Interesting slant on Property

I thought this was an interesting piece on the UK residential property
market. I've watched the houses languishing for (literally) years in Agents'
windows and also watched the Auctions. I pulled out of two potential
purchases in the last year on exactly this sentiment of my own. Yes they
were places to live but they also had to return the investment in the medium
term. I just wonder what other peoples' thought and experience is.
www.citywire.co.uk/money/property-auctions-a-house-price-crystal-ball/a469830

I do see lots of property selling but in two categories.
Under £150k - much wider pool of potential customers.
Vendors who are prepared to discount 10-20% over current "Agent Valuations",
in other words they are absorbing the market uncertainty and falls.

There is also significant reluctance to move over £250k and into 3% Stamp
Duty. The 260-299 range is like cold treacle. In fact every time I see
something coming up around the 275 median I laugh.

 

Citywire is not...well...correct, for a lot of the time.

northern pauper.

 

Tell me about it. Fuggit, we're staying put for four years or so. Just
got rid of two awful fireplaces and will be doing some serious
redecoration in those rooms. A new timber workshop at the bottom of the
garden for the lad's MTB fleet will free up space in the garage for bike
fettling and perhaps another Togging project. We'll decide what to do
next when he leaves school. Fucknose what the value of 'the chateau' is
doing, but the exchange rate is still on our side at present, though
that probably means having to find a local purchaser when the time comes
(perhaps to fund an Oxbridge education - though I can't see him being a
punter).


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The market in the 300+ range is something different again, as in the
London/Everythingelse divide

 

?

bought 6 yrs ago for £ 186k
new kitchen, CH, windows etc
still no change in value if the sales in our road are any indication
so, return on investment right now?... probably nil

 

thinking of your home in terms of ROI is what's caused a lot of
problems.

 

Heh. We're trying to flog my Ma's old house in Rye. Acording to The
Times, Rye is sort of exempt from the property market declines, but I
can tell you that the number of people prepared to spend three-
quarters of a million is very small. Well, precisely zero so far.

 

That's becuase it's actually worth half

 

Quite a limited market inside the citadel in general and Church Square
in particular, though. Those who are prepared to put up with poor parking
will be happy to pay the premium, though. It's a matter of finding the right
buyer which may take a little time.

<buys lottery ticket> ;-)

GBP 750,000 buys a house with a lot of garage space nearby.

 

Just spotted in on the Calcutt Maclean web site. Do they have exclusive
dibs on it? If not, give Phillips & Stubbs a whirl too.

 

Absolutely. You buy your home because you want to live there, because
you'll be happy there. If you buy a 'property' as an investment then you
need to get a life and to stop watching stupid programs on TV.

--
Veggie Dave
http://www.iq18films.co.uk

"To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim
that Jesus was not born of a virgin." Cardinal Bellarmine

 

It depends what you want it for and how long you plan to own it. My
first home (~20 years ago,) was always just a starter home - an
investment. I knew I wouldn't stay long. Six years later, I bought my
current home, and I will probably be here forever. The increase in
value on this house is irrelevant, because I'll never realize any
profit. I kept the original house as a rental. It's paid off and the
rent pays the mortgage on my home. Around here, property has almost
always been a great investment. I bought my first house just before
the first downturn in property values since WWII. It didn't matter
because I knew I'd ride it out. Current values are far higher than
what I paid (even with the recent downturn,) but so are comparable
values of other homes on the market. AFAICS, investment value only
matters for property you don't live in.

 

The house has off-street parking for two cars, which is a pearl beyond
price in Rye. Oh, we'll sell it. It's just a matter of waiting.

 

They do, yes. And they managed to get it featured in The Times' recent
spotlight on Rye, too.

 

Ah, good-oh. That would certainly help.

 

Yerrss, the final argument for buying the current place from 'er
ladyshop was 'it'll be an investment'. I'd have preferred something
smaller, or at least with a double garage.

Now she's implying that this will be the final resting place, which
kind of negates the whole investment thing.

 

I had 2 offers at the asking price on my house, so the market's not
quite dead yet.

Shame really, just as I got the offers, turned out I needed the house
to live in after all ..

Paul.

 

What about builders who buy neglected houses, do them up and sell them on
as a means to make a living? Without this process many houses would remain
uninhabitable as the repairs might be beyond a DIY project. These builders
are mostly well geared, keeping hold of the capital to reinvest in the next
project and covering all costs in the profit.

We also need loads of short-term rental stock e.g. student housing, those
on short-term contracts etc. This requires people to invest capital which
could be invested elsewhere. There has to be an incentive to make the
investment: if they can't rely on a capital gain then the landlords will
have to increase rents so that their capital does not become eroded by
inflation.

The above has been going on for as long as people built houses and remains
an important element of our economy.

Where the system fell down was that people got greedy and entered the
market without any capital as "buy to let" mortgages became easy to get.
Now the capital gain is not certain and b-t-l rates have escalated people
are trying to leave the market and can't because very little property is
shifting. I find it difficult to have any sympathy for this category of
property speculator.

 

it's all bollocks anyway.

We bought the current place (5 years ago) intending it to be the
"second-to-final resting place", and the price was the price to get
the size/type of property we wanted.

Now, due a change in circumstances, we're[1] trying to sell, and the
valuations have all been ~20-25% more than we paid for it - but it
isn't selling.

[1] it's not actually my idea or preference.

 

Then the valuations are wrong.