noname

http://www.expressandstar.com/2008/05/06/r...er-huge-losses/ Removals firms in the West Midlands are suffering crippling losses caused by the impact of the global credit crisis and slowdown in the housing market. Some are reporting a huge downturn in business. Chris Burke, director of Wolverhampton-based Burke Brothers, said: “To say things are bad at the moment is an understatement. They are dire.”

That happened in Blackheath. Blackheath is very, very nice and very, very expensive.

Your budget would get you a 2, yes 2, bed flat in Erith. A 2 bed flat in commuting distance to London for under £100K: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-102...=4&tr_t=buy And isn't it lovely?

As you say "So the gaff is over £500,000 due to the 4% SD," and original poster says "Income multiplies on the old basis (3.75 times) calculation works fine" which would indicate a salary of at least £120,000. I know London is expensive but if you're earning £120,000...

Recent BTL'ers must be sh*tting themselves indeed. £150K in London would get you a basic flat that you could rent out at, say, £700-ish. No way £1,000+.

Not buying a flat in Thamesmead is a sensible move.

Just south and east of Thamesmead is Belvedere. It's much nicer (but some steep hills as you move in from the river) and parts are quite cheap http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-145...=1&tr_t=buy Erith is also cheap (further east) and is being redevolped.

650 for a 1 bed flat is probably average even in Thamesmead these days.

You should certainly visit the area on a Friday/Saturday night. Parts of Thamesmead are not very nice. And some parts are not very nice at all.

If they'd kept to no more than 3.5x salary, then on £27K (as you say, more than the average full-time salary in the UK) you'd need a £55K deposit to buy at £150K. That should take a good few years of saving...

AOL did a feature on the 10 top earning professions recently. Company directors were number, averaging a whopping £170K plus. Forget the others but number 10 was just a shade over £50K. Others at the bottom were also £50K-ish. According to ONS, the average full-time salary in the UK in 2007 was just under £24K http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=285 So £700 for the average person is a significant amount of salary.

The Independent is also speaking of a 'crash' today. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business...hes-825765.html "Up to 1,800 estate agents may go bust by the end of the year unless lenders ease up their squeeze on new mortgages, as fears grow that the UK is heading for a full-scale housing crash, with price falls of up to a fifth."

The 'crash' has barely started. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d6065c60-1d29-11...0077b07658.html

I agree. I think the market will see a prolonged standoff with sales grinding to a near halt before prices drop.

I check Rightmove for my area and have noticed that too. The same properties are always there. Very little looks like it is selling. I also noticed in my local paper recently that a couple of EAs took out full pages adverts calling for landlords and offering attractive deals for lettings. And a local EA has put a banner in the window calling for landlords.

OK. So it's under £100,000... though it is in Erith (not very nice area, if you don't know it) but this beauty is apparently "Victorian Style" http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-171...=6&tr_t=buy Erith can boast "riverside views" http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-989...=8&tr_t=buy

Agreed. Houses in the UK are far too expensive. And rents in many areas are too expensive. Especially in the south. No wonder that the UK has such high levels of debt.

Same here as well. No sign of prices being reduced but the same old properties are still on Rightmove and not much looks like it is selling.

"Mr Woolnough, who manages the M&G Optimal Income fund, said history shows that when the UK housing market crashes, prices fall by 25pc to 30pc. But UK house prices rose by about 270pc between 1995 and the end of 2007, so this crash could be even worse. " http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtm...25/cmwire25.xml So worse than 30% is possible. Especially when you add in the increasing cost of food and fuel. Savings among potential FTBs may also be declining, according to some sources http://www.startagainfinance.com/news/mort...er_18561812.htm

And many young(ish) people are now saving less. http://www.moneynews.co.uk/4605/sainsbury-...g-living-costs/ Sainsbury's has found that the rising cost of living is hitting first-time buyer's deposit savings. Only nine per cent of those surveyed are saving more than they were in 2007, while 36 per cent admitted to not being able to put anything away for a rainy day or house purchase at all." Neil Cameron, the savings manager at Sainsbury's Finance, said: "First-time buyers need to have a larger deposit that they did a year ago … so those looking to get onto the property ladder need to be saving more not less."

A new "study determined that the average income of a working-class household was £23,000 a year compared with £33,000 for middle-class homes." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...1/nclass121.xml To be upper middle class, the study estimated that a household must have an income of almost £52,000 a year. So £100K would make you bleeding aristocracy and I would expect such an person to live in a castle or stately home.

A postman earns around £17k according to http://www.learndirect-advice.co.uk/helpwi...les/profile137/ More in London Not going to get you much of a house.

I think a postman would do well to get even a 1 bed flat in Sidcup these days. Growing up in SE London/North Kent, an average skilled worker could afford a 3 bed house and bring up a family on a single wage. Just not possible now.

The 1.3 trillion figure would appear to be a mistake and is TOTAL debt including mortages http://www.creditaction.org.uk/feb.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5380718.stm As for a £320k mortgage on £58K net, well that would be about £80K gross. So four times joint salary of high earners. A bit excessive but not too wild.

The average salary in the actual City is much bigger http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article....mp;in_page_id=2