The Big Con

[Freddie]

I heard something on the radio one day and in a thread on here once i posted what i had heard and it was rubbished by those who said they knew better and look what i just found.

There is no housing shortage in the UK it is all hype engineered to keep house prices high--give you a feeling of well being --and make money for that sector of business.

The losers are you financially--enviromentally-- and also the economy cause one little hickup and you could be in worse state than 15 years ago with an even bigger crash.

Have a look------ http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13450768,00.html

 

[B.O.B DOLE]

I heard something on the radio one day and in a thread on here once i posted what i had heard and it was rubbished by those who said they knew better and look what i just found.

There is no housing shortage in the UK it is all hype engineered to keep house prices high--give you a feeling of well being --and make money for that sector of business.

The losers are you financially--enviromentally-- and also the economy cause one little hickup and you could be in worse state than 15 years ago with an even bigger crash.

Have a look------ http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13450768,00.html[/QUOTE]

FREDDIE your dead right think about it as soon as labour got into power the house prices started to rise its all false econemy all based now on two
wages husband and wife not like before which was husband this coutry is curropt

 

[petewood]

I remember reading a few months ago that some mp's were talking about compulsory purchase of properties that hadn't been occupied for long periods. Can't remember the outcome but I remember thinking that it would be a bit tricky because if you own an asset then you can use it (or not use it) as you wish.

Thinking about it though, I was walking through a council estate near here last year and noticed that about every 5th or 6th house on a couple of roads were boarded up with permanent-looking steel sheeting. I asked my wife why this was and she reckoned it was because of subsidence problems. I suppose it's possible that the local councils just don't have the cash to repair some of these properties. If there are 170,000 empty houses I would be interested in knowing exactly why they are empty.

 

[Freddie]

Petewood it's not 170,000 houses it's 700,000 seven hundred thousands nearly three quarters of a million empty houses for at least 12 months or more----not holiday homes just private empty homes with no one living in them for 12 months or more

 

[petewood]

Sorry, I got the figures wrong; but are you sure these are all privately owned dwellings? I would still like to know the reasons they are empty.

 

[Freddie]

Sorry, I got the figures wrong; but are you sure these are all privately owned dwellings? I would still like to know the reasons they are empty.

Cant answer you that but my guess is they are the result of individual and group owned property investment schemes where people have put spare cash into property on the basis of investment and tax avoidence.

Of course these things work when everything is hunky dory but---???????????????????????????????????????????????

 

[oilman]

Cant answer you that but my guess is they are the result of individual and group owned property investment schemes where people have put spare cash into property on the basis of investment and tax avoidence.

Someone will get their fingers burnt then. We (me and Mrs Oilman) have already noticed businesses are much quieter this year. So it seems the flow of money is beginning to slow. If this progresses to panic, the property investments will be affected. If they are involved in these schemes, serves them right.

 

[Thermo]

why does it serve someone right just because they have taken an investment oppurtunity?

 

[Freddie]

There is nothing wrong with trying to make money or better yourself Thermo, but in this case the investment have caused nothing but problems and will cause extreme hardship to innocents if it all goes belly up.

This is a political problem that should be sorted out, in a country the size of Britain people should only be ever allowed to own one home and those who wish to invest should be able to channel their money elsewhere.

I may add that there were also 130,000 homeless families who may be suffering to a degreee but then with 700,000 empty homes and 130,000 homeless families it just shows you that there is no housing crisis in Britain and the market is definetly spiked !!!!!!

 

[Richardp]

My god! red Freddie you'll be turning into a do-gooder.

 

[Mudster]

Taking the naked figures as they are without considering where and why these properties are empty is only looking at half the statement.

A percentage will be unfit for habitation through subsidence, but the vast majority will be in areas of extreme unemployment. It's pointeless shipping families off to these parts as they will not be able to get any work with which to look after themselves in their new subsidised property.

Hoever I do agree that we are being spun a line, I was caught in the last property crash and lost a home, buy the time I got myself straight agian I'd missed the boat for the next property rush. Now I'm in a position to buy I'd be a lunatic to try and step in to the market now, So we still renting and waiting to see what happens.

