The Average House Now Costs £100000
The price of the average house in the UK has for the first time broken the £100,000 barrier !
For our US visitors, that is as good as $200,000
On reading this I am minded to wonder - how does anyone with an ‘average’ job get a start in life?
I have never understood why so many people get excited by the increasing value of their house. It’s not really useful money, you cannot really cash it in as you need somewhere to live.
I know some people may live in London then cash in and move out but this is not the norm.
For the vast majority of us, any capital gains we may have in a house only get released when we die
How are people expected to get started today?
At £100,000 let’s say someone in their 20s has a £10k deposit, most probably have not but, that leaves a £90k mortgage. The safe calculation was, and still should be, the lenders would offer approx’ 3 times annual salary.
That means a job that pays £30,000 per annum - for an awful lot of people in an awful lot of areas that is just a pipe dream.
In Surrey the average price of a house is almost £330,000 ! Staggering when you think that covers a whole county. The median price in Surrey was £200k.
Does anyone in Surrey work in a shop, restaurant, factory etc etc ?
This has lead to a huge increase in people renting property as they cannot afford to buy. This is fine whilst they are working and can afford to pay £100+ a week in rent alone - but what happens when they retire on a state pension, pro rata, of £90 a week ?
They’ve no savings because it has all gone on rent - what happens next?
There is no way the government will be able to pick up the bill - far too many people wanting too much money.
There is a huge bubble waiting to burst in the future and a large part of it is down to ridiculous house prices
A Retired Bookdealer said,
January 19, 2007 @ 11:22 am
There is a huge bubble waiting to burst in the future and a large part of it is down to ridiculous house prices
I think the bubble already has burst , try selling a house or getting a valuation all you get is, the market is slow, you may have to drop the price, would you consider selling for 10-20 thousand less than its market value, etc.
Regarding rental property , there is more on the market than ever, I know a couple of people with 10+ properties each they both say the same thing , there are too many rental properties on the market.
…….. The buy to let market is flooded .
A friend of mine recently viewed a property to rent short term, this property had been empty for a couple of months in a good area, the asking price was £500 a month, I told her to offer £400.
……… She got it !.
Rod said,
January 19, 2007 @ 11:34 am
ARB
personally, I am glad to see house prices coming down. I realise this is a problem for those who may have negative equity but a gradual fall over a sustained period would help more people in the long run.
Why do we have the fixation that our houses should automatically rise in value - nothing else we buy does. I accept that in the middle of Chelsea or New York the market will decide a value as there is no room for anymore and a lot of people want to be there.
But for most of this country there is land aplenty and houses are still cheap to build - it is a false market that has been created in many areas
We are paying farmers not to grow crops on land they would happily sell for £3k an acre, we have a huge building industry out there that can happily build houses for £20-£30k ish - sorted !
A Retired Bookdealer said,
January 19, 2007 @ 11:47 am
We are paying farmers not to grow crops on land they would happily sell for £3k an acre, we have a huge building industry out there that can happily build houses for £20-£30k ish - sorted !
Do not get me started ! …… I have never understood the farming thing !
or the politics behind it.
But when my business goes tits-up no one gives me grant to ride round all day in a Range Rover ! at 30 mph clogging the roads up
…… you know what I say ………… !
Why not give all businesses a grant to stop productivity-production ,
arrrrrr …………..
Little Brother said,
January 19, 2007 @ 10:39 pm
Rod,
Just listening to ‘Symptom of the Universe’ on www.planetrock.com-could the middle riff be one of the greatest of all time? I believe a post on Tony Iommi as rock riff legend would be in order. Just a thought.
ps Gary Moore is hosting a blues show on said web site on sunday.
Rifftastic mate!
LB
Rod said,
January 20, 2007 @ 9:23 am
LB
awesome !
May well do some guitar posts - good idea.
I’m going to find out about illegal downloads in a minute. If I don’t post for a while you’ll know I virused all my computers with it
Rock ON \m/
Little Brother said,
January 20, 2007 @ 9:41 am
Rod,
Zeppelin, Yes, Kingdom Come,Saxon and Van Halen in the last 30 minutes!
Did you know Saxon are going to try and set the Guiness Book of Records for most people playing air guitar today? Thirty thousand at the Sheffield Wednesday football ground!
Rod said,
January 20, 2007 @ 9:53 am
Actually listening to Planet Rock now - thanks for the tip
I’ve got a fixation about Easy Livin by Uriah heep at the moment !
May have to go shopping in a minute