House Prices ?

"Quentin" wrote

Probably between about 1,000 and 50 million. Talking just about the UK, of course.

Golden Gun - I mean Quentin - I haven't counted either so I'm not able to answer the question. Why don't you keep yourself busy counting?

Peter Saxton from London snipped-for-privacy@petersaxton.co.uk

House prices will definitely have a dramatic drop in value. The only problem is when and how much they will rise first.

James

I think this will depend on where the house is. Some areas are overinflated no doubt, others have seen a steadier but maintainable rise.

I largely agree with the last point. A murder round the corner caused my flat's value to plummet. A large employer closing down can have the same effect. Conversely, opening a marina nearby, better commuter links (faster trains or a better road) or a boom in a local industry can all cause prices to rise.

At the end of the day, people need to be able to afford houses for them to sell. In my view there are not enough people in the South East who can afford to pay 200k for a "starter" house to maintain current prices. In the North the same money would buy a four bedroomed detached house in a pleasant village. A well-presented terraced house costs 30k. Salaries are higher in the South East, but I cannot believe there are many people with the 60k salary needed to take out a mortgage.

Er, make that 50K now.

Yes but did you know you can still buy terraced houses for 16K, in some parts of Engand? South Yorkshire is a prime example of where you can get such properties.

James

When the dip comes, what do you think would be the maximum dip that could happen? I saw a report in the econmist that said that this dip could and would be around 25K this comming year? But then what do they know eh?

36,675,298.

I've no doubt, but what are they like? Are they rentable? After all if they are so cheap to buy, it could be that only the worst tenants will want to rent them. All the 'better' tenants will have gone elsewhere. So you could end up with defaulters, empty property and one big headache. This has happened already here when 'investors' bought up cheap housing. They have been burned.

I would advise anybody looking for BTL to be prepared to pay a bit extra for a house that they would live in themselves if need be, and not miles away. You need to keep an eye on it, even if an agent is involved. It's your money remember.

Read my reply again. There is something missing which means I am going to be right- a timescale! My reply means nothing without one

James

marking the OPs original post as the reference date against which he's monitoring house price movements, why would they rise first?

Golden Gun thinks he's being clever changing his email address but he has such a distinctive "style"!

Peter Saxton from London snipped-for-privacy@petersaxton.co.uk

monitoring house

Well the latest figures showed a rise in July which was unexpected. The annual rate is slowing, but is still double digit. London may have stalled, but there are still significant parts of the country that are chugging along nicely. So I would expect average uk prices to rise a bit yet. However predicting the peak is always very difficult and anyone showing a profit and wanting to cash in would do well to get out now rather than squeeezing any more out of it.

James

My home city is Hull. Here's what you can get for your money at the moment (thanks to rightmove.co.uk for the info)

10k buys a boarded up terraced house with recent fire damage. Could be less at an auction.

17k buys a cosy two bedroomed terraced house.

Terraced houses in most parts of the city are in the range 20k to 40k. I have not been able to find more than an occasional terraced house above 40k in Hull.

Some of the houses I am sure will not be a good buy, but I know that if you went round the city with 50k to spend on a terraced house, people would be queuing up to see you.

Here's an ad for a 17k house, just as an example of what's on offer:

http://marketplacepr>

Sounds like we should all move to Hull! :-)

My comments were based on my own personal experience of BTL in the North East, especially Sunderland and Chester-le-Street.

I have a friend from Hull who regularly does the same (looks at how many houses he can afford.)

You mean you couldn't find any 2K houses? You didn't try hard enough :-)

Tim

How is life in Hull? I mean what is the general location like of these houses? Have you considered "buy to let"?

Equally, some houses will be an *excellent buy*! It is just a matter of doing the leg work would you not agree?

> ing%2CPropertyDetails.vm/svr/null?p_id 91348&pa_n&tr_t=buy >

Seems like good advice.