Is Anyone Considering Buying A House Now ?

[MOZ]

The country is in deep Sh1t thanks to sleazy and corrupt governments, they all have a vested interest in keeping the housing bubble as quite few of them have 2nd 3rd .... homes. The whole financial system is sitting on an overloaded kamel waiting for the last straw.

QE is not gonna last for much longer so sooner or later everybody will face the music. Prices in Edinburgh are going down…and more properties are coming to the market.

Good things come to those who wait

[jcpricewatcher]

...It's different this time...well it certainly is...we've had collapse of the system and we're not out the woods yet ( we are told ). Worst possible scenarios are having a house where they can send your call up papers to then an invaiding army "acquiring" your property for a knock down price

Invading army? - What are they going to come and get?

Our gold? - Brown sold it..

Our land? - small wet island

Our wealth? - it's all debt

Our industry? - we dont make that much anymore

All they'll get soon, is a country of layabouts, scrounging off them. Not sure they're keen on that

[Salocin]

I'm just sick of waiting to see what will happen round the corner...

-Credit crunch

-end of QE

-election / emergency buget

-future of interest rate

I have enough money to buy a small house outright or put down a substancial deposit on a larger property.

I'm worried that if I do either, that's when the crash will take place and I will be living a life of regret!

Each one of the events listed above (that has happened or waiting to take effect) has detered me from even contemplainting to buy!

What else can they do? We were all right here on hpc... But most of us didn't antispate the goverments comitment to protect the sheeple! ... and look now savers like myself are paying for it!

Due to the nature of my work I'm unable to rent and still stuck at home... I do still activly look for properties but I would say I'm only interested in 1 out of every 100 that come on the Market!

I hate this county...

Given the current political and economic environment, I cannot understand why people have to set themselves a deadline to buy a house. Will it really make your life more complete to own a pile of bricks?

Rents are going to come down, house prices are coming down, wages are coming down, taxes are rising, lending is grinding down to a halt... what's the rush?

Right now, I have a 40% deposit (making a tidy 5% interest for just sitting in the bank) on the kind of house I want to buy in London but that'd mean pouring all my savings into buying something which I honestly feel isn't really good value for money, will most probably depreciate over the coming years and I'd be paying quite a bit more on the mortgage than on what I can rent now, hassle-free. At any time, I can move out, pick up my suitcases, grab the kids and move to other areas, following the work if need be.

The thing is, if I lose 2-5% on my savings because of inflation (and no interest on savings account here in the UK), I'd still rather lose 2-5% on 40% of the value of a house than 2-5% (for inflation) + whatever other losses on the price of houses to come (10, 20 or even 50%?) on 100% of the value of a house! The bankers are getting enough of my money as it is, I'm in no rush to go and sign a piece of paper ensuring I will be working for the next 25 years to fatten up their wallets on my back.

Besides, it's fun to watch the EAs squirm... nothing's moving around where I am, which means no commission for them.

[WageslaveX14]

While people are prepared to pay for properties at this price level HPI will continue. I assume the person has a mortgage so the banks are lending ...

I didn't ask, but it was volunteered that both sets of parents (the couple who bought the flat are both 30-ish, and one is a City lawyer) contributed sizeable deposits, so the banks were not being completely and utterly stupid here.

[Bob Loblaw]

Suprised by the negativity on here. In my area nothing seems to be selling. Some sellers are actually getting more realistic with their prices now but all I can see from Property Bee is a slow slide down in prices with nothing of any consequence selling. Cannot see how the market can be sustained, especially with the huge uncertainty over jobs as the cuts announced will affect not only Public but private sector workers. I have set a personal deadline of Jan 2012 as the time I will buy and I fully expect to see prices a good 15 - 20% lower by then.

Edited June 24, 2010 by Bob Loblaw

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

I gave up looking for a house about 6 months ago when it was clear the government was hell bent on keeping prices up regardless.

Amazingly they've managed to convince people housing is a great invest ment ( at these prices ) and you cant loose.

The banks have been lending ( our money, to us ) to buy properties, if you have a 25% deposit to give them so they can keep it when it all goes belly up.

The Haliwide indexes show that they managed to turn the tide ( for a while ) and the rightmove delusional index has never really stopped going up.

So , bearing all this in mind, I gave up even thinking about looking for a house in the UK.

Is anyone out there actually actively looking now ( thinking what a bargain they are getting or they might loose out if they dont buy now ) ?

