The Plight Of The Downsizers: Record Number Of Middle Classes

[eric pebble]

The plight of the downsizers: Record number of middle classes desperate to sell homes

Record numbers of middle-class homeowners are trying desperately to sell and move to smaller properties.

As a 'white-collar recession' begins to bite deeply, new figures show a sharp jump in families looking for a quick sale on houses worth £500,000 or more.

Experts say the downturn is entering a new phase and even high earners face losing both their jobs and their homes.

Read all here: - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11...sell-homes.html

I think they call this 'the rats trying to jump off the sinking ship'......

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EDIT:

"'The biggest issue is that there are people out there who are very interested in buying but they are not able to get a realistic mortgage.'"

i.e. They can't get a stupid multiples mortgage or/i.e. a

LIAR LOAN....

"Law firms have been reporting recently that more middleclass workers are filing for bankruptcy through a lethal combination of job losses and falling house values."

"Experts say the crisis shows that, despite receiving billions of pounds in taxpayers' money, banks are still failing to offer mortgages to anyone who does not have a near-perfect credit record as well as a huge deposit.

The worsening situation puts Chancellor Alistair Darling under more pressure to help the housing market in next week's Budget.

LibDem Treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott said last night: 'Britain's savage lending squeeze is really hurting parts of the economy that other recessions have not reached.

'Unless bank finance starts flowing again, house prices will slide on down and Darling will be whistling in the wind on Budget Day.'

The PPR figures came as research by property search engine Globrix.com revealed that 7 per cent of homes for sale in the UK have languished on the market for a year or longer.

More than a quarter have been sitting in estate agents' windows for six months or more.

Desperate sellers are resorting to home-swapping as an alternative to waiting for the stagnant property market to revive."

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IT'S ALL HERE FOLKS THE HOUSING "MARKET" IS F*CKED.

Edited April 14, 2009 by eric pebble

[Tonkers]

Another great day for house prices.

[Dubai]

"near perfect credit rating... as a result of a large deposit"??

Who are they kidding?

They should say: vaguely acceptable credit rating as a reuslt of being able to lodge a sensible deposit

BRING THEM DOOOWN ! The excessive home prices...

and a 30% deposit will be a smaller number, and so will mortgage payment

Prices will come back into a sensible range, as sensible lending returns

The idiots who paid too much are getting their just punishment for stupidity.

BRING IT ON !

Dear Doctor.... you're sounding a little militant! I agree with you however... reasonableness is due a long overdue return....

[Mikhail Liebenstein]

And it seems to be affecting various House Price Citadels.

Properties which have been sold at knock-down prices include a garden flat with three double bedrooms in Chelsea, which went for £1.4million, and a four-bedroom home in Guildford, Surrey, which sold for £900,000.

Well I guess it depends on the original asking price and whether it was reasonable, but I am assuming Property Portfolio rescue will have their pound of flesh and will have priced suitably for the downturn.

Jobcentres have reported increasing numbers of lawyers, doctors, architects and City workers walking through their doors.

The Citizens Advice Bureau in Sevenoaks, Kent, saw 66 per cent more clients in January than in the same month last year.

Edited April 14, 2009 by mikelivingstone

[shedfish]

Kelly Brook is about again.. oh dear dear dear. like a photo finish in a zeppelin race....

did someone say something about the plight of people with £1M houses? poor souls. how sad

damn that paper. reading it makes me feel grubby

[a+b+c+d]

I've got lots of doubts about this 'downsizing' thing. I'm not sure how much of it has ever gone on - I know hardly anybody who's actually gone through with it although lots of people talk vaguely about doing so. Most people, when the kids have left home, are well and truly settled in the community they've lived in and have no wish to start again elsewhere. They're also very fond of their home and don't relish losing the standard of accommodation they're used to. Unless they make a substantial downsize, the amount of cash released - after costs etc. - doesn't buy much by way of income. So they leave it and make other arrangements. Just my view.

[VeryMeanReversion]

As a 'white-collar recession' begins to bite deeply, new figures show a sharp jump in families looking for a quick sale on houses worth £500,000 or more.

Hmmm, 500K when there were lots of willing mugs in the easiest credit environment the world has ever seen.

