House Prices

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Oh my God this is the same thing in my neighborhood.

The average price is 345k yet some houses are rotten! I mean mold everywhere, bathtubs are all black, the bedrooms are cluttered and the carpets haven't been changed since Jesus walked on Earth.

I would rather buy an absolute dump for less than 100k and re-do it completely than pay 345k and put 100k in renovations. Some people will pay their mortgage until their last breath.
It's £950k for a 3 bed semi around here. Just an ordinary semi detached. I've lived here my entire life, and we're having to leave and live elsewhere because house prices are so ridiculous. It just feels, unfair somehow?
 
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It's £950k for a 3 bed semi around here. Just an ordinary semi detached. I've lived here my entire life, and we're having to leave and live elsewhere because house prices are so ridiculous. It just feels, unfair somehow?
I can't afford to buy in my parents area either.

One home 1/2 a mile away and currently listed for £1.275 million. Just a standard 4 bed.

2020£1,230,000+81%
2008£680,000+48%
2004£460,000

At this rate I honestly would rather move to Liverpool and get a nice 2 bed house for under 60k instead.
 
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Someone i know brought a house less than 6 months ago. They put it up for sale as they said it was an awful place to live (south coast). They said constant smell of weed from neighbours, drunk people getting arrested outside, miles to nearest proper town and single roads to get to where they live. To be honest most stuff they were complaining about they would have known from viewing the property such as country roads.
They have sold it for £50k more than they paid just a few months ago!! Madness.
 
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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.
 
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How can houses be so unaffordable but also being sold so quickly? Is the problem on the supply side eg. there's not enough housing, and there's a deluge of people moving out of shared housing or what?
 
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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?
 
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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?
I’m thinking that this may not actually be the case. As annoying as it is, some people haven’t struggled during the pandemic and have ££££££ to burn and no money issue
 
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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.
 
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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.
 
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It's the k shaped recovery. Some have never had so much.

So many people can pay the huge prices because of the unearned money in their current home. I know people on a very normal income who recently completed on a house costing around a million.

Then the lack of supply for many reasons - mortgage holidays delaying distressed sellers, building supply shortgages, probate delays etc.

All the furlough money and bounce back loans have kept the economy well oiled. So we're still waiting to see where things land in a few months.

Last time they were able to decrease rates to keep house prices high, but now they're already at the lowest and with inflation coming to bite they may have to rise. The current situation isn't the "new normal" and feels quite transitional.
 
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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.
Most definitely this. Changes the game really. You're only "You only need £10k for a deposit" and then over the time I've been saving that's gone up to £20k (deffo still doable for me) but in reality you probably need £40k or more and a good salary so...
 
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So many people can pay the huge prices because of the unearned money in their current home. I know people on a very normal income who recently completed on a house costing around a million.
Yep, I think the stamp duty holiday and this pushed people to move up a rung on the non existent property ladder which freed up those properties for the bank of mum & dad lot. I try to ignore the HTB or partial ownership scams but they probably help the lower income bank of mum and dad lot too.

Although I know a few families that will admit they had to over stretch themselves to afford the next property but in the next sentence are opening Reno instas and talking about extensions?? You’ll be paying that off til you’re 80 beloveds 😭
 
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They really should have done some capital gains tax on main homes.

Would have stopped parents remortgaging to gift money to pump back into houses (a pyramid scheme!), stopped the buy to let remortgaging madness of gazumping would-be owner occupiers and kept houses more inline with earnings.

What we have now is an unfair broken system that's causing so much misery. No matter what your situation is, the current system isn't good for a cohesive society.
 
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They really should have done some capital gains tax on main homes.

Would have stopped parents remortgaging to gift money to pump back into houses (a pyramid scheme!), stopped the buy to let remortgaging madness of gazumping would-be owner occupiers and kept houses more inline with earnings.

What we have now is an unfair broken system that's causing so much misery. No matter what your situation is, the current system isn't good for a cohesive society.
The next level of insanity/scam I’ve encountered is a woman in her 30s being signed over her nan’s house as they don’t want it to be used for potential care costs in the future 😬 Apparently the paperwork is only £1,500 - I find it obscene that families are being allowed to pass wealth down like this then ask the underfunded state to pick up the bill?!!
 
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The next level of insanity/scam I’ve encountered is a woman in her 30s being signed over her nan’s house as they don’t want it to be used for potential care costs in the future 😬 Apparently the paperwork is only £1,500 - I find it obscene that families are being allowed to pass wealth down like this then ask the underfunded state to pick up the bill?!!
I can see the flip side to this - selling off someone’s home and all their assets to fund time in a care home feels unfair to some. They have worked all their life and paid NI and taxes to now be told they’re on their own when it comes to supported living. They have to pay every penny they have to a care home and then when that’s run out they’ll be removed from that one into a cheaper one to see out their last days.

It brings in a much wider argument about how public money is spent. For example - non-funding of IVF on the NHS but paying for free school meals could be seen as ‘I won’t support you to have a child but I will expect you to pay for other people’s children who they can’t afford to have’.

