House Prices

[Lanavalentine]

I stayed with some family a couple if weeks ago and the man of the house, a totally insufferable boomer of the worst kind, frequently told me how "the house is our pension" and even tried to tell me that occupational pensions aren't worth having (he lost that argument seeing as I work in pensions so had a come back for every one of his pathetic little arguements).

Oh my god, so sorry but what an idiot.

I cannot abide anyone who comes out with this anti-pension myth. It drives me insane, but seems to be quite common in some circles.

 

[BettyCrockerr]

A lot of people are in the same situation.

My friends and I had a challenge in which we would stick to the bare minimum (rent, groceries, electricity, Internet, petrol) for a year. Some of us were able to save up to 10k in a year. During the same time houses that were sold for 80-100k are now 175-250k. Even in remote places with no public transportation, no jobs and no distraction (cinema, bars) houses are sold for 150k in Ireland. Mind you our salaries didn't went up.

Exactly. The cost of living and the cost of property has gone up ridiculously high and the rate of pay on the whole hasn’t, so in real terms people are earning less (because they are having to use the majority of not all of their pay on basic living costs) the fact that some people don’t seem to be able to comprehend this, is astonishing. In the main, this is not about choice.

 

[Kim Mild]

Are house prices rising? Or is it just my area? A 2 bed terraced house that usually would go for about £200k max seem to be going up for £230/240. Honestly this just feels like I’m running through a tunnel and the exit is just getting further and further away! Plus the new build we were told would be released under £300k has just been released for over meaning we can’t use HTB. I feel like we’ve gone from having a few options to just resigning myself to renting for another couple of years which I really don’t want to do.

Surely a recession will mean a drop in prices?

The houses coming up in our area seem really overpriced too.

I read that in 2020 30% of sold houses have gone for over 98% of their asking price.

 

[Pixipoppy]

We’ve pretty much given up again for now, 3 years ago we were finding some quite nice 2 bed houses in our budget. Now we’d be lucky to get a 1 bed flat for that price. I don’t really know if we will ever be able to buy in this area - and at the moment I value my life in this city higher than house ownership. I know I’d be miserable living further away.

 

[kazizzle]

My husband grew up in the care system and once he was finished school at 18 he was on his own, no parents to give him a leg up or let him live cheaply at home while saving for a deposit. He had excellent grades despite having no stability growing up but interviews weren’t too forthcoming when they noticed his address was a bedsit in a “rough” area. He turns 40 this year and it has taken this long for him to work his way up to being in a stable, decent paying job. Perhaps he should’ve prioritised more

We save what we can but I can tell you it’ll be 10s of 1000s of sacrificed Starbucks before we can afford a deposit.

My partner also grew up in the care system. He struggles to hold down jobs for longer than a couple of months which obviously doesn't look good to employers. He's 35 and recently found that working a pattern of seasonal jobs works for him - however the pandemic has thrown some spanners in the works for that too.

It's so easy for people to tell you to prioritise when they don't know your situation.

 

[Moe]

My husband and I used to transfer each other money with random references for a laugh. One was on my statement from my husband as ‘love money’. My mortgage advisor was going through all the transfers and said ‘I won’t ask what you had to do to get that’

My family think it’s funny to transfer money back to me and reference it as drug money or blood money.

 

[Consumerism_fatigue]

It looks like my flat purchase is about to fall through I offered to split the difference so I put in an extra £15k and asked that she reduced by £15k. Her first reaction is stubbornness, which is frustrating. The facts are there; lenders don’t think her property is worth that much and I am willing to immediately go £15k into negative equity to secure it. She is thinking about it though, so fingers crossed.

Anyway, c’est la vie! My broker shared that not only are many properties now coming in undervalued by the lenders, they’re also changing their lending criteria for people who already have a mortgage in principle. He said as many as 60% are being denied their mortgage when they try to move forward with the transaction.

I expect this is the beginning swell of a much larger wave that will go through the property market.

