Home Ownership

[Chicken Run]

It aint getting any better, in Brighton & Hove this year prices are already up on last year, 2005 of course being the year when prices were supposed to fall!

 

[Goring Gull]

Thing that amazes me is where do people keep getting the cash to get initially on the ladder , 125k is not the sort of money people have just lying around.

At times in the first six months after i'd moved north my other half found it especially hard but when we look at what we've got now a 3 bed semi with drive and garage, litttle lad who can be looked after at home as she can afford not to work an ok car. then think what we'd have down South the house would have been at least 220k well out of our budget. ours up here cost 104k.

I have also come to realise that the south coast is a tad over rated aswell.

 

[Beach Hut]

There is a further issue - prices go up as there is not enough property to satisfy demand in the South.

 

[London Calling]

The selling off of good quality council housing wih the equally bad embargo of not being able to build new stock, has created the sink estate.

An estate fullof people with no other options, no other choice, possessing large proportion of people on benefits, and depending on the estate: drug dealers, people with social and mental problems, scally's and low llife criminals.

Thatcher Government started the boom and bust of the housing market and combined with the above led to a situation that housing stock no longer reflected wages.

I live in Hackney the poorest part of the UK. Average household income is £12,000. Yes that £12,000 in London. My 3 bedroom house is worth £400,000.

Until we can provide wholescale social housing and cheaper new builds, plus an efort to increase the level of housing supply especially in the south east this anomaly, this divide in society will remain


Long live Maggie eh?

 

[Chicken Run]

The selling off of good quality council housing wih the equally bad embargo of not being able to build new stock, has created the sink estate.

An estate fullof people with no other options, no other choice, possessing large proportion of people on benefits, and depending on the estate: drug dealers, people with social and mental problems, scally's and low llife criminals.

Thatcher Government started the boom and bust of the housing market and combined with the above led to a situation that housing stock no longer reflected wages.

I live in Hackney the poorest part of the UK. Average household income is £12,000. Yes that £12,000 in London. My 3 bedroom house is worth £400,000.

Until we can provide wholescale social housing and cheaper new builds, plus an efort to increase the level of housing supply especially in the south east this anomaly, this divide in society will remain


Long live Maggie eh?

So since May 1997 what has TB done to inprove things?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

So even house price rises are Thatchers fault, grow up LB or be more detailed in your assesment

You want detail?

OK. The house I still live in cost £10,500 in 1975. It's semi-detached. The house next door that is the mirror image sold for £295,000 in 2004.

Both houses have had extensions added (in the mid 1980's, at a cost of about £20,000), but they both still have the 3 bedrooms they had in the seventies.

My point is that I could afford this place in 1975. In similar circumstances today, I couldn't.

So how are people like me managing?

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

I think buy to let is one of the main problems. The most popular properties for buy to letters are one and two bedroom properties. Of course these are also the properties that 1st time buyers want and its meant that the price has been pushed through the roof.

They should disincentive buying property (other than your home) as an investment, which will make getting on the property ladder far easier.

 

[Goring Gull]

I also believe alot of the types who get council housing these days should be denied it, fair enough if there are medical reasons, genuinly hard up honest working people etc but we should not be housing types who have no intention of working ever when perfectly capable or these silly little tarts who get knocked up by some scummy chav they should be cast out to the dogs and made to fend for themselves that would sort them out. These scroungers i'm sick of the lot of them athe parasites.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I think I will struggle to get on the property ladder for at least 5 years. A student loan to pay off etc. The last thing I want to do, is commit and end up facing negative equity.

I work for a housing consultancy company, and there are a huge amount of affordable houses coming to "your area soon" but no doubt there will be a rush for them.

Do I remember seeing an article in the Argus a while ago, stating that there were 8,000 uninhabited properties in and around Brighton and Hove?

 

[dwayne]

There is an issue compounded by the fact that when young people should be in a position to buy they have a huge debt to pay off for futhering their education and going to university.