After 3 years on this forum I just see houses a weight round your neck. It allows government to control/tax/keep track of you. It's the ultimate hidden tax. The housing propoganda from the VI is obscense and should be illegal. The banks, well they are a bunch of bankers, what else can you say. The austerity budget is here. Mobility is the key ( like the poles, they leave to get a job). Cash is King. So buying a house is very low down on my priority list.

After selling up back end of 2006 the idea was to rebuy in about 2013, still seems about right timewise to me, although we are at an advantage in that we dont have to suffer the mickey mouse UK rental laws. There is a chance we may not buy back at all if its looking a bit pete tong from a social perspective at that time.

[sparkle-space]

We're currently looking half-seriously, with a view to buying either this year or next - we're fed up of renting, baby on the way, already got one child etc.

We also want to move into town and can't find a decent rental property there (these are very small towns in mid-Wales we're talking about!).

We have £20k saved but it's depressing how little that will get us. We are also one of the unhappy people who expected house prices to have become more reasonable by now. Especially when you see houses come on the market for £205k that were last bought for £40k less than two years ago - makes me want to write to the owner asking where they get their rationale from!

To be fair, prices do seem to be very regional - for what you'd pay £250k for in the town we want to live in would sell for £100k less in a town 10 miles up the road.

Depressed now... maybe we should talk about something else!?

[goldbug9999]

everything points to a long decline

Markets rarely do anything in a "long slow" fasion and yes I'm mindful of the great depression and japans stagflation BUT if a slow decline in HP did set in then it would be eventually accelerated by people offloading investment properties and the lack of new for-investment buyers. Think about it - after say 2 years of steady slow price decline/stagnation - who is going buy for any reason other than purely for living space needs ?. The thing to remember is that most markets have integral positive feedback which makes a steady or slowly changing state almost impossible. Its that positive feedback which has driven the cyclic behavior of the housing market up to now, and yes the trend has been bucked TEMPORARILY by massive unprecedented gov /BOEintervention but it will be "business as usual" again at some point probably within the next 6-9 months.

Edited June 24, 2010 by goldbug9999

[cypher007]

Given the current political and economic environment, I cannot understand why people have to set themselves a deadline to buy a house. Will it really make your life more complete to own a pile of bricks?

Rents are going to come down, house prices are coming down, wages are coming down, taxes are rising, lending is grinding down to a halt... what's the rush?

Right now, I have a 40% deposit (making a tidy 5% interest for just sitting in the bank) on the kind of house I want to buy in London but that'd mean pouring all my savings into buying something which I honestly feel isn't really good value for money, will most probably depreciate over the coming years and I'd be paying quite a bit more on the mortgage than on what I can rent now, hassle-free. At any time, I can move out, pick up my suitcases, grab the kids and move to other areas, following the work if need be.

The thing is, if I lose 2-5% on my savings because of inflation (and no interest on savings account here in the UK), I'd still rather lose 2-5% on 40% of the value of a house than 2-5% (for inflation) + whatever other losses on the price of houses to come (10, 20 or even 50%?) on 100% of the value of a house! The bankers are getting enough of my money as it is, I'm in no rush to go and sign a piece of paper ensuring I will be working for the next 25 years to fatten up their wallets on my back.

Besides, it's fun to watch the EAs squirm... nothing's moving around where I am, which means no commission for them.

+1

where do you get 5% on your savings?

weve just taken our property off the market.

Edited June 24, 2010 by cypher007

[Dr Renter]

I didn't ask, but it was volunteered that both sets of parents (the couple who bought the flat are both 30-ish, and one is a City lawyer) contributed sizeable deposits, so the banks were not being completely and utterly stupid here.

I'm one of those who bought in the last 6 months. It became clear to me at the turn of the year that a further crash wasn't going to happen. Looks like we'll get static nominal prices with a small reduction in real prices, so buying seemed like the only way to go as my savings were being pillaged. Frustrating as we had the perfect chance to reset things but the government bottled it.

[sbn]

Markets rarely do anything in a "long slow" fasion and yes I'm mindful of the great depression and japans stagflation BUT if a slow decline in HP did set in then it would be eventually accelerated by people offloading investment properties and the lack of new for-investment buyers. Think about it - after say 2 years of steady slow price decline/stagnation - who is going buy for any reason other than purely for living space needs ?. The thing to remember is that most markets have integral positive feedback which makes a steady or slowly changing state almost impossible.

I hear you, but, we're not in a free market environment are we? If we were, surely every bank would have colapsed along with house prices and by now we would rebuilding our economy on a more sure footing and a gold backed currency or something. Nope, I reckon TPTB will throw absolutly everything at it to ensure a long, slow decline back to 3.5 earnings multiple. When I say everything, I mean inflation, taxation, war, forced selling, forced buying etc etc.