Credit - gone

Willing mugs - gone

When the price drops to 300K, I'm interested.

VMR.

[interestrateripoff]

Hmmm, 500K when there were lots of willing mugs in the easiest credit environment the world has ever seen.

Credit - gone

Willing mugs - gone

When the price drops to 300K, I'm interested.

VMR.

You are very mean....

Can the banks cope with large numbers of high income earners defaulting?

[Mikhail Liebenstein]

Having thought about this article for a while, I now realise it is actually very significant, despite the fact that it is a typical Mail human interest/property porn type article.

The key point is that the property market is still largely frozen, even if it has perhaps thawed a little.

Now in order for deals to be done, the market needs a supply of First Time Buyers plus enough people at the top wanting to trade down, that way you can form a complete a chain based on people moving mostly up the property ladder. This general upward movement is of course very dependent on someone creating space at the top.

Now we know there is a lack of FTBers, and at the top there has been a general unwillingness to sell at prices people seem to consider derisory. But the point is at the top, people may either have retired and are seeing their savings income smashed by low interest rates or they are overborrowed and are perhaps in negative equity with an expensive loan.

But the point is that Mr Market will get his way, and as the chains/fixing plates that are holding up the top of the ladder are cut, the whole ladder will drop 12 feet, which might then allow first time buyers to get on at the bottom.

Edited April 14, 2009 by mikelivingstone

[Guest DissipatedYouthIsValuable]

Kelly Brook is about again.. oh dear dear dear. like a photo finish in a zeppelin race....

did someone say something about the plight of people with £1M houses? poor souls. how sad

damn that paper. reading it makes me feel grubby

I hope you're not passing money to the guttter press, comrade crasher?

[Joey Buttafueco Jr]

it is an advert for "Property Portfolio Rescue"

[Venger]

I've got lots of doubts about this 'downsizing' thing. I'm not sure how much of it has ever gone on - I know hardly anybody who's actually gone through with it although lots of people talk vaguely about doing so.

The couple in the article substantially downsized, which gives them a new home and the security of a lot of capital.

Perhaps you don't know many people approaching retirement, or retired, or maybe you believe they all have lots of savings and great pensions. Or, maybe you don't know any of the speculators who have top-end houses but lots of debt. As they accept lower prices it drags down the value of similar property in the surrounding area, including the people you know who might not have any need to sell.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/retire...-the-world.html

Rightmove listing

With the economy in serious decline, there are fewer upsizers, it is harder to qualify for big mortgages, fewer people wanting to pay for boomers' retirement funds, or rescue the speculators by meeting their asking prices.

[the flying pig]

no-one has mentioned the line:

"The worsening situation puts Chancellor Alistair Darling under more pressure to help the housing market in next week's Budget."

probably just as well, really.

the way, of course, to help the housing market is to leave it to its own devices and, when the crashing has stopped, take measures to reduce the risk of bubbles happening again in the future.

[Selling up]

I've got lots of doubts about this 'downsizing' thing. I'm not sure how much of it has ever gone on - I know hardly anybody who's actually gone through with it although lots of people talk vaguely about doing so. Most people, when the kids have left home, are well and truly settled in the community they've lived in and have no wish to start again elsewhere. They're also very fond of their home and don't relish losing the standard of accommodation they're used to. Unless they make a substantial downsize, the amount of cash released - after costs etc. - doesn't buy much by way of income. So they leave it and make other arrangements. Just my view.

An interesting point. Although it seems a very sensible thing to do, I realise that I don't personally know any either.

[Guest X-QUORK]

<Splutter....cough>

But...the green shoots, they said there are green shoots!

[Rinoa]

The plight of the downsizers: Record number of middle classes desperate to sell homes

Says:

Now Property Portfolio Rescue, which specialises in selling property for owners in financial distress, has reported the number of inquiries almost doubling since last year

Must be true then.

[redmen9]

I've got lots of doubts about this 'downsizing' thing. I'm not sure how much of it has ever gone on - I know hardly anybody who's actually gone through with it although lots of people talk vaguely about doing so. Most people, when the kids have left home, are well and truly settled in the community they've lived in and have no wish to start again elsewhere. They're also very fond of their home and don't relish losing the standard of accommodation they're used to. Unless they make a substantial downsize, the amount of cash released - after costs etc. - doesn't buy much by way of income. So they leave it and make other arrangements. Just my view.