Obviously that’s an extreme statement but if we pay into a system we would want it to be there for us when we need to make a claim/draw down some assistance. If we’re told ‘no - your needs do not qualify you’ or ‘you have too much money to get anything’ I think people have a right to feel pretty pissed off. Often these aren’t people with huge amounts of wealth - the real wealthy don’t have to worry about anything like that and can squirrel away money using loop holes and the like.
 
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The next level of insanity/scam I’ve encountered is a woman in her 30s being signed over her nan’s house as they don’t want it to be used for potential care costs in the future 😬 Apparently the paperwork is only £1,500 - I find it obscene that families are being allowed to pass wealth down like this then ask the underfunded state to pick up the bill?!!
I don't necessarily have an issue with this, but this is because private care is exploitative and majorly over priced (£1,300 + a week!) and social care is so underfunded which I think is due to wasted spending not that the money isn't there.

If you spunk all your cash, don't buy and never save you are cared for by the state, if you buy and save you aren't. Both could have paid the same in taxes but because you have been careful in your life you a forced to spend it when someone else doesn't have to do anything to prepare. I think when this lady 30 year old (same as me) we will be lucky if a pension or any social care is still available from the state by the time we are old. Why would you not want to help your kids/grandkids if you can.
 
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I'm not British and find the NHS situation and lots the rhetoric surrounding it fascinating.

People want to pay as little tax as possible (and vote for those that promise this) then expect a Nordic level of health service.

Something has to give somewhere with such unrealistic expectations.

If I had an asset and lived somewhere that had chronically underfunded health care I'd be happy to use that asset to provide for a comfortable life. This idea that inheritance should be a right to pass on I do find a bit odd. Especially as lots of it isn't even earned income but asset appreciation.
 
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I'm not British and find the NHS situation and lots the rhetoric surrounding it fascinating.

People want to pay as little tax as possible (and vote for those that promise this) then expect a Nordic level of health service.

Something has to give somewhere with such unrealistic expectations.

If I had an asset and lived somewhere that had chronically underfunded health care I'd be happy to use that asset to provide for a comfortable life. This idea that inheritance should be a right to pass on I do find a bit odd. Especially as lots of it isn't even earned income but asset appreciation.
See I don't think people want to pay as little as possible, but they do not want to pay more when what they currently pay isn't being spent well.

Health care isn't underfunded because the money is there and pumping more money into the system and taxes isn't the answer, better spending is.

This also opens up the issue of benefits etc from personal experience the system isn't working. It gives too much to those who don't need it and doesn't help those who really do.
 
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This idea that inheritance should be a right to pass on I do find a bit odd. Especially as lots of it isn't even earned income but asset appreciation.
Agreed completely. Also agree with other posters, especially the statement about it opening up a whole debate on public funds, and the quality of healthcare in this country.

Tbh I’ve gone through the same but different, I inherited a sliiiither of a family home in another country. I debated buying the whole thing & doing it up to keep in the family as a means of having a connection to the motherlandTM but especially for my baby to? I decided against it especially as the property market in that city is so fucked because of Airbnb / English people doing exactly that. Fast forward and for reasons at the end of the probate process it’s now going through a government investigation for overpayment of state pension as she had always underspent, but needed to declare once she reached a threshold? Which just feels ridiculous because you’d be constantly stop / starting the claim?! It’s had a few big profile cases in that country with families contesting this so duck knows what’ll happen but I’m gutted as we’ve lost the house as a family now and my siblings are likely to not get any cash (I don’t care about my portion as I’m okay tbh and this was hugely unexpected as I’m not from money). So I do get how tit it feels when you’ve done the right thing and it costs you, but maybe it’s a privilege to not be upset by that? Idk. Sorry for the dear diary xoxo entry! x
 
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See I don't think people want to pay as little as possible, but they do not want to pay more when what they currently pay isn't being spent well.

Health care isn't underfunded because the money is there and pumping more money into the system and taxes isn't the answer, better spending is.

This also opens up the issue of benefits etc from personal experience the system isn't working. It gives too much to those who don't need it and doesn't help those who really do.
See I think people do want to pay as little as possible. Most won't admit it and possibly dont even see it.

I don't think the money is there and there's no way to just spend it better.

Spending needed to massively increase with the aging population and while it has increased its no where near the level needed to fund social care.

Then if it's increased now that puts the pressure on the working population to fund healthcare at a level they won't receive themselves. On top of funding things like state pensions that anyone under 50 will probably never have. How do you fairly fund it? Very tricky.

So I do get how tit it feels when you’ve done the right thing and it costs you, but maybe it’s a privilege to not be upset by that? Idk.
It's similar to unemployment benefits, if you've saved up some cash then if you lose your job you get next to nothing. Where as if you have no savings then you can get housing benefit, council tax benefit and all that. I don't know what the answer is.

At least with social care you aren't just getting the same as if you have no money/assets, you have the choice and can often get better care.
 
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