[Agentimmo]

While people are prepared to pay for properties at this price level HPI will continue. I assume the person has a mortgage so the banks are lending ...

That is the whole Ponzi game in a nutshell.

There's a plot of land near me. Up for sale 3yrs ago for 500,000€. A bit steep I thought. Someone bought it. ie. paid a silly price. They then started to build a house on it. Never finished due to the credit crunch. I reckon they ran out of money/credit in early 2008. Has lay empty ever since. Looks run-down now. I checked the price on a website last week, out of curiosity - 1.3M € !! ie. 800,000€ more. Totall madness.

Count me out of this game. When the end comes, and it will, I think it will be carnage....

[NEO72]

I'm surprised at the amount of pessimism I'm seeing here. Quite a few seem to believe that we are in for a long period of gradual falls - why?

Between late 07 and early 09, circa 25% was wiped of the value of houses - of course interest rates were at those lofty heights of 5%ish but given that SVRs have been climbing, the difference in not that great.

In the meantime, long-term unemployment has been steadily rising and pent up supply has been increasing (outstripping demand since the beginning of the year). All the major indices are showing negligible growth or falls this year - this is it, this is the second top - how long were you expecting those with a 25% deposit (the current average amount) to support HPI?

So what happens when we start seeing gradual falls? Sellers become more pressured, whilst buyers become less so - it feeds on itself (ie like 07-09) - its all about sentiment (hence the VI interest in the media).

There's also been moaning about how the cgt rise wasn't as high as it could have been - FFS it hasn't gone down now has it. Do you think this and the changes to housing benefit will increase BTL demand or lower it?

Oh and did I mention that soon the banks won't have any money to lend to those stupid enough to pile in soon (end of the SLS).

Now is very possibly THE worst time to buy.

[Salocin]

where do you get 5% on your savings?

It's in Australia. Before leaving New Zealand in November they had savings accounts there at 6.5%, I was very tempted to move a large chunk of cash there.

[bomberbrown]

Is Anyone Considering Buying A House Now?

I answered the very question the other month. See here:

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=133642

[The Masked Tulip]

This is a very intersting thread... and I can understand all points of view in it... If anything I think it just highlights the enormous uncertainty and sense of hopelessness that now exists in this country.

I just think HPCers are amongst the most aware of how dire things are.

I am sat watching the news now and all the talk about pensions rising to 70. A Doctor has just come on to point out that whilst people may live 20 or 30 years beyond 65 once you get into your mid 60s the body weakens, the illneses start.

I do wonder whether getting out of the UK is now the option but suspect all the English language countries will soon follow the UK in pensions. If the EU countries do not and people are still retiring in the PIIGS in their 60s then they would look more promising.

My Dad died at age 66 from cancer. I wonder whether I should be worried about pensions at all to be honest.

Good thread though.

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

I'm surprised at the amount of pessimism I'm seeing here. Quite a few seem to believe that we are in for a long period of gradual falls - why?

Between late 07 and early 09, circa 25% was wiped of the value of houses - of course interest rates were at those lofty heights of 5%ish but given that SVRs have been climbing, the difference in not that great.

In the meantime, long-term unemployment has been steadily rising and pent up supply has been increasing (outstripping demand since the beginning of the year). All the major indices are showing negligible growth or falls this year - this is it, this is the second top - how long were you expecting those with a 25% deposit (the current average amount) to support HPI?

So what happens when we start seeing gradual falls? Sellers become more pressured, whilst buyers become less so - it feeds on itself (ie like 07-09) - its all about sentiment (hence the VI interest in the media).

There's also been moaning about how the cgt rise wasn't as high as it could have been - FFS it hasn't gone down now has it. Do you think this and the changes to housing benefit will increase BTL demand or lower it?

Oh and did I mention that soon the banks won't have any money to lend to those stupid enough to pile in soon (end of the SLS).

Now is very possibly THE worst time to buy.

thats about the strength of it, it can take a long while to turn but when it does prices stream as they did in 07-08 as sentiment feeds on itself, markets dont straightline the trend just need to establish itself and then more and more follow the trend as it becomes more and more apparent to more people. The extreme record volatility the last 3 years (largest quickest falls followed by rapid rise just highlights the magnitude of the event and 07 wasnt even the main leg down as the main leg down is the one when fundamentals ultimately collapse. But the rally is doing its job, the nature of markets unfortunately is such that the majority of bears need to capitulate before they can turn

Edited June 24, 2010 by Tamara De Lempicka

[TheCountOfNowhere]

Sounds like mostly people are saying they aint buying at the mo but are felling pressured into taking on debt.

