Sydenham house prices up by 50k?

[Alfred Adler]

So, we are up by 50k in the last month????
http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/21/buy-buy-t ... h-4154196/

[Eagle]

If true not good at all for society.

[dickp]

I can believe it. A flat in my block has just sold for nearly ￡100k more than the last one two years ago. The former was a probate sale, the latter a refurb, but even so...

That said, I suspect the lunacy may ease as many more propeties rush onto the market in the new year. There's probably a five-year backlog of expanded families, work relocations, seperations and other sale-incuding sales to work through.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting on a whopping paper profit, and could probably buy a big house outright beyond the madness of the southeast.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Tim Lund]

It's an interesting question how much people do respond to this lunacy in the way Dickp suggests. I'm sure there will be some such effect, and I'd imagine housing market economists will have estimates for its size, but I doubt if, on its own, it will be enough to bring prices down.

[Eagle]

What we need is a big rise in interest rates.

These paper rises aid no one.

[leenewham]

No thanks Eagle. Things are tight enough as they are. All that will do is make people worse off. Banks are being tough with lending at the moment. Buy to let, investors are a big issue.

House prices are rising as no-one is selling. One estate agent told me he had 700 people looking and less than 30 properties for sale. All houses were selling above asking price.

Look in any estate agents window and their staff levels are low. When I bought at the height of the market all the offices were rammed. We get card after card through our letterbox asking if we want to sell. When we moved here we didn't get any.

It's a mini bubble. It will soon burst again. This government scheme should be scrapped and a more sensible approach taken.

[Eagle]

Lee
You are probably correct

I have railed against buy to letters as a plague on society.

Not sure how to tackle. Perhaps a heavy tax on second , third , etc homes.

What we need is for all buy to letters to release their properties to the market.

[bensonby]

All that will do is make people worse off.

Except people without tracker mortgages or loans.

[14BradfordRoad]

Reading the 'Metro house rise' report it does state that this is an average increase over the last
month and averagely over the whole of London too. Did something different happen last month?
Maybe there a lot more 'Expensive' houses sold last month to push this figure up, for some reason?
Maybe there is an anomoly at work here, does anyone know?

Surely any property is only worth what someone is prepared to pay. If I sell my property for more then
surely I then pay more for my next buy. As already stated; Paper money that does no one any good in the
long term (Unless emigrating, etc). Could create more problems than it solves.

[Eagle]

Well said Bradford

The ONLY time anyone gains from property rises is when they die and executors dispose of the house for the estate.

In every other occasion one has to live somewhere else.

[bensonby]

No thanks Eagle. Things are tight enough as they are. All that will do is make people worse off.

Sorry to pick on you again, but wouldn't higher interest rates mean lower inflation which makes people better off - especially if they have money in the bank?

(I'm no economist)

[Eagle]

Yes it should Bensonby but problem is , apparently , not enough Britons have money in the Bank. Seems they would rather spend on exotic holidays than save.

[Tim Lund]

It's remarkable how the focus stays on prices rather than supply. I prefer to look at this as whether there enough houses for the people who want to live round here - and by extension, in London & the SE. Clearly there is not, and whether or not there's a housing market, it still means more supply is needed.

I sometimes wonder if the focus on prices is just another aspect of our society seeing housing as a financial asset, rather than a normal consumer good.

[love-sydenham]

Lee
You are probably correct

I have railed against buy to letters as a plague on society.

Not sure how to tackle. Perhaps a heavy tax on second , third , etc homes.

What we need is for all buy to letters to release their properties to the market.

And may I ask, Eagle, do you not think that those buy to letters may also work hard to be able to buy those buy to let properties?! And keep them in a good decorative order for others to live in, and they do pay tax!...
We all know our pensions alone are not going to feed us ..... And you'll have to be 67 to retire!!?!!! .
... Maybe those buy to letters are just want to make sure that their lives and the lives of their family members are going to be secure in the future? Banks aren't offering anything?!... Money loosing their value every year?!... I absolutely do not understand why buy to letters are so hated?!...

Have a nice day
Love-Sydenham

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[leenewham]

No thanks Eagle. Things are tight enough as they are. All that will do is make people worse off.

Sorry to pick on you again, but wouldn't higher interest rates mean lower inflation which makes people better off - especially if they have money in the bank?

(I'm no economist)

Perhaps I should have said 'anyone with a considerable mortgage worse off'. Which I'm sure is quite a large group of people! Even those people on fixed term mortgages will be worse off when their fixed period ends, which is normally about 2-3 years. So when they remortgage they get a huge increase in fees.

I'd have loved to take advantage of low interest rates to pay of some of the mortgage with overpayments, but banks didn't lower their rates that much and kept them quite high compared to the base rate, and I was on a longish fixed term at a fairly high rate unfortunately so missed out.

Mortgages are a large percentage of 'homeowners' outgoings. Any 2% plus increase in the rates would cost hundreds extra per month for those with mortgages over 100k.

Inflation is under 3% and increases aren't across the board on everything we buy. Increases in lending rates is inflation of sorts . You are right though, if you have lots of money in the bank, then it higher rates would be beneficial. I'm not sure I know anyone with a lot of money in the bank. Investments yes, but savings, no.

[bensonby]

Same here, I am on quite a high interest rate for my mortgage but I traded off by getting a 10 year fixed rate. Not sure how wise that was in retrospect: but I do know precisely what I will be paying each month for another 7 years.

[Tim Lund]

And may I ask, Eagle, do you not think that those buy to letters may also work hard to be able to buy those buy to let properties?! And keep them in a good decorative order for others to live in, and they do pay tax!...
We all know our pensions alone are not going to feed us ..... And you'll have to be 67 to retire!!?!!! .
... Maybe those buy to letters are just want to make sure that their lives and the lives of their family members are going to be secure in the future? Banks aren't offering anything?!... Money loosing their value every year?!... I absolutely do not understand why buy to letters are so hated?!...

Have a nice day
Love-Sydenham

Some good points there, but:

(1) many buy to letters just happen to be people in their 50s and older who have lucked out thanks to decades of vote winning promises from politicians, and find themselves able to invest in housing, while demand, with inadequate expansion in supply, pushes prices, and rents far beyond the reach of younger generations;

(2) buy to letters don't pay as much tax as you think - the area is riddled with loop holes and lax enforcement - see for example "Landlord tax-saving secrets revealed for buy-to-let landlords.";

(3) people who become landlords as an investment for their retirement tend not to be very professional landlords, so delegate the task of managing properties to often unscrupulous letting agents.

[Eagle]

Well said Tim

BTL's may have the best of intentions but they are causing the market to be pushed out of reach of the deserving young.

Does anyone need more than one place of dwelling?

[lb203]

I have no idea how this £50k figure was calculated but as a first time buyer looking in Sydenham I am certainly finding things difficult. Estate agents are driving up prices ridiculously, and creating a real sense of panic to get people to offer more than necessary and some vendors are not helping things either - we have just had a sale collapse as our vendor decided to re market to get 'an extra £30k' after we had waited for 3 months for the sale to go through. and now we can't seem to afford what we could just 3 months ago. Absolutely gutting.

[Eagle]

This is terrible when you have gone through all the expense of survey etc.

I know no contract exchanged but do believe the vendor should pay the buyers costs if they withdraw the deal.