Chasing money

[Squaredy]

I am sure most of us would acknowledge that house prices (and therefore rental costs) have gone off the scale in many parts of the UK.  I was brought up in a nice part of Surrey, and by the time I started work at age 17 (in 1987) I knew I had zero hope of buying a nice little starter house (in a reasonable area this would have been maybe ten times my yearly income).  So when my parents said they were moving back to Wales I moved with them, and easily bought a house near Ebbw Vale.

 

That was a long time ago.  And since then this problem has become a huge issue in many areas.  My brother lives in a crowded part of Bristol in a smallish two bedroom terraced house - worth around £400,000.  How does a worker (even with a fairly decent wage) hope to get a house unless they inherit at these prices?  Because of Bristol prices my area (Newport South Wales) is now becoming silly as well.

 

And what about the youngsters being brought up in Devon and Cornwall, where they feel at home, but know they will have to move away or live with their parents?

 

The system is broken, and there would be an outcry (from many property owners) if house prices started dropping.  So I am afraid it is what we are stuck with.  I guess the best we can hope for is huge wage inflation over the coming years without correspondingly huge house price increases.  But the result of large wage rises would of course be huge inflation, so no-one really wins.

 

It should never have been allowed to get this far, but every colour of government in recent decades has failed to tackle this problem.

[eggsarascal]

19 hours ago, Squaredy said:

I am sure most of us would acknowledge that house prices (and therefore rental costs) have gone off the scale in many parts of the UK.  I was brought up in a nice part of Surrey, and by the time I started work at age 17 (in 1987) I knew I had zero hope of buying a nice little starter house (in a reasonable area this would have been maybe ten times my yearly income).  So when my parents said they were moving back to Wales I moved with them, and easily bought a house near Ebbw Vale.

 

That was a long time ago.  And since then this problem has become a huge issue in many areas.  My brother lives in a crowded part of Bristol in a smallish two bedroom terraced house - worth around £400,000.  How does a worker (even with a fairly decent wage) hope to get a house unless they inherit at these prices?  Because of Bristol prices my area (Newport South Wales) is now becoming silly as well.

 

And what about the youngsters being brought up in Devon and Cornwall, where they feel at home, but know they will have to move away or live with their parents?

 

The system is broken, and there would be an outcry (from many property owners) if house prices started dropping.  So I am afraid it is what we are stuck with.  I guess the best we can hope for is huge wage inflation over the coming years without correspondingly huge house price increases.  But the result of large wage rises would of course be huge inflation, so no-one really wins.

 

It should never have been allowed to get this far, but every colour of government in recent decades has failed to tackle this problem.

And to think, less than 7% of the UK is built on, that aside, I go into Stoke occasionally, the amount of redundant factory’s that stand empty and could be repurposed is criminal, but no one is going to do it.

[5thelement]

33 minutes ago, eggsarascal said:

And to think, less than 7% of the UK is built on, that aside, I go into Stoke occasionally, the amount of redundant factory’s that stand empty and could be repurposed is criminal, but no one is going to do it.

Loads of the old mills and factories in Manchester where repurposed by the universities as lecture buildings or halls of residence/student digs, I’ve been inside some of them, decent places to live rather than the usual rental hovel.

Im currently in Kent, staying in Deal and travelling up to Whitstable each day.

The amount of new house developments currently underway is astonishing, all on farming land. These are 4-5 bedroom homes in an expensive part of the country, only one out of about a dozen developments have solar panels on the roofs. 

[eggsarascal]

9 minutes ago, 5thelement said:

Loads of the old mills and factories in Manchester where repurposed by the universities as lecture buildings or halls of residence/student digs, I’ve been inside some of them, decent places to live rather than the usual rental hovel.

Im currently in Kent, staying in Deal and travelling up to Whitstable each day.

The amount of new house developments currently underway is astonishing, all on farming land. These are 4-5 bedroom homes in an expensive part of the country, only one out of about a dozen developments have solar panels on the roofs. 

Big cities like Manchester it works because there are well paid jobs available, small cities like Stoke-on-Trent less so, so it doesn’t get redeveloped, face it, who wants to live in one of the most deprived cities in the country? As for building four/5 bed pitches in the countryside, what good is that to the youngsters of today?

[GarethM]

Zero, you just continue to get more urban sprawl. Then you get the oh that's not too bad, until say 5-10 years when the council goes well let's just connect the green dots with more houses.

[sime42]

16 minutes ago, eggsarascal said:

Big cities like Manchester it works because there are well paid jobs available, small cities like Stoke-on-Trent less so, so it doesn’t get redeveloped, face it, who wants to live in one of the most deprived cities in the country? As for building four/5 bed pitches in the countryside, what good is that to the youngsters of today?

 

It's no good for most people. Very good for the developers profits though.

[eggsarascal]

13 minutes ago, sime42 said:

 

It's no good for most people. Very good for the developers profits though.

Social housing or nothing then, I can’t see it happening mind.

[Steven P]

34 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Zero, you just continue to get more urban sprawl. Then you get the oh that's not too bad, until say 5-10 years when the council goes well let's just connect the green dots with more houses.

 

Looking forward to the day when I commute to the office and not see any green space.

 

 

4 bedroom executive houses do nothing to help anyone if the new buyers cannot afford starter homes till their mid thirties.

 

Locally loads of new builds here, but no new jobs in the town, no new facilities (community halls, churches, pubs, local shops), bus routes, but the builders do leave unsuitable-for-a-house postage stamp sized green space 'parks'. All these houses are are places to sleep

[sime42]

7 minutes ago, eggsarascal said:

Social housing or nothing then, I can’t see it happening mind.

 

Yes, and yes sadly.

 

It'd be a good idea to bring the supposed 1 million empty homes back into use as well. This lot;-

 

Action on Empty Homes

WWW.ACTIONONEMPTYHOMES.ORG

 

A much better idea, for a few reasons, than keep throwing up crappy, useless new builds on precious green land. Can't see that happening either though, on account of there being less profit in it.

 

 

 

[GarethM]

Yeap, the council love to green light such things because it's more council tax.

 

Whilst making simple rebuilds almost impossible due to paperwork and environmental bs.

 

I don't want to sound like a green belt is sacred, but sympathetic rebuild keeping the character. Whilst letting places like the old industrial site be more high density.