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How I won the housing market without trying

theguardian.com

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Re: How I won the housing market without trying

#11

Post by NotableAlamode »

awjr wrote: post #4

In the UK it's normal practice to get in a chain. You sell yours, line up the one you want to buy, and all 14 people in the chain complete on the same day. Not sure you should be selling your house, then deciding to look. You have to ask yourself what changed in the UK mortgage market to create this increase in housing value. It comes down to a bank regulation change the government put in place in 1996. Banks were ab…

I seriously doubt that 40% figure. Why would "foreign buyers" who by flats as investments not take home the (very substantial) London rents? It would be financially imprudent.

I suspect that this is really a form of xenophobia, used, among other things, to sensationalise newspaper articles.

Re: How I won the housing market without trying

#12

Post by suvelx »

NotableAlamode wrote: post #11
awjr wrote: post #4

In the UK it's normal practice to get in a chain. You sell yours, line up the one you want to buy, and all 14 people in the chain complete on the same day. Not sure you should be selling your house, then deciding to look. You have to ask yourself what changed in the UK mortgage market to create this increase in housing value. It comes down to a bank regulation change the government put in place in 1996. Banks were ab…

I seriously doubt that 40% figure. Why would "foreign buyers" who by flats as investments not take home the (very substantial) London rents? It would be financially imprudent. I suspect that this is really a form of xenophobia, used, among other things, to sensationalise newspaper articles.

Use diminishes value.

Having tenants requires work, adds cost, and might just not be worth your time.

You might just want a house for a weekend, and not want plebs messing your shit up.

And it probably has some degree of truth, You can stand outside 'new' buildings for a week and never see lights on in some windows.

Re: How I won the housing market without trying

#13

Post by awjr »

NotableAlamode wrote: post #11
awjr wrote: post #4

In the UK it's normal practice to get in a chain. You sell yours, line up the one you want to buy, and all 14 people in the chain complete on the same day. Not sure you should be selling your house, then deciding to look. You have to ask yourself what changed in the UK mortgage market to create this increase in housing value. It comes down to a bank regulation change the government put in place in 1996. Banks were ab…

I seriously doubt that 40% figure. Why would "foreign buyers" who by flats as investments not take home the (very substantial) London rents? It would be financially imprudent. I suspect that this is really a form of xenophobia, used, among other things, to sensationalise newspaper articles.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/04/property-inv... http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/08/islingt...

It's called "buy-to-leave" and no it's not xenophobia, it's a symptom of a housing bubble very much centred on London.

Re: How I won the housing market without trying

#14

Post by junto »

What is interesting, is that the policy makers have a financial interest in ensuring that the housing market does not crash. Therefore every time it should have crashed big time (2001, 2008), the BoE has propped it up by making sure that borrowing remained dirt cheap and the government made sure that the market stayed liquid (raising stamp duty levels for example).

Every time they do this, they just exacerbate the problem long term, which is quite simply, that the market needs a correction, and the longer they put it off, the more painful the correction is going to be (like it was early 1990's in the UK but worse).

I for one say let it burn.

Re: How I won the housing market without trying

#15

Post by makomk »

nodata wrote: post #3

I don't get it: she sold up and made a profit, but unless she downsized, the profit is gone on buying a new place.

If you get lucky and don't particularly care where you live, you don't necessarily have to downsize. London house prices are a lot higher than the rest of the country and have gone up a lot more. You could get a decent-sized house with a garden in most of the UK for what she sold her flat for.

Re: How I won the housing market without trying

#16

Post by blakef »

slap wrote: post #8
awjr wrote: post #4

In the UK it's normal practice to get in a chain. You sell yours, line up the one you want to buy, and all 14 people in the chain complete on the same day. Not sure you should be selling your house, then deciding to look. You have to ask yourself what changed in the UK mortgage market to create this increase in housing value. It comes down to a bank regulation change the government put in place in 1996. Banks were ab…

"Apparently 40% of new build apartments are bought and never lived in" : this is totally incorrect

Can anyone provide a more accurate figure?

Re: How I won the housing market without trying

#17

Post by jeffwass »

nodata wrote: post #3

I don't get it: she sold up and made a profit, but unless she downsized, the profit is gone on buying a new place.

Or you upgrade to a bigger house, and roll the profits into a bigger down payment on the next property, keeping a similar sized mortgage.

My friend did this, sold his old place and bought a bigger nicer house, keeping his monthly mortgage payment roughly the same, which now is well below market rent.

Re: How I won the housing market without trying

#18

Post by buro9 »

I saw a startup tweeting yesterday about a shared investment.

The gist is that instead of investing in stocks and shares, you put your money into property and a shared structure gives you some % of the property in question. The startup actually owns the property, and there is some legal allocation of your portion, and they offer the means to exit your share of a property without the property itself needing to be sold... your share just gets sold to the next investor.

As a startup I can see this working, as an investor I could see this working, as a resident in London I'm frankly appalled.

Re: How I won the housing market without trying

#19

Post by brianmcc »

junto wrote: post #14

What is interesting, is that the policy makers have a financial interest in ensuring that the housing market does not crash. Therefore every time it should have crashed big time (2001, 2008), the BoE has propped it up by making sure that borrowing remained dirt cheap and the government made sure that the market stayed liquid (raising stamp duty levels for example). Every time they do this, they just exacerbate the pr…

In many places in the UK, it did crash big time. Plenty of people I know even today are in homes well below their 2007 levels or have sold for painful losses. London is unusual in that many properties sell for cash, to investors, and in fact the BoE and mortgage lenders have surprisingly little influence in terms of rate changes. Not sure letting anything "burn" particularly helps anybody.

Edit: I suspect "let it burn" reflects a certain frustration, you have my sympathy if you or your family/friends are finding the situation a barrier. Facts and figures can mask the very personal cost of being unable to achieve fundamental goals in life such putting down roots for one's family.

Re: How I won the housing market without trying

#20

Post by UK-AL »

makomk wrote: post #15
nodata wrote: post #3

I don't get it: she sold up and made a profit, but unless she downsized, the profit is gone on buying a new place.

If you get lucky and don't particularly care where you live, you don't necessarily have to downsize. London house prices are a lot higher than the rest of the country and have gone up a lot more. You could get a decent-sized house with a garden in most of the UK for what she sold her flat for.

You could buy a McMansion in most of the UK for that price.
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