House Prices #3 Property market, buying and selling

Are you...

  • A homeowner with a mortgage fixed for 2 years

    Votes: 92 16.9%

  • A homeowner with a mortgage fixed for more than 2 years

    Votes: 204 37.4%

  • A homeowner not on a fixed mortgage

    Votes: 28 5.1%

  • A homeowner currently looking to move or remortgage

    Votes: 44 8.1%

  • A FTB still saving for a deposit

    Votes: 43 7.9%

  • A FTB with a deposit saved, currently seeking properties

    Votes: 29 5.3%

  • Renting with no intention of buying

    Votes: 11 2.0%

  • Renting but hope to buy in future

    Votes: 64 11.7%

  • Other...

    Votes: 30 5.5%
  • Total voters
    545
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1
Anne1448 said:
Don't come back to Ireland. The housing situation is batshit crazy.

I moved from France to Ireland a few years ago and homes that were sold for 150k have now doubled if not tripled. Worse, most homeowners refuse to allow new units in fear that their overpriced homes would be cheaper.

I visited dozens of houses last year in the South (Kerry, Cork, Tip) and the North (Longford, sligo Roscommon, Mayo) and the quality is shocking. Majority are D rated and below. 70% need at 100k yo bring them back to spec.

Unless your parents have 200-300k to give to you, you are better off in England.
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Sounds like you were looking in some of the parts I am. Unfortunately my partner is dead set on returning, he’s a farmer at heart and wants to try working remotely with his career and having a farm like his parents. I really wasn’t onboard until I realised my parents are only getting older and I want to be able to help them when the time comes. They actually can help me out a lot, which is amazing/crazy, they are comfortable, otherwise I don’t think we’d dream of buying except maybe in Scotland where we’ve lived before. I know I’m very lucky so I don’t want to squander it so I’m trying to figure out the best plan. Whether it’s renovating an old farm house or trying to get planning permission which seems impossible
 
Folkevermore said:
to afford the 470k property with a 10% deposit you’d need a combined income of around £95k minimum.With a five year fix and a 35 year mortgage rate, you would pay about £2275 a month.
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Yes but generally people who buy houses at those prices have more than 10% deposit. 10% deposit is a standard first time buyer deposit, and houses at £400k+ prices (in vast majority of areas) are not starter homes. This in turn massively reduces the mortgage they take and therefore the monthly payments.
 
But by the same token if you're not a first time buyer surely you won't be looking at a 35 year mortgage term so that would increase the repayments (by less sure but still an increase). I suppose it depends how much equity/deposit they have available too, as even a 20% deposit on that sort of price house would be 94k.
 
Koalabear said:
Yes but generally people who buy houses at those prices have more than 10% deposit. 10% deposit is a standard first time buyer deposit, and houses at £400k+ prices (in vast majority of areas) are not starter homes. This in turn massively reduces the mortgage they take and therefore the monthly payments.
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The specific house in question we were discussing was a small three bed. Considering the average first time buyer is in their mid 30s, it’s very possible that a £400k house such as that could be a starter home
 
House prices falling quickly in Sweden, and lots seeing it as a good thing if they fall 20%.


Hold on tight: Sweden’s housing bubble has burst

Nobody saw this coming. Everybody saw this coming. Sweden’s red-hot housing market, and the huge loans people took out to buy property, have been worrying economists and regulators for the best part of a decade.

After 17 years of dizzying growth, house prices are now falling like a stone. Barely 18 months ago, they were still rising at a crazy 20 percent a year. That rate of growth then slowed, and finally turned negative during the summer.

Prices are now falling rapidly, and the fall is accelerating. Prices have already dropped 14 percent from their peak, and the central bank estimates they will plunge by a total of 20%; many economists say this scenario is optimistic. The truth is, nobody knows what’s going to happen.
archive.vn

Hold on tight: Sweden’s housing bubble has burst

archived 12 Dec 2022 08:41:45 UTC
archive.vn archive.vn
 
Anne1448 said:
Starter homes that are under 250k and below 60 sqm don't exist anymore.

