on 29 May 2012 - 08:54 AM, said:

I am getting quite a lot of marketing emails from Rightmove recently of properties reduced in price. Anyone else noticed this?

Do you think it is coincidental, ie., the price is reduced and therefore they are just naturally announcing it - or is it perhaps a change of marketing strategy to highlight the direction of the market?

Anyway, the drops are mostly pretty small, but every little helps

A little bit off the 2007+ asking price, yes... many of these few weeks.

Many still selling though but did not get full asking (will know how much they got when the landreg updates in few months)

[shavedchimp]

 easy2012, on 29 May 2012 - 08:56 AM, said:

A little bit off the 2007+ asking price, yes... many of these few weeks.

Many still selling though but did not get full asking (will know how much they got when the landreg updates in few months)

I viewed a 3 bed semi in Botley on Saturday. It had come onto the market 3 days before. The agent started our viewing by saying "just to let you know we've had 3 viewings already today and 2 offers of asking price (which is £250k)."

She went on to report that since January the market had, if not exploded, then been very busy and properties at or below the £250k mark get snapped up.

What's funding all this sudden demand? Pretty depressing. This house wasn't even that special.

[easy2012]

 shavedchimp, on 29 April 2013 - 09:46 AM, said:

I viewed a 3 bed semi in Botley on Saturday. It had come onto the market 3 days before. The agent started our viewing by saying "just to let you know we've had 3 viewings already today and 2 offers of asking price (which is £250k)."

She went on to report that since January the market had, if not exploded, then been very busy and properties at or below the £250k mark get snapped up.

What's funding all this sudden demand? Pretty depressing. This house wasn't even that special.

Oh yes. Today BBC Oxford reported that Oxford recorded 2nd highest HPI in the country (not sure this month or last month, but probably march 13). Not sure if the new talked about shopping center has anything to do with the sudden popularity at Botley ?

[thehowler]

What's funding all this sudden demand?
[/quote]

There has been no crash in London and London suburbs like OX2. Places that sold for 550k five years ago now come on at 875/900k. 3/4 bed terraces on Beechcroft Road selling for a bar or more. House I sold in Zone 2 London in 2005 has doubled in value since then. Family money, investment savings, and overseas wealth is all pouring into property and Oxford is seen as a safe bet. For more than a decade it's been the only game in town - an anchor-snapping shift in the way the Brits see the value of residential property - and there is no end in sight to it. Who predicted these rates so low for so long? Who imagined that the whole ethic of saving for the future would be derided as a trap for losers. Who would have accepted their kids coming out of uni with debts of 40/50k, (and this being seen as right and normal), just a few years back? Who understands the public apathy and disconnect over inflation-shrinking salaries, crowded schools, rising energy and food costs and a busted flush parliamentary system? There is nothing but the bubble or blow-up. Long live the bubble. Long live the sealed bids frenzy for drab houses on the Botley Road.

[shavedchimp]

[/quote]

There has been no crash in London and London suburbs like OX2. Places that sold for 550k five years ago now come on at 875/900k. 3/4 bed terraces on Beechcroft Road selling for a bar or more. House I sold in Zone 2 London in 2005 has doubled in value since then. Family money, investment savings, and overseas wealth is all pouring into property and Oxford is seen as a safe bet. For more than a decade it's been the only game in town - an anchor-snapping shift in the way the Brits see the value of residential property - and there is no end in sight to it. Who predicted these rates so low for so long? Who imagined that the whole ethic of saving for the future would be derided as a trap for losers. Who would have accepted their kids coming out of uni with debts of 40/50k, (and this being seen as right and normal), just a few years back? Who understands the public apathy and disconnect over inflation-shrinking salaries, crowded schools, rising energy and food costs and a busted flush parliamentary system? There is nothing but the bubble or blow-up. Long live the bubble. Long live the sealed bids frenzy for drab houses on the Botley Road.
[/quote]

How very poetic. How very well observed. If I was a newsaper editor I'd offer you a job