What a s**t society Britain is.

People want everything for nothing. Easy money. Easy Life.

I work hard for what I have and it's been stolen by the workshy and the public service, whom I can tell you from my experience offer very little in the way of service and a lot in the way of taking my cash.

It's time the public sector sung to the tune of the private sector.

[The Masked Tulip]

I work hard for what I have and it's been stolen by the workshy and the public service, whom I can tell you from my experience offer very little in the way of service and a lot in the way of taking my cash.

It's time the public sector sung to the tune of the private sector.

+1

[The Knimbies who say No]

Not looking to buy, but keeping a daily eye in the area of interest. Asking prices are dropping slowly, not much selling. I'm not pessimistic about a large housing correction. Who has the money/equity to pay the ludicrous asking prices?

The proliferation of information via internet eg the land registry data, property bee etc is a great boon to buyers too, and will no doubt help to put pressure on prices.

I suspect I may ultimately buy via auction since it seems much more straightforward and transparent., subject to the right house turning up.

[scottbeard]

I'm just sick of waiting to see what will happen round the corner...

-Credit crunch

-end of QE

-election / emergency buget

-future of interest rate

I have enough money to buy a small house outright or put down a substancial deposit on a larger property.

I'm worried that if I do either, that's when the crash will take place and I will be living a life of regret!

Each one of the events listed above (that has happened or waiting to take effect) has detered me from even contemplainting to buy!

What else can they do? We were all right here on hpc... But most of us didn't antispate the goverments comitment to protect the sheeple! ... and look now savers like myself are paying for it!

Due to the nature of my work I'm unable to rent and still stuck at home... I do still activly look for properties but I would say I'm only interested in 1 out of every 100 that come on the Market!

I hate this county...

I can't help but be puzzled as to how you can hate the country so much when you've obviously made quite a tidy pile of money out of it. No wonder money doesn't bring happiness if it leads to sitting around all day worrying about losing the money.

And as for "the government's commitment to protect the sheeple", devil's advocat would say acting in the interests of the majority is what the government is supposed to do

The better (but easy to say and hard to do) way is to try and live life with no regrets: as the song says "don't congratulate yourself or berate yourself too much: your choices are half chance...and so are everyone else's"

[iamdamosuzuki]

Well, I just bought a house which sold 2007 for 120k (absurd). Price paid was 98.

There's been a pickup in Glasgow over the last monthor so, but I can't help think it's stupid people thinking they are at the botom of the market and paying over the odds. By that I mean paying headline price for Offers in the region of.

I'm convinced this is just a blip, and don't even believe I got that much of a bargain - though I'm happy with the price I paid.

I can't help feeling we are seeing the wringing out of the last deposit rich buyers, and after this we will see a further slow decline. The money people are paying for a 1 bed tenement flat up here is insane, but they still can't give away newbuilds.

[tomwatkins]

My view is that house purchase should take in to account job insecurity more than anything right now. To be able to up sticks and move is a great feeling. To be shackled with neg equity in times like these? Remember if you have to sell a house then any loss has to be crystalised at the point of sale. Seems obvious I know but worth careful thought.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

My view is that house purchase should take in to account job insecurity more than anything right now. To be able to up sticks and move is a great feeling. To be shackled with neg equity in times like these? Remember if you have to sell a house then any loss has to be crystalised at the point of sale. Seems obvious I know but worth careful thought.

+1

Working in Paris at the mo and loving it. Might only be here to Oct now but after that i'm looking at Amsterdam.

I miss the UK a bit but the longer im away the less I am missing it. More friends and familly locally ( in europe I mean) and I wouldnt be back to the UK again.

[The Masked Tulip]

My view is that house purchase should take in to account job insecurity more than anything right now. To be able to up sticks and move is a great feeling. To be shackled with neg equity in times like these? Remember if you have to sell a house then any loss has to be crystalised at the point of sale. Seems obvious I know but worth careful thought.

Yes, and this weights heavily on me... my work is not in Wales but at the same time I don't fancy living in the SE of England... surf is not too good in the Home Counties... so I weigh up having a home here as a base... but then I do think why... I think if the US tech industry in the US was not dead I would have gone out there by now - work and lifestyle in same place... as opposed to lifestyle but no work where I am... and the job cuts have not begun...

I keep thinking that by renting I can get up and go with the worry, hassle and loss of selling a house in a gathering storm.