What housing crisis?

[Lammy]

Am I the only one here that is against the building of more homes in the south east?

The current infratructure is already struggling to cope!!

I'm also not convinced that the latest schemes dreamt up by the government will have any affect anyway!

There are plenty of houses in this country and indeed a lot of empty houses in London itself!

The problem as I see it is not the lack of houses to buy but simply the wrong people buying the cheaper houses.

How many people do you know that own more than one house? I know a few. How many would you have known 20 years ago?

Am I the only one that sees a very simple solution to this problem without having to build loads of new houses? All the goverenment needs to do it abolish stamp duty fot first time buyers and triple it for people buying second homes. Currently you even get a discount on the council tax with a second home. Let's whack that right up aswell. If you have loads of cash then move to a bigger house!! leave the smaller houses for the Graduates and Key workers etc....


or is it because loads of MPs and Lords own loads of houses and are party to the problem?

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Buy to let is the problem. They've scooped up all the low value propeties and driven the prices through the roof.

Sorry for all you home owners out there, but what we need is an 80's style house price crash.

 

[ditchy]

Buy to let is the problem. They've scooped up all the low value propeties and driven the prices through the roof.

Sorry for all you home owners out there, but what we need is an 80's style house price crash.

Isnt going to happen all the time there is demand for housing ... reason demand is high is increase in population etc.. yes people with loads of dosh plus profiteering landlords ... plenty of immigrants exploited by landlords (can u blame landlord making a few bob by letting his shabby property to 10 immigrants ) . Control immigration and start to control economy ,housing welfare etc !

 

[The Great Cornholio]

Am I the only one here that is against the building of more homes in the south east?

The current infratructure is already struggling to cope!!

I'm also not convinced that the latest schemes dreamt up by the government will have any affect anyway!

There are plenty of houses in this country and indeed a lot of empty houses in London itself!

The problem as I see it is not the lack of houses to buy but simply the wrong people buying the cheaper houses.

How many people do you know that own more than one house? I know a few. How many would you have known 20 years ago?

Am I the only one that sees a very simple solution to this problem without having to build loads of new houses? All the goverenment needs to do it abolish stamp duty fot first time buyers and triple it for people buying second homes. Currently you even get a discount on the council tax with a second home. Let's whack that right up aswell. If you have loads of cash then move to a bigger house!! leave the smaller houses for the Graduates and Key workers etc....


or is it because loads of MPs and Lords own loads of houses and are party to the problem?

What good will abolishing stamp duty for first time buyers do? A couple of thousand off won't make house any more affordable. I live in a new house that cost £100000 when we bought it just under 3 years ago. We are not talking flash here - we are talking a 3 bed end of terrace. It is nwo worth £160000. Going on the 3.5 x joint salary, you would need a joint income of over £40000 to buy it. This is in a ward of Hastings that is exempt from Stamp Duty because it is one of the poorest wards in the country.

How the hell will kids afford a house at current prices? You can't put your finger on one cause there are many. Buy to let is one. Lack of new, affordable housing is another. The estate our house is on has approx 90 houses. Of this, there are 6 x 2 bed terraced and 6 x 3 bed terraces. There are a few 3 bed detached but the vast majority are 4 and 5 bed detached houses. What is the point of building new houses that first time buyers can't afford? Without wishing to get political because I am not, but this is the result of the Thatcher ethos. Every man for himself and make as much money as you can. The current lot seem to be carrying it on. Building these new expensive houses just fires up the market even more pushing prices up. The houses that are sold to move to these new houses are out of the reach of most first time buyers so are snapped up by people to let. More and more people are relying on property as a pension due to all the recent scare stories. I'm alright Jack - sod the people who can't afford to buy a home - they can rent mine and pay for my retirement.

More houses are desperately needed - unless we adopt a Chinese style 2 kids per couple rule and stop all immigrants, the population will continue to rise. They have to live somewhere. The same argument applies to all the AONB arguments. When there is no brownfield site left, where else is there? We aren't all Halifax with acres of brownfield land where factories and workhouses used to be.

For me, this is what happens when capitalism runs out of control. Our basic instinct is to grab as much as we can for ourselves. Which is fine to a point. But when 50% of the people have 80% if the houses, we have a big problem. I haven't got the first clue how to solve it. If you shovel up hundreds of low cost houses, you are in danger of creating "ghettos". If you carry on as you are, the rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer. Even though I have nearly £90000 equity in my house, I really hope there is a massive crash in prices. But it seems unlikely.

/me sits back and waits for Looney's tirade.

 

[Wilts]

What annoys me is when there is a train drivers/firefighters strike on, that they interview the people striking who come up with "well I need more money as I can't afford my mortgage!"

If you can't afford a mortgage, don't buy a ****ing house

What is all the obsession for buying property? Around 50 years ago there was no problem with council estates (as they were rather than as they are now) and no sign of people borrowing up to 5 times their annual income.

Remove the will to buy property and (to some degree) you remove the problem. Less demand.

Affordable housing is a big initiative, and if they remove the restrictions on building upwards (better looking tower blocks than the 60s) and improved the security in these sort of blocks, then we are on the route to success, given that we can learn from the errors (design and planning) of the 60s.

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

The problem with the south-east is every bugger's going there.

The net population of the north-east is FALLING (swathes of houses in the west end of Newcastle are being KNOCKED DOWN). The net populations of Scotland and Northern Ireland and FALLING. Lots of people want to move south.

This combined with the "Channel 4 effect" (I seriously believe that all those prgrammes about doing up your house and becoming a property developer have had a grave effect on the economy) is what is doing it to the south of England.

