Monday, Oct 30, 2006
Stating the obvious. Property is too expensive for many.
BBC: Property 'out of reach' for many
Cutting edge research shows that property is too expensive for many, in fact 17 million people cannot afford to or do not want to buy property.
Posted by denzil @ 11:17 AM (195 views) Add Comment
16 Comments
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1. kpjcomp said...
Of course, this excludes the 17 million+ who could'nt efford and went ahead anyway. :)
On another subject, I've been reading an interesting book.. "You Are Being Lied To".
There's an article on "herd mentality", basically if enough people say something is Blue when it's Green, they will see it as been Blue.
This is like the current property market, so many people are saying "You can't loose with bricks and mortar", they beleive it. Even after knowing what happened in the 90's. It's amazing how sugestive the brain is..
2. george monsoon said...
The brian is vrey esaliy mainpluated. We rd the begniging of wrods but skip the mddile bits.
A bit like reading the spin from the BBC and other manipulative sources, we see what we expect to see, not always the facts.
Still there are only 37.4 million people of working age in Britain, taking into consideration all the unemployed and students, means that over 50% of the people in a position to buy a house, cannot due to the current prices.
3. Ceri Shepherd said...
What a disgrace this country has become when nearly 50% of the total workforce cannot afford a home of there own.
Take awy the debt and this country is not even 3rd world it would be 4th world
4. magnifico said...
Quote:> The next most common reason for shunning property ownership was people banking on house prices falling soon.<
This is what's worrying... In the 90's the masses didn't see the crash coming, and, right on cue, it came. Many bloggers on this site keep pointing at the similarities between the late eighties and today: duration of period of growth, ratio between wages and prices (affordability), rising interest rates etc... All very much true, but there are some differences:1. IVAs 2.unemployement and fist and foremost the lack of the 'element of surprise'.Have you noticed how cleverly the VI balance the confidence boosting stats with sobering dampeners like the one above graciously provided by the Beeb?
5. kpjcomp said...
> Have you noticed how cleverly the VI balance the confidence boosting stats with sobering dampeners like the one above graciously provided by the Beeb?
yep, here is the balance-> http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6098620.stm
btw. not sure what you mean about IVA's, remember IVA's wont help people who have overstretched themself's with the mortgage. In fact Credit Card lending is on the way down, most likely moved to MEW'ing, and makes the property status even worse.
6. Ticktock said...
magnifico,
I think we have indeed noticed how this VI game is being played, and I'm sure that its no coincidence that this report follows recent HP inflation 'accelerating' articles.
The beeb is certainly a key player in this game of deception (as they are in many others) and produce their fair quota of the required evidence that fuels the hope that sentiment, rather than short IRs will be able to govern the price of their beloved 'properteeee'.
They underestimate people. People are starting to wake up to the lies of our 'casino' economy, and when the herd (BTL investors) get spooked, they'll bring it all down in a stampede for the exit.
7. paul said...
"The research also found a substantial proportion of first-time buyers had to compromise on the home that they bought."
This is cutting edge stuff indeed.
I personally believe that the lack of market transparency has been the large but unnoticed contributing factor in successive HPI rises. EAs are largely unregulated and can easily sabotage the buying process to ratchet prices upwards. This has been demonstrated by Channel 4's dispatches but (did you notice?) absolutely nothing was done as a result of Channel 4's findings. It's as if the government has a tacit interest in allowing EAs to obfuscate the buying and selling process.
Other countries are not the same. Most of the properties in Australia are sold under auction, so the price is transparently decided. In the US, EAs are heavily regulated. In the UK EAs are still allowed to be crooks in shiny suits.
That, I beleive is what has kept prices high and will continue to do so. The government is fearful of stepping in now (see what a flip-flop fiasco HIPS were?) because it has too much at stake in letting the housing market fall back to its long term average. Sobering but true.
8. Ilejustwait said...
what goes up in price have to come down eventually, the houseing market needs first time buyers to move forward, at the present it is stagnant, the only people who appear to be buying the cheaper houses are the investors ( BTL ) who are now starting to see the figures are not covering their outgoings, and when interest rates go up again i think they will start to pull back,
we all know that interest rates will go up this year, hopefully nov, but what we dont know is how much, i think their is a chance it could go up as much as 0.5% , this would be a fair increase as they have reduced by the same & then increased by the same amount 0.25% this year, so im having a guess that they will increase by 0.5% . This year
9. Ilejustwait said...
what goes up in price have to come down eventually, the houseing market needs first time buyers to move forward, at the present it is stagnant, the only people who appear to be buying the cheaper houses are the investors ( BTL ) who are now starting to see the figures are not covering their outgoings, and when interest rates go up again i think they will start to pull back,
we all know that interest rates will go up this year, hopefully nov, but what we dont know is how much, i think their is a chance it could go up as much as 0.5% , this would be a fair increase as they have reduced by the same & then increased by the same amount 0.25% this year, so im having a guess that they will increase by 0.5% . This year
10. Nohpc said...
What goes up in price does not have to come down eventually. Look at cigarettes do yout hink they will ever come down. Sorry to put a downer on your arguement. I think the housing market will always have its up and downs but neither is guaranteed.
I think the market will stagnate for the next 2 years while FTBs build up their savings and come back into the market. People want to own property it's just the british way. And it's not margaret thatcher's fault otherwise you have to blame her for the worldwide propety boom. God I hate that arguement.
11. millard said...
Nohpc said... "...Look at cigarettes do yout hink they will ever come down...."
What a fantastic direct comparison, the only reason cigarettes prices have increased at such a rate over the years is the amount of tax that is paid on them, 2006 = 85.1%, just 5 years ago it was 79.8%. People are hardly buying up trailer loads to lease out to smokers who can't afford to buy a whole packet, and thus skewing the market. Perhaps I should buy a few thousand as in investment for my pension....
genius.
12. kpjcomp said...
Nohpc,
LMAO, the cigarettes comparison is a clasic, you were joking right?
13. george monsoon said...
I think 0.5% increase is likely, given that when people cannot afford to borrow or spend, the goods do not increase in price. Its called supply and demand. If the MPC up the interest rate in November, this will have a knock-on effect on spending over Christmas, which could hold the inflation figures back in the new year... giving Gordon a smoother ride to No.10..
14. denzil said...
Cigarettes!! WTF.
That surely gets the vote as the dumbest comment I've ever read on this blog.
15. waitingfor hpc said...
i agree NOHPC has lost the plot. If that is the best argument why house prices are stable then last one out of Britain turn the lights off!
16. indiablue19 said...
Now, Now Lads, we haven't all got the gift of the gab, nor were taught to translate what is in our thoughts readily to "paper" nor blog. This is a poor metaphor, not a criminal activity! Give NoHpc a bit of a break please!