My advisor said that when he was house hunting in the 90s there was a clear difference between starter homes and second homes. Now it's big houses and nothing else.
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You can't just make sweeping statements across the whole country. I have just bought a 3 bed in a good (not posh but not awful either) area in one of the largest cities in the UK for £200k. Plenty more on the market for that price and below.

epl000 said:
But by the same token if you're not a first time buyer surely you won't be looking at a 35 year mortgage term so that would increase the repayments (by less sure but still an increase).
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Yes but I was still offered 30 year term on my second house purchase, I was just about to turn 30. With the retirement age not set to decrease anytime soon, I think the long term mortgages are not going to be pulled back.
 
Koalabear said:
You can't just make sweeping statements across the whole country. I have just bought a 3 bed in a good (not posh but not awful either) area in one of the largest cities in the UK for £200k. Plenty more on the market for that price and below.



Yes but I was still offered 30 year term on my second house purchase, I was just about to turn 30. With the retirement age not set to decrease anytime soon, I think the long term mortgages are not going to be pulled back.
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Buying a second home at 30 is not the norm. The average first time buyer is 32 https://www.ftadviser.com/mortgages/2022/03/15/covid-pushes-up-average-age-of-first-time-buyers/.

I’m 30 and got offered a 38 year mortgage.

I also live in a shitty midlands town and a three bed will set you back more than 300k. 200k for a three bed is not the norm
 
Koalabear said:
You can't just make sweeping statements across the whole country. I have just bought a 3 bed in a good (not posh but not awful either) area in one of the largest cities in the UK for £200k. Plenty more on the market for that price and below.



Yes but I was still offered 30 year term on my second house purchase, I was just about to turn 30. With the retirement age not set to decrease anytime soon, I think the long term mortgages are not going to be pulled back.
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Was gonna say I bought at the peak last year and my 2 up 2 down terrace in a desirable city in the North was £200k, totally affordable for a couple who both earn and have been saving for a few years. For those on their own well there are plenty of flats around the county for under £150k
 
Koalabear said:
You can't just make sweeping statements across the whole country. I have just bought a 3 bed in a good (not posh but not awful either) area in one of the largest cities in the UK for £200k. Plenty more on the market for that price and below.
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This isn't a sweeping statement but a fact.

Here is a direct quote from the National Audit Office in the UK "No Starter Homes have been built to date. The funding originally intended for Starter Homes has instead been spent on acquiring and preparing brownfield sites for housing more generally, some of which is expected to be affordable housing."

I would love to know when your starter home was built. My guess would be pre-2010s. Many government stopped delivering starter homes after 2008 to focus on semi-detached 3 bedrooms with tiny gardens and no parking for 300k. You can see this trend all over the world.
 
There are lots of small new builds (2 bed houses/ flats) being built in my NE county. That info must ignore Co. Durham.

You could buy 3 of them for 300k in some areas so at least that’s nice.
 
SpindleWhorl said:
Was gonna say I bought at the peak last year and my 2 up 2 down terrace in a desirable city in the North was £200k, totally affordable for a couple who both earn and have been saving for a few years. For those on their own well there are plenty of flats around the county for under £150k
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I bought a 2 bed semi detached for 128k the town hasn’t got a good reputation but where the house is I’ve had no issues and it’s been really quiet. I could’ve bought a 2 bed flat where I grew up which is a good area or a 1/2 bed flat in the area top of a certain right move in demand area list which has a good reputation. Them flats would’ve cost the same as the house I bought but I wanted a garden.
 
Anne1448 said:
This isn't a sweeping statement but a fact.

Here is a direct quote from the National Audit Office in the UK "No Starter Homes have been built to date. The funding originally intended for Starter Homes has instead been spent on acquiring and preparing brownfield sites for housing more generally, some of which is expected to be affordable housing."