Good news: the seller reduced by 15k as she’s realised she would lose her new house otherwise.
Briefly annoying news: Lenders are reducing their salary multipliers, so for a moment they wanted to lend me less based on 4.5x my salary rather than 5x. I’ve been able to successfully appeal it, so the purchase is FINALLY going ahead. I was able to appeal as my original MIP was at 5x my salary and my job status hasn’t changed e.g. no furlough or pay cut.

For others actively looking to purchase, definitely check you can still borrow what you thought you could 6 months ago and expect an undervaluation from a surveyor. Was chatting to another broker and he said he’s had a property that was being sold for 4.8m being valued at 3.6m and another should have been 650k but was valued at 530k.

I’ve not seen any evidence 90% and 95% mortgages are coming back soon, especially considering the loan multipliers are being reduced and surveyors are being extra conservative.

 

[Nebbymoo]

It baffles me too. If money is so tight and mortgages so hard to get how come they are selling so quickly so much higher than their worth?

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Sorry what…. Very few people would be able to afford 6 months rental up front! The housing market is ridiculous at the moment and it’s getting harder and harder for people to even rent let alone buy! One of my friends is looking for a place and said that for every house that the letting agents put up they’re getting 100+ enquiries. People are really desperate. I agree with references but rent up front just makes it even more unattainable for most. I’m on a good salary and have always paid my rent on time but even id struggle to come up with that! It’s bad enough with letting agency fees etc.

This tends to be a thing you only see slum landlords exploiting recently immigrated ppl with. They can ask for 3/6 months cos it’s a shithole of a room / bed sit going for a few hundred. A decent LL wouldn’t do that tbh.

 

[Anne1448]

It's not unheard of for people with houses in more costly areas to move to a house in a 'cheaper' area to unlock cash . I know a few people who's parents have moved from the 'posh' estates to an ex-council or small terrace when they've retired.
( I've searched the sold prices on right move) .


We get them sometimes but they are usually from those companies that buy your house at less than market value.

Or schemes to part ex for a new build.

Yes it is very common in the boomer generation. Especially because retirement funds are next to nothing compared to what some people may have been accostumed to.

I am looking to buy next year and I am saving like crazy (between 500-800€ per month). However the houses are either out of reach by A LOT (they start at 250k) or they are less expensive (50-150k) but you need at least 100k to renovate them. Which is problematic considering that the bank will lend you up to 3.5 times your income only. So your mortgage may not even cover the asking price nor the closing fees.

We have this problem in Ireland where people would love to buy old houses and renovate them but they simply can't due to the renovation being as expensive if not twice the price of the house.

I don't have a single friend who owns a house and all of use work in STEM earning from 30-60k. We are living in weird times.

 

[Former_Antelopee]

Saw a house I like that went on market a few hours ago. I just phoned and they are starting viewings Monday and have 6 viewings booked in already. I couldn’t make the times on Monday and asked about Tuesday and basically got told there’s no point as it’ll probably sell on the Monday.

 

[a.pain]

PMSL. The last time we remortgaged the advisor in the bank went through every single transaction on our bank statement. She even asked what the Love honey payment was. Think she was just a pervert.

My husband and I used to transfer each other money with random references for a laugh. One was on my statement from my husband as ‘love money’. My mortgage advisor was going through all the transfers and said ‘I won’t ask what you had to do to get that’

 

[Lanavalentine]

Having property as your pension is a risky game. I do hope your relatives at least have some form of proper pension with tax relief & employer contribution. People are total fools not to take advantage of both!

I think generally we need to move away from this idea that property is the ultimate investment. It’s actually very risky in certain circumstances, but most importantly, it is a driving force behind inequality, and especially poor living standards for those on low incomes.

Edit to add: I think comparing being a landlord to any other business is a bit off-base, too. The vast majority of industries have far higher regulations than the rental housing market, for a start. There are plenty of great landlords out there, sure… but there are also a lot of exploitative ones who take complete advantage of those with no choice, only to line their own pockets.

 

[Anne1448]

Landlords are ending tenancies and selling properties while the prices are at a premium. This is leaving less properties in the private rented sector causing rent levels to rise (its like a bidding war just to rent a 3 bed where I live because of the schools catchment are). Landlords who are keeping their properties to rent out are seeing the increased rent levels and are putting up rents for their own tenants or asking them to leave and advertising at a higher rate. It put so much pressure on people who are currently renting and trying to buy from all angles - higher rents, higher house prices = home ownership is unattainable for many even though it was within their grasp not so long ago.