By having a debt of around £20K - £30K this delays the process of getting onto the property ladder, getting married and starting a family.

Get ya facts straight,

The average debt for a uni leaver is more like 12-13k

 

[Beach Hut]

Get ya facts straight,

The average debt for a uni leaver is more like 12-13k

Well the ones I know must spend more money then.

 

[Lammy]

You want detail?

OK. The house I still live in cost £10,500 in 1975. It's semi-detached. The house next door that is the mirror image sold for £295,000 in 2004.

Both houses have had extensions added (in the mid 1980's, at a cost of about £20,000), but they both still have the 3 bedrooms they had in the seventies.

My point is that I could afford this place in 1975. In similar circumstances today, I couldn't.

So how are people like me managing?

But how is that Thatcher's fault? All she did was enable a larger proportion of the population to own their own home. Given that most people don't save any money for the future this is a good thing.

The REAL reason why house prices are so much higher now than they were in the 70s is two fold;

1) House prices are now based on tow incomes and not one. This is the result of Women wanting to work rather than stay at home with the children. That's not wrong in itself but what it does mean now is taht women no longer have the choice. They HAVE to work to pay the mortgage.

2) People have lost faith in theur pensions. A lot of people are now investing their money into property rather than pensions. Safe as houses so to speak. This is a particularly bad problem IMHO and one far more profound than council houses being sold off. The type of housing that people are buying up is exactely the same sort of housing that a first time buyer would want. Generally speaking a first time buyer cannot compete with these home owners and they are priced out.

What is the solution?

Well we're not about to stop Women working and nor should they. So we will have to accept that houses are priced on two incomes not one. But the problem of there not being any smaller homes for people starting out is an easy one to solve. IF the government want to. It's called TAX. If it was not such and easy low tax option to own two homes then people would go back to pensions. Owning tow homes is more than anyone needs and should be taxed as a huge luxury. Why not charge 60% stamp duty on second homes? How about inforcing some income tax on these people's second income?

Blaming Thatcher is simply creating a scapegoat.

 

[Goring Gull]

I think I will struggle to get on the property ladder for at least 5 years. A student loan to pay off etc. The last thing I want to do, is commit and end up facing negative equity.

I work for a housing consultancy company, and there are a huge amount of affordable houses coming to "your area soon" but no doubt there will be a rush for them.

Do I remember seeing an article in the Argus a while ago, stating that there were 8,000 uninhabited properties in and around Brighton and Hove?

How's this affordable housing going to work anyway? Ok you have a house for say 60k but what is there to stop people buying them then flogging them for say 180k hence starting the problem again. Other wise people would buy that house and then be stuck with it as could not move up the ladder?

 

[Lammy]

Get ya facts straight,

The average debt for a uni leaver is more like 12-13k

This is true. My wife and I finally clear our student loans this month. We have been paying £117 a month for the last 5 years in order to clear them. We didn't even have to cover tuition fees either.

A simple way around this would be for employers to clear the debt after 3 years service. They are the ones getting the benefit of this education so why not at least pay some of the costs?

This was a Labour governement that did this not Thatcher btw.

 

[Goring Gull]

But how is that Thatcher's fault? All she did was enable a larger proportion of the population to own their own home. Given that most people don't save any money for the future this is a good thing.

The REAL reason why house prices are so much higher now than they were in the 70s is two fold;

1) House prices are now based on tow incomes and not one. This is the result of Women wanting to work rather than stay at home with the children. That's not wrong in itself but what it does mean now is taht women no longer have the choice. They HAVE to work to pay the mortgage.

2) People have lost faith in theur pensions. A lot of people are now investing their money into property rather than pensions. Safe as houses so to speak. This is a particularly bad problem IMHO and one far more profound than council houses being sold off. The type of housing that people are buying up is exactely the same sort of housing that a first time buyer would want. Generally speaking a first time buyer cannot compete with these home owners and they are priced out.