I agree that very few people commit to downsizing if they don't have to. They get used to having the space, that is until a partner dies. I know of several people who have sold their houses to buy smaller properties after losing a partner

[the end is a bit nigher]

Says:

Must be true then.

Well, if they weren't in financial distress then this company wouldn't have a business.

Various points:

Middle class - house over £500k - that makes me a peasant

Typical Liberals, identify the problem but then whinge that prices will come down

Realistic mortgage - why would the banks lend a 'realistic mortgage' when people clearly can't sustain it otherwise they wouldn't be selling.

[guitarman001]

Greedy b%stards wanting half a million pounds for some bricks and a bit of land! They can rot in hell for all I care. Selfish, selfish, selfish. Can't they see the generations below them are wallowing in sh!t, struggling to cope with the cost of living that these parasites have partly caused with their ramping of the market? It makes me sick. I'm just glad my life's not been put on hold for a decade or longer by this mess like some on here have been affected. I hope their house is swept up in a hurricane and then sh@t out in Zimbabwe.

[Democorruptcy]

This bit made me laugh:

"Hospital receptionist Mrs Jordan, 55, said: 'We put the house on the market for £575,000 and we had loads of viewings. Everyone loved it but there were always excuses. One potential buyer couldn't get a mortgage, another wanted double glazing.' "

Trying to sell it for £575k and it didn't even have decent windows!

[grey shark]

For Sale: A quarter of houses have been in the estate agent window for six months, as potential buyers struggle for a viable mortgage

I don't believe this either i would say over half have been on EA's books for over 6 months NOT a quarter ........

[neon tetra]

Desperate sellers are resorting to home-swapping as an alternative to waiting for the stagnant property market to revive."

By swapping houses, they don't have to own up to the fact that the value of the property, as measured by what somebody is willing to pay for it, has plummeted. They can swap heir house and keep that cosy £500,000 figure as being what their property is "worth".

Crazy fools.... if they sell their "£500,000" house for £300,000, they will be able to pick up another one for a similar reduction. Assuming the other owner similarly owns up to the price falls.

[drrayjo]

Says:

Must be true then.

Yes, frustrating when information is filtered via vested interests, isn't it Rinoa.

Like 99% of housing-related information was for the last 12 years and most still is being now.

Of course, in this particular case "Property Portfolio Rescue" may well be talking their book and getting free advertising but I don't see the article exhorting anyone to do anything, it simply wallows in the tribulations of some would-be sellers.

That's unlike most of the last 12 years housing propaganda and much of this "green shoots" phase too; largely involving participants who would benefit from the maintenance of high prices advising people to....maintain high house prices.

It's a shame you save your razor-sharp vested interest-spotting skills for lame non-issues like this article, Rinoa.

[bagsos]

This bit made me laugh:

"Hospital receptionist Mrs Jordan, 55, said: 'We put the house on the market for £575,000 and we had loads of viewings. Everyone loved it but there were always excuses. One potential buyer couldn't get a mortgage, another wanted double glazing.' "

Trying to sell it for £575k and it didn't even have decent windows!

That's cos it was Georgian - double glazing wasn't invented then. At that price for a 3 bedder in Central London and the fact that they have retired to Essex lends me to suspect their house was East London somewhere. If they were where I think they were £470k is a good price; given their ages I would bet they paid £30k for it when Maggie told the councils to sell off their stocks

[drrayjo]

By swapping houses, they don't have to own up to the fact that the value of the property, as measured by what somebody is willing to pay for it, has plummeted. They can swap heir house and keep that cosy £500,000 figure as being what their property is "worth".

Crazy fools.... if they sell their "£500,000" house for £300,000, they will be able to pick up another one for a similar reduction. Assuming the other owner similarly owns up to the price falls.

It's like the "tragedy of the commons" effect though. None wish to give up their "right" to a high price lest someone take advantage without reciprocating, and they see no harm in "only" one property staying priced high.

Multiply by millions and you have a problem. One that Government could help avoid, but then why spoil a good opportunity to let people express the worst of themselves?