roblpm

Maybe we sould have a poll: Those who want to see permanently reasonable house prices? Thos who are lurking and want to cash in from the next boom??!!

Hang on guys, whether you like PT or not this is about the first time I have seen anyone call for CGT on primary residences in the mainstream press. At the moment I rent, I have the equal amount of cash in the bank to buy a house. However I am taxed on the interest income from the money in the bank and would be taxed on the gains if I put this money into shares. So therefore long term renting is pretty tax inefficient compared to putting all the money in a mortgage free house. CGT on primary residences would level the playing field, and people who didnt sell would never have to pay it. Why is unearned income on primary residences any different to any other unearned income??

I think you are being a bit harsh on HPC posters!! Apart from you, no-one else has yet pitched in with anything negative! If people have a reason to buy they should buy. As long as they realise all the pros and cons.

135 staff??!! What did they all do??!!

I saw IM at Hammersmith must be 23 years ago! ANd they were already past their prime! However must say they were the most articulate people on the brits and obviously BD must be fairly intelligent if he can fly a 747!

HPC posters are like busses, no new ones for ages then 3 come along at the same time!! Welcome aboard. Its quite dull though waiting, waiting, waiting ........................

Guys, good to see some new complaining blood!! I complained to trading standards about the ESPC and got them to change their home page so I have now retired 1-0 up!! Then again the ESPC seem to be coming on board slowly, a very reasonable person was commenting on these very pages. I don't think we have cracked the EN and Scotsman yet though, then again maybe Johnston Press will do us a favour and just go bust!

Hamish, I quite agree, however a lot of the people I know only have one parent working, or one working part time. And who wants a 300k mortgage no matter how much you are earning, if one person loses their job you lose the house.

Hmmmm, in this case I think fully done up will be in the region of £450k as the place is a mess! So you are right, I am a glass half empty kind of person!! Prices are definitely down between 10 and 20% since peak ..................... but the prices are still madness. Contrary to what Hamish reckons I dont think that there are a huge amount of people looking in this area who have joint incomes of over 50k, so if we say the joint income is 50k these houses are over 8 times joint income. That seems like a lot! Also as they rent for about £1000 per month that is less than 3% rental yield. So I think there is a fair way down yet to go, however I am going just about mad waiting for it to happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well back to the depression, just phoned the solicitor and they are emailing me over the home report! So there really are 6 people with notes of interest on this, I suppose that doesnt mean 6 offers though. Will see what happens!

Aha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After my depression of earlier on it has been mentioned in another thread that some solicitors are insisting on people noting interest to get the home report. So 6 notes of interest may not result in any offers. Any experiences? Does it vary between solicitors?? (And why do people in Scotland train for years as a solicitor and then flog houses anyway??!!, South of the border they call them Estate Agents, and anyone can do conveyancing!)

Wrong end of Greenbank!! Thats why! Done up by a developer who was wishing they hadnt bothered!!

Do you mean they earn more?? I'm not so sure. I obviosly don't know the real ins and outs of the other parent's earnings at the kids school but I only know a couple of people who would have jobs paying that. Many lower earners who bought more than 6 or 7 years ago. I think once the capital appreciation incentive has gone the idea of paying this sort of money will be less attractive, I know it is for me!!

Its boring waiting though!! And I cant see how on wages that cant be much over 50k per household that houses can cost 400-500k, especially when they rent out for £1000pcm. So prices will come down, its just how long they take!! Could be years!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep its madness, though Oxgangs is overrated as a trouble spot, compared to Brixton and Bermondsey in London where I used to live its like Narnia!!

and in the main forum there is a thread about cash buyers, i suspect these people are cash buyers should it go through as I cant see a bank lending on a property that needs total renovation. I think an edinburgh spring bounce is inevitable as people still dont get it!! Edinburgh is immune!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just looked at a Bungalow in Greenbank yesterday. Needs everything doing, electrics, plumbing etc etc etc etc etc 6 Notes of interest and closing on Friday after only being on the market for a month. Offers over £315k! As the peak for these kinds of properties was about £500k or just over, and this will take 50k to do up, or 100k including a loft conversion (it only has 3 bedrooms) seems like people are still willing to pay over £400k for a bungalow! So another year or 2 to go I reckon!! I will next look at a house in January 2010!!!

Hmm, I have been a bear for years (sold too early in 2003!!). But ..................... If you follow this logic you would never buy?! Surely the only way to decide when to buy is decide a price that you are happy with through some dort of logic, ie rental yields or multiples of income or say going back to 2002 prices, and then if an offer at this level is accepted then go ahead. Thats not to say it wouldnt go lower. Or ................. suggest another method of deciding when to buy?

At peak prices the yield on our rental house is about 3.6% I have now seen rental properties in morningside for £1000/pcm that at peak would have sold for £500k so a rental yield of 2.4%. These yields are pretty common. I think the better areas will always have lower yields but lets say anything under 5% is bonkers! (And btw when I bought a flat to live in Brixton in London in 1997 the yield would have been over 10% had I let it out).

Exclusion Crisis, just ignore HM, he is chiefly interested in winding people up rather than any of the issues. I think everyone else appreciates your efforts and communication.

If you look at the schedule the total rent is £8959 If they go at th eoffes over price £245k that gives a gross yield of 3.6%!! Hmmmmmmmm What is a regulated tenancy?? I thought they went out 20 years ago? Or are these regulated tenancies from so long ago that the tenants are 80??!!

We have a global financial meltdown due to too much debt? MOst of this debt was taken out to fuel consumption. What I don't understand is that there is no voice coming through that one way of fixing this is to consume less and change the way we live. The only game in town seems to be that we need to get back to debt/borrowing/spending etc etc etc. Is this a media conspiracy or is there no coherent other world view. I was born in 1969. The worl population (according to wikipedia!) was just under 3.7 billion in 1970. It's now 6.7 billion which means remarkably that the population will have doubled by the time I am 50!! So growth of whatever % in GDP combined with population growth etc etc etc etc doesn't seem to have much further to go?! Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Contrary to the claims of some commentators, rent is not dead money. Money spent on accommodation is no more thrown away than that spent on food, heat, or the interest on a mortgage. In fact, for many parts of the property market in Scotland, rents are considerably less expensive than mortgage interest payments. I hope you guys wouldnt have written it word for word though as it pains me that no-one ever adds in the interest that you would have been earning on hte equity in the house. ie if I buy a house for 300k and put down a 100k deposit that 100k would be earning interest otherwise (or being put to some productive use like capital for starting a business). Obviously the reason people dont do this is that there is no capital gains tax on that deposit should the property rise in value and there is tax on investment or savings income. So the logical step is surely to put CGT on people's primary residence to discourage people from buying houses as an investment?

Scunnered and CCC keep up the good work! I want a detailed breakdown of every street in Marchmont from MH with variances, trends, confidence levels, £ per sq m, £ per toilet etc before I will be satisfied though!

Have to say this is all zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Prices are going down! The transaction volume is so low that % up or down seem completely irrelevant! Thats it!