I would love to know when your starter home was built. My guess would be pre-2010s. Many government stopped delivering starter homes after 2008 to focus on semi-detached 3 bedrooms with tiny gardens and no parking for 300k. You can see this trend all over the world.
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Again not true. In my area of the Southeast, literally all that is being built is tiny flats, usually a block of 9 to avoid having to contribute to the CiL fund or provide any 'affordable housing or previous office blocks being converted to flats, retirement flats and the other 5% is Executive homes. No 2 up 2 downs or small semis for the 2nd step on the ladder although to be fair there are plenty of Victorian terraces around. IMO Councils need to have the authority to have a mixed housing target, say 50 flats, 100 2 bed houses, 100 bed semis, etc and when the quota is used up tough. They also need to prevent housebuilders from using the 9 properties loophole or make it a cumulative total through the builders portfolio so 1st 9 in the year fine but any above that, anywhere and the CiL comes in
 
To make things easier I am putting here the definition of a starter home in the UK "starter homes are new homes costing up to £250,000 (£450,000 in London)".

As I mentioned before, the starter homes past 2010 are NOT starter homes since people on a minimum wage, single parents or average wage earners cannot afford them without financial support.

Where I live for example a starter home cost 500k (for a 4 bed house) and 350k (for a 1 bed apartment). Because they call it a starter home does not make it one.
 
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Anyone else get the rightmove newsletter? They're predicting house prices will fall 2% in 2023 :LOL:

Dream on. They've already fallen that in two weeks last month and the bank of England is putting up rates again today. Talk about vested interests.
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What could happen to house prices in 2023?
This year we saw asking prices in Great Britain rise by 5.6%, to an average of £359,137. This was almost £17,000 higher than in 2021, when prices increased by 6.3%.

In 2023, we’re forecasting that average asking prices will drop by 2%, which means prices will still remain higher than they were after the incredibly busy home-moving period of 2021.
 
Yel said:
Anyone else get the rightmove newsletter? They're predicting house prices will fall 2% in 2023 :LOL:

Dream on. They've already fallen that in two weeks last month and the bank of England is putting up rates again today. Talk about vested interests.
---
What could happen to house prices in 2023?
This year we saw asking prices in Great Britain rise by 5.6%, to an average of £359,137. This was almost £17,000 higher than in 2021, when prices increased by 6.3%.

In 2023, we’re forecasting that average asking prices will drop by 2%, which means prices will still remain higher than they were after the incredibly busy home-moving period of 2021.
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I did read a report yesterday that must have been that. I laughed too, no way is the correction going to be 2%, add a zero on minimum. I anticiapte prices will be below pre covid levels by June at the latesst.
 
All this uncertainty of mortgage rates is worrying for everyone - both first time buyers and people with existing mortgages. I was lucky enough to buy my first house when I was 28 and I didn't have help or handouts from parents, I just worked super hard in two jobs across 6 days a week, working a day shift on a Friday and then an evening shift as well so I was working 7 full time shifts across 6 days. If I had to do it again, I just couldn't. I'm a lot more tired now I'm 32.... things really change when you hit 30s! I bought for 75k by myself and last time I got the house valued for sale was last year and I had varying valuations between 120k to 140k. I now have a partner and we want to buy together at some point but he lives in a council flat that he wants to buy himself before we look for one together. He always says he needs to "catch up to me" and feels like he is behind and also doesn't want to put all his eggs in one basket by getting rid of his council flat and then if our relationship didn't work out he doesn't have the security of somewhere he can go back to if we ended up having to sell and split what we got together. It's very frustrating because I just can't see when he will be able to buy his flat any time soon. He has a poor credit rating and whilst he is now in a well paid job, it's a task and a half trying to get his credit out of the dumps. And I wouldn't want to buy something over priced with excessive interest rates. I do worry what the costs of my mortgage will be when it comes up for renewal in about 17 months. I only pay £417 at the moment on a 4 bed but I do overpay it each month.
If I was just starting our by myself now, I would not be able to get into anything more than a 1 bed flat.
 
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