Back to not being able to afford one....

[torledo]

....a house that is.

BBC News - House prices start 2010 with a rise, Nationwide says

looked sorta promising in the first half of last year, sat back in anticipation of a further annual drop
by the end of the year, but six or so months of rises later, and even January now showing a positive rise. I had hoped the rises in December were down to a dash to beat the tax changes, but i knew that was clutching at straws.

IT's as if it's back to the bad old years before 2007, when rises were a near certainty. IF i wasn't a lazy so and so, i'd emigrate......but from what i understand it's not much better elsewhere. in some places worse. but that's no consolation.

Great end to the week. not.

[Joh619]

I bought my house about nine months ago. Just before the house prices started going up again

[broc]

@torledo

You have my sympathies.... my son is in a similar position. He has a decent job, but little or no prospect of being able to afford a house.

I used to think it was tough when we bought our first house in the 1970s when there was a serious mortgage famine, but at least housing was affordable then.

[RinSewand]

Hmm, never a good sign. As far as I can tell it's actually impossible to buy a house unless you're a couple with a combined income... doh.

RwD

[techie08]

I know what you mean!!!! me and my wife are are on fairly decent salaries but would seriously struggle to pay a mortgage on £150,000 house. (average price of houses here) We had to sell our one bed house last year as we had a child but sold it at a £7000 loss! Now you need a 10% minimum to get a mortgage as well.

We have no option but to rent at the moment until we have saved enough for 10% by which time house prices would of doubled by next year!!!!!!!!!

[fafster]

I'm in a tough position right now. My job doesn't pay fantastically, and the fiancee is a primary teacher who's struggling to find work.

And to make matters worse, the base rate is expected to rise with inflation, too.

[AyatollahPies]

Same boat, but no longer bothered about it all. Spent far too long getting depressed. Now renting a house that I wouldn't be able to afford to buy (due to the ridiculous increases over the past decade), whilst still able to save towards my deposit.

I'm lucky in that my landlord seems like a nice chap. There are some that have the attitude of doing you a favour by letting you rent their house.

Remember, renting is only throwing money away, if you can afford to buy for less, and that doesn't just mean lower monthly payments.

[chrbb]

My son is in the process of buying his first house, in our area we still have houses for sale under £100,000.

Not looked at the property pages since he found his house but just had a quick look and as yet there doesn't seem to be an increase and some of the houses he looked at are still for sale, so the market is still slow. We also have new houses being built that are advertised with some sort of goverment assistant mortgage, seems that they pay the deposit and quite a few that do shared ownership.

No doubt it will pick up towards spring, so now would be an ideal time to buy - except no-one can afford the deposit it's crazy. We're going to end up where houses are owned by a few and rented out to the rest of us

[sidewinder]

Amen Ayatollah

There is no point getting angry over it, home ownership is important to a lot of people but it isnt the be all and end all in life. Theres nothing wrong with renting, as above it isnt throwing money away - you're paying for a roof over your head!

Personally it doesnt bother me, I'm more than happy renting for however long, I like not having the massive financial burden of a mortgage. If when I'm older the chance to buy somewhere I like is within my reach then yeah I'd probably take it, but not at the expense of crippling myself just to 'get on the ladder'

[BandyQuill]

Hmm, never a good sign. As far as I can tell it's actually impossible to buy a house unless you're a couple with a combined income... doh.

RwD

ha ha you say that but Claire an i still cant afford anything XD

[RinSewand]

Might be because you're looking at buying a new car

Aside from deposits, say combined a couple earns £34,000, which isn't unreasonable, then on a 3x mortgage you'd be able to pick up something for just over £100k, which gets you a 2 bed terrace round here at least... single person earning half that - £16k don't stand a chance.

All that's after you've saved for the £10k deposit as a minimum!

RwD

[AyatollahPies]

We're going to end up where houses are owned by a few and rented out to the rest of us

But they will be the first against the wall come the revolution.

[pagelad]

I think im lucky then, im exchanging contracts on my first house this week. Got it while the prices were still pretty low and a lot was knocked off the original asking price.

I dont think prices are moving up much at all in the Middlesbrough \ Stockton area yet though.

[torledo]

My son is in the process of buying his first house, in our area we still have houses for sale under £100,000.

Not looked at the property pages since he found his house but just had a quick look and as yet there doesn't seem to be an increase and some of the houses he looked at are still for sale, so the market is still slow. We also have new houses being built that are advertised with some sort of goverment assistant mortgage, seems that they pay the deposit and quite a few that do shared ownership.

No doubt it will pick up towards spring, so now would be an ideal time to buy - except no-one can afford the deposit it's crazy. We're going to end up where houses are owned by a few and rented out to the rest of us

in my area average prices are somewhat higher....i'd probably buy two if avg. houses in my area were under 100k , but it seems to be a bit of a two-speed market where i am. There's very little good quality housing coming on the market, some of the half decent 3 and four bed homes that have gone sold stc of late have left me scratching my head in disbelief because of the high asking prices.

but then it's not April 09 and there doesn't seem to be much incentive to keep cash in the bank now...and with each monthly rise more and more sentiment gets baked in. Truly depressing.

I personally don't have a problem with the deposit. I have the 25% deposit but my problem is mortgage affordability. I don't see why i should have to take out a ridiculously large mortgage, spend 10%+ more than equivalent prices compared to 2009, just because the govt. are desperate to win an election and as each day goes by are trashing my savings. I've been priced out for years, and still the correction hasn't made things much more affordable.

Now mattx is going to come along, and tell me to chill.

[chrbb]

Sorry if daft question but have you tried putting in a low offer on one of the higher priced houses? If you have no house of your own to sell, a quick sale may be more important to the seller. We also looked for obvious reposessions with my son drivng round looking for houses for sale that were empty.