The problem is not the government and never has been, housing ius a free market economy driving by mortgage lenders, if the mechanisms aren't in place for people to borrow such large amounts of money then the sales cannot take place and the market is suppressed and held at a realistic level.

The mortgage lenders take advantage of the current low interest rates to increase the multiple which they are willing to lend to poeple so they can afford the overpriced housing.

This is criminal, they are seriously overexposing the public at large to possible financial meltdown.

Lending should no more than multiples of 3.5 times salary, if you hunt around you can find 8 times.

Also another guide to the overinflated prices is the percentage of rent to value of property, we're moving next month to a 3 bed semi in Dorking Surrey, this will cost us £895 a month in rent, (if I wanted to buy it the mortgage would be double that). The house is valued at close to £300,000 at present.

The owner is gaining a return on investment of 3.22%.

i.e. His property is worth £300,000
He is gaining £10,740 a year in rental income less 10 % agency fee = £9,666.

This is 3.222% of £300,000.

If He put his money in a bank account he'd earn more than that with zero risk and no maintainance costs.

This highlight how out of whack the prices are at present, rental prices are driven far more by salary averages not current economic trends and property availablity.

A goor return on investment for property rental should be 8% upwards, plus any increase in value.

Now this guy might have bought 10 years ago for £120,000 so He's covered, but the market has reached a peak, only one way it can go now, so for thime being, I'll spend a little more renting, invest in my business and wait for the house of cards to come tumbling down again.

Another point to consider is that we havea n entire generation of housebuyers now that have no recolection of a proerty crash, I was 18 when I bought my first house, I lost it a 23 when the interest rates hit 15%.

Anyone who is 24/25 or older now will have no adult memory of these events taking place, all they have seen whilst growing up is house prices going through the roof.

Economy is peaks and troughs, it is never a flat line, it is a juggling act, about a year ago we hit a peak, we're now on our way to a trough, the only question is, how steep is the fall into that trough.

 

[Big_Spark]

It is true that the picture is not a simple one, and that the condition of, and the reasons why these homes are empty must be looked at very carefully.

I personally know of about 1000 homes in the South that are vacant, and have been since WWII. However these homes fall under the remit of the MoD and are on live fire test ranges..not an ideal location to live!!

These are not the only ones, there are whole villages and towns in the South that have been removed from maps since the D-Day build up, the families moved for secrecy, but these homes have never been re-occupied in many cases. This is likely to be several thousand homes over the south of the country from Kent to Cornwall, and even some places in the east of England.

Then, as has been commented on above, there are the issues of employment, but also local infra-structure. People need resources available to them, schools, pubs and other social infra-structure, if these do not exist in an area, then it is unlikely to attract residents, and this is certainly the case in some of the more neglected areas of the North.

However I am certainly in favour of local authorities and even individuals being able to compulsory purchase a property of it has been vacant for more than 24 months continuously.

 

[Freddie]

Oh my god he's changed his name---

 

[Slogger]

it can only be a good thing if propertys crash now as the younguns might then have a chance to own one as for those that paid too much then tough titty i know someone who bought a flat for 20k 5 years ago then sold it last year for 70 k he did very little to it in the way of improvements he then bought a house for 170 using his profits as a deposit now he learns the house he bought as an investment has lost 30 k in less than 5 months ? illgotten gains down the drain the only ones gaining are the estate agents who overpriced it and the mortgage lender funny world

me i live in a 25 k house nearly paid for and have no intention of moving those that made fortunes on there houses done so on the backs of our children and through the questionable actions of estate agents pigs and troffs ring a bell anyone

SQEALL PIGGY SQUEALL eeeee eeeee all will cry foul when prices crash me i will be giggling in me pint

 

[Whippet]

What annoys me, is the people who buy houses as holiday homes - and so push the prices up so much that local young people have no chance of affording to buy a home of their own.
A good example of this, is the Lake District, and country villages.

There was a programme on TV a short while ago. A local council had said they were going to have to demolish and rebuild houses, because they weren't worth repairing.
The TV company bought one such house, and repaired it to a brilliant standard - for much less than it was going to cost the council to do what they had intended.