*approximate figure

When I viewed my current house to rent it my landlord told me (after signing the lease of course) that he picked me because I work in tech and my salary goes up quite often. Which allows him to raise my rent knowing that it "wouldn't bother me". I was so shocked on the moment that I kept quiet. When I brought it up with my friends they said that their landlords did the same thing. Every year or two they'd raise their rent by 50-100€. And apparently it is quite common for landlords to do that for people working in tech in Ireland.

It pissed me off so much that I made it my goal to save as much as possible to buy my own place.

 

[Lanavalentine]

Estate Agents are essentially just massive chancers (mostly - no offense to any EAs here!!).

It stresses me out to think buyers are being forced into a frenzy that is largely all hype and government bullshit, increased by people being desperate to move because of being cooped up for 18 months.

To be honest, I don’t think our own property we bought during the pandemic was a steal! I think it was on the higher side of fair, although I could never regret it for various reasons (basically moving has been life-changing). I see houses in our area going on RightMove now for the same or even more than we paid, and they’re worse houses - either far smaller or similar size but in need of total reno. I’m gobsmacked!

Then again, as I’ve mentioned before, we get EA leaflets, letters and personal letters through the door everyday asking if we’re selling. We’ve had people hang around outside, we’ve even had an Estate Agent try to organise a “street valuation party”. It’s total madness. The desperation terrifies me.

 

[Bubble10]

Sorry for quoting twice I'm a bit rubbish at this.

I completely understand and appreciate that you have worked hard and deserve to have your dream home but if everyone keeps making extortionate profits off house prices then younger generations will not be able to get their dream home.

There are lots of greedy landlords in our town, basically owning more than 20 houses, they really are parasites because half of the houses they rent out in my opinion are not up to standard for anyone to call a home! It's beggars belief that they get away with it, but they do and the worst of it is they would never live in anything like they expect their tenants do. I think more should be done to protect renters and more help given to help more people onto the property ladder.

 

[Holidaybobs]

"Help to buy is the worst decision I ever made"

Verifying Device

www.thetimes.co.uk

Bought a flat in Clapham for 490k in 2017 and tried to sell for the same price in 2020 and the best offer she got was 390k.

It's behind a paywall but basically it's saying all help to buy did is line the pockets of house builders, keep prices high and offload poorly made new builds that even with the house prices rises some are still losing tens thousands if they're city centre flats. Lots of extra fees that have caught people out.

All these "help" schemes are not to help the plebs, they're about keep prices high and helping the house builders and finance companies. Don't be fooled by it.

I did my dissertation on house affordability for young people. Help to buy is all smoke and mirrors, I’ve warned so many people, if you can afford to it avoid it.

 

[JoeBloggs]

We get them all the time, apparently they always have someone lined up! Houses in our road are sought after but people don’t tend to move out often.

 

[hydeist]

Hello fellow house price complainers, I've come to join in We are literally giving up on trying to buy for another year or so because where we are, paying 10% over is considered getting a good deal - so fuck this.

I live somewhere that more affluent people from elsewhere now want to come and live after all this pandemic nonsense and working from home, and it's making it totally unaffordable for those of us who actually normally live here

 

[JoeBloggs]

For half of the population the lockdown ruin their finances but for the other half it was great because they could save a ton of money.

Regarding how quickly houses are sold, it comes from a lack of supply. Because builders couldn't finish all the houses and apartments in 2020 (due to the regulations, price increase, lack of employees in trade, multiple lockdowns) the only few on the market are snapped quickly.

Also, a lot of parents are funding their kids purchases. Which creates a situation where tons of people with rather large disposable income are engaging in bidding war. The average amount of money given by parents is 20k in Ireland. Which is enough to fight during a bidding war.

Exactly this. Most people I know and myself are better off post pandemic because of being able to save much more than normal. A friend and his girlfriend banked £40k because they couldn’t travel to work or go out etc and we’re still working. They are now in a position to buy which they wouldn’t have been before.