Making the news today....

[Honda]

3 hours ago, htb said:

IIRC the handing out of methadone started before the SNP were in control, so its not happened exclusively their on their watch.

By saying handing out Drugs I was referring to cocaine meth etc, not methadone

The problem originated even further back than that: Shuggie Bain

 

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (goodreads.com)

Edited July 30, 2021 by Honda

[Big J]

It's not exactly news, but I found this to be an interesting and succinct summary of the housing crisis in the UK. 

 

 

I have honestly got no idea how anyone starting out could afford to get onto the housing ladder now and fully expect the market to crash in the coming years as increasing interest rates make mortgages completely unaffordable for millions of people.

[Steve Bullman]

4 minutes ago, Big J said:

It's not exactly news, but I found this to be an interesting and succinct summary of the housing crisis in the UK. 

 

 

I have honestly got no idea how anyone starting out could afford to get onto the housing ladder now and fully expect the market to crash in the coming years as increasing interest rates make mortgages completely unaffordable for millions of people.

They’ve been saying the market needs to crash for years yet it never does.

 

realistically I think the only thing that could really make it crash is a big decline in population and therefore demand.

[nepia]

The housing market has always been a boom-bust one and I don't expect that to change.  I'm not knowledgeable enough to understand all the economics but yes, the market will dip in line with history but I just don't know when or exactly why!

[Big J]

Just now, Steve Bullman said:

They’ve been saying the market needs to crash for years yet it never does.

 

realistically I think the only thing that could really make it crash is a big decline in population and therefore demand.

 

I agree, to an extent. 

 

The government cannot afford for the housing market to crash. Given that housing is inherently more unaffordable for lower income families, they're presiding over a situation where with runaway inflation, they either increase the base rate (and bankrupt millions of low income home owners) or allow an unregulated increase in the cost of living, bankrupting fewer people in the short term, but pushing the problem (and exacerbating it) further down the road. 

 

My parent's first house was a 2 up 2 down in Derby in 1981. My mum was 20 at the time, and had a very junior position in the housing office. Probably a smidge over minimum wage. Her annual salary was £4k and the house cost £8k. In 1997 when we moved to a 4 bed house in Little Eaton my parents between them earned about £33k (lorry driver and teacher) and the house was £113k. Still affordable. That same 4 bed house is now valued at £470k and you'd need to have a combined income of £84k (20% deposit) which leaves you a monthly mortgage cost of £1417 (1% fixed rate), but that would increase to £1985 at 4%, or £2423 at 6%.

 

The affordability of housing in the UK has massively decreased in our lifetimes 😟

[Stere]

 

 

Small fluctuation or plateaus might happen  but look long term trend since  1970's

 

Edited August 3, 2021 by Stere

[Steve Bullman]

18 minutes ago, nepia said:

The housing market has always been a boom-bust one and I don't expect that to change.  I'm not knowledgeable enough to understand all the economics but yes, the market will dip in line with history but I just don't know when or exactly why!

I foolishly waited 16 years for it to crash whilst wasting probably close to £150,000 renting, give up in the end and bought. It will be just my luck for it to crash now though.

[Commando]

It's not exactly news, but I found this to be an interesting and succinct summary of the housing crisis in the UK. 
 
 
I have honestly got no idea how anyone starting out could afford to get onto the housing ladder now and fully expect the market to crash in the coming years as increasing interest rates make mortgages completely unaffordable for millions of people.

Why will it crash? There’s still plenty people with money wanting to buy, whether it’s 1st or second homes or properties to invest in. I think your maybe falling into that trap of predicting the future to fit ur own agenda.
I know plenty young lads in agriculture that have knuckled down and saved hard, laid off the booze and done the graft and have brought property.

IMHO too many seem to think it’s a right to own a house….It ain’t, you gotta work for it.
Also people forget the 80s when the interest rate was averaging over 10%. Massive chunk of monthly wage just in interest.

[eggsarascal]

17 minutes ago, Commando said:

Why will it crash? There’s still plenty people with money wanting to buy, whether it’s 1st or second homes or properties to invest in. I think your maybe falling into that trap of predicting the future to fit ur own agenda.
I know plenty young lads in agriculture that have knuckled down and saved hard, laid off the booze and done the graft and have brought property.

IMHO too many seem to think it’s a right to own a house….It ain’t, you gotta work for it.
Also people forget the 80s when the interest rate was averaging over 10%. Massive chunk of monthly wage just in interest.

Correct it is doable for youngsters, my nephew and his partner moved into their first home yesterday. Only his wage due to his partner going back to uni to do a masters, as you say he stopped going out with his mates every night, missed holidays abroad with the lads and kept hold of his old car. He's got there mind.

 

I also remember the interest rates in the 80's, virtually everyone I knew was just hanging on.

 

The other thing these days is, everyone thinks they should have a 5 bed pitch with a yard, or a shiny new gaff on the new development, no way do they want to start with a terraced house in the back streets of town.

[Vedhoggar]

As there is a housing shortage in the UK the probability is that house prices will continue to rise although there may be ups and downs however returns on stocks and shares has in the past been greater when the two options are compared over the long term as an investment. Buying a house is not the best option for everyone as you have a lot of capital tied up in one asset which you might want for other things furthermore you reach a point in life when you might be better selling up renting a house and buying a motorhome and/or traveling with the proceeds from the house sale or something unless you want something to pass on as inheritance. If young, settled and raising a family it might make sense to buy a house if you can afford it. Sometimes a leased or rented property might be better in terms of location, size and opportunity for operating a business than you would ever be able to afford if you buy for the same monthly payment.