What is the solution?

Well we're not about to stop Women working and nor should they. So we will have to accept that houses are priced on two incomes not one. But the problem of there not being any smaller homes for people starting out is an easy one to solve. IF the government want to. It's called TAX. If it was not such and easy low tax option to own two homes then people would go back to pensions. Owning tow homes is more than anyone needs and should be taxed as a huge luxury. Why not charge 60% stamp duty on second homes? How about inforcing some income tax on these people's second income?

Blaming Thatcher is simply creating a scapegoat.

When my other half goes back to work we will buy another property as an investmentpotentially someewhere for our son to live one day in the future as well in case house prices continue to rocket. Sorry if thats makes it harder for others but you have to look after your own.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I think I will struggle to get on the property ladder for at least 5 years.

That's another change since pre-Thatcher days.

The "property ladder" that everyone wants to "climb". It's all about people becoming speculators, isn't it?

As I said in my earlier post, I still live in the same three bedroomed house I bought in the seventies. It was bought as a family house. Three children have been raised in it. They've now moved out. They can't afford to buy anything, but, even if they could, the best they might hope for wouldn't be a family-sized property.

 

[Lammy]

When my other half goes back to work we will buy another property as an investmentpotentially someewhere for our son to live one day in the future as well in case house prices continue to rocket. Sorry if thats makes it harder for others but you have to look after your own.

Totally agree. So would I.

Because the system makes it easy. One less affordable house off the market.

LET'S BUILD MORE!!!

 

[Barrel of Fun]

How's this affordable housing going to work anyway? Ok you have a house for say 60k but what is there to stop people buying them then flogging them for say 180k hence starting the problem again. Other wise people would buy that house and then be stuck with it as could not move up the ladder?

There does seem to be that danger, but various schemes are being introduced, such as part onwnership. You can buy half the house and rent the other part of the house.

Most, if not all, of the affordable housing will be "governed" by local authorities and they will target the select group of customers.

You have to be on a low income to purchase these houses and hence there will never be a real chance to use it as an investment.

 

[Albion Rob]

I got 'on the ladder' six months ago and at 25 can speak with a little bit of experience.

My girlfriend and I are both quite lucky and earn good money. We took on £147,500 for a two-bedroomed Victorian terrace in Eastbourne town centre and while the repayments are a bit sickening (as I am sure they have been for everybody when they've been starting out), they're quite easily manageable and leave me with enough spare to enjoy life.

However, as I say, we are quite lucky. We're also fortunate that her family are well off and mine, while not rich, do own their own place, the value of it having gone up 800 per cent in the last 20 years. The safety net of parents, despite the fact we would never want to use them, should not be underestimated.

I can't imagine how couples with jobs that don't pay more than £25k per year each can get on the ladder. The only thing I can think of is inheritance. And that applies to me to some degree in that when our parents die we will no doubt use what inheritance we get to pay off our mortgage.

Three points though:

1. I can't imagine my house rising in value by 800 per cent. Also, my father, who earns a fair bit less then the 'national average' could, in theory, pay his starting mortgage off in two years if he wanted to going on today's wages against the mortgage of yesteryear. I doubt youngsters from this generation will ever be in the position to do that.

2. Where do things go from here? If we were to have kids and want to move on then we would need to a) find a buyer for our place, and b) find a bigger place when we may not make a big profit on out place and our salaries may not increase sufficiently.

3. What will happen if there is a crash and those who were unable to afford mortgages because they have run up endless debts (I'm not talking student loans here btw) will then be able to pick up a place. Will it lead to considerable disquiet from those who have worked their arses off to buy a place and are then in negative equity?

My advice to anyone buying would be to find somewhere you really like and are prepared to stay in should the worst happen.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Blaming Thatcher is simply creating a scapegoat.

She's the one who told us all to show a bit of entrepreneurial drive.

I do blame her for the consequences ... a generation of young people who can't afford housing.