I know house prices are rising in the rest of the country as well, but nowhere near as badly.

I've been exiled north of Stockport since I was 19. I have a bloody big mortgage (compared to my salary) on a tiny terraced house. I'd like to move down south one day but will never be able to afford to buy there. My house is my home for now... it'll be a sort of combined insurance policy/pension in 25 years, I hope.

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

What is all the obsession for buying property? Around 50 years ago there was no problem with council estates (as they were rather than as they are now)

Thatcher flogged them all off, innit?

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

What annoys me is when there is a train drivers/firefighters strike on, that they interview the people striking who come up with "well I need more money as I can't afford my mortgage!"

If you can't afford a mortgage, don't buy a ****ing house

What is all the obsession for buying property? Around 50 years ago there was no problem with council estates (as they were rather than as they are now) and no sign of people borrowing up to 5 times their annual income.

Remove the will to buy property and (to some degree) you remove the problem. Less demand.

Affordable housing is a big initiative, and if they remove the restrictions on building upwards (better looking tower blocks than the 60s) and improved the security in these sort of blocks, then we are on the route to success, given that we can learn from the errors (design and planning) of the 60s.

Becuase paying rent is dead money! Why pay £700 a month in rent, when you could pay exactly the same on a mortgage!!

 

[Wardy]

(to some degree) you remove the problem. Less demand.

Affordable housing is a big initiative, and if they remove the restrictions on building upwards (better looking tower blocks than the 60s) and improved the security in these sort of blocks, then we are on the route to success, given that we can learn from the errors (design and planning) of the 60s.

The problems with tower blocks is not so much the look or the security, but the lack of community that they create. People these days do not want to know other people. When I was young I knew most people that lived near me, and knew all the people my age that lived within a mile or so.

These days to increase security we are having to close ourselves away from the world. We have security intercoms, and trust no one we do not know in our homes in case they are just looking to see what we have worth stealing.

Tower blocks took this mistrust and uncertaincy and multiplied it. That is why those places that still have these are moving away from them.

 

[Curious Orange]

Becuase paying rent is dead money! Why pay £700 a month in rent, when you could pay exactly the same on a mortgage!!

Because mortgage repayments are more than that?

 

[Lokki 7]

Re: Re: What housing crisis?

unless we adopt a Chinese style 2 kids per couple rule and stop all immigrants, the population will continue to rise.

Don't have up to date figures, but I beleive the population of the UK is not rising and may in fact be falling due to all the people moving to Spain etc to retire. Plus the fact that family sizes on average have been falling over the past 20 years. What is your evidence of this population boom? The Sun newspapers reporting of illegal immigrants?

 

[Wardy]

Becuase paying rent is dead money! Why pay £700 a month in rent, when you could pay exactly the same on a mortgage!!

Though if house prices were not so high, then landlords would not have to charge so much rent. So it would be cheaper to rent.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

Plus rents tend to go up in line with inflation, whereas mortgage repayments don't.

Over a 25 year period that adds up to a huge saving.

 

[Curious Orange]

The problems with tower blocks is not so much the look or the security, but the lack of community that they create. People these days do not want to know other people. When I was young I knew most people that lived near me, and knew all the people my age that lived within a mile or so.

These days to increase security we are having to close ourselves away from the world. We have security intercoms, and trust no one we do not know in our homes in case they are just looking to see what we have worth stealing.

Tower blocks took this mistrust and uncertaincy and multiplied it. That is why those places that still have these are moving away from them.

Read 'High Rise' by J.G.Ballard by any chance?

 

[Wilts]

Becuase paying rent is dead money! Why pay £700 a month in rent, when you could pay exactly the same on a mortgage!!

Why should I spend £900 a month on buying my flat when I can rent it for £650 a month? Saves me a lot of money...

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Why should I spend £900 a month on buying my flat when I can rent it for £650 a month? Saves me a lot of money...

Becuase you own it. In 20 years you wont have to pay anything at all! ... and you can do what you like to it without the owners complaining... they cant evict you with two months notice...

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

Why should I spend £900 a month on buying my flat when I can rent it for £650 a month? Saves me a lot of money...

But you're only paying £ 900 / month for the term of the mortgage ( 25 years ), but you'll be paying £ 650 / month rent FOR EVER.

Work out the total cost over your lifetime and see the difference !

 

[Wardy]

Read 'High Rise' by J.G.Ballard by any chance?

No does it support or appose my theory?

 

[Wilts]

But you're only paying £ 900 / month for the term of the mortgage ( 25 years ), but you'll be paying £ 650 / month rent FOR EVER.

Work out the total cost over your lifetime and see the difference !

But I'm not going to do it forever! And more to the point, if I spent £900 pcm on a mortgage then I'd have no money to do anything with. If I got a mortgage for £650 pcm then I would be living in a garage!

I would more likely put money into a property investment trust that earns growth and dividends from investing in numerous properties, rather than invest my entire life into a single entity (putting eggs all into one basket) and risking the housing and income markets to completely separate themselves in a few years.

What happens when companies start paying people less on the whole (very possible considering all the offshore migrations) and property stays at the same prices? People who suddenly could afford £900 pcm can now suddenly afford far less.... and they're stuck with a massive mortgage!

With an investment in a property based investment trust or open-ended investment company, I can reap all the rewards from the sales of properties and the market going up and up and up, and then sell them off when the market is about to take a downturn. Then I can live wherever the hell I like on the cheap and make money out of the property market while the market is bullish.

 

[Curious Orange]

No does it support or appose my theory?

I wouldn't want to spoil the story for you.