Oh, Good! Houses Up.

[FredPuli43]

The Governor of the Bank of England has told the Treasury Select Committee that the Bank expects house prices to rise by about 10 per cent over the next two years;the ONS noted that price inflation in November was running at 5.4 per cent calculated annually. That would add about £25,000 to the average price of a house. (The Halifax's figure was 7.5 per cent, but you know how excitable lenders are) [The Times]

I bet you are glad that mortgages are so easy to obtain!

Any opinion on this state of affairs?

[emmie]

that i can't afford an outside toilet let alone a house, 25k on 600k and up is hardly noticeable

[mikey4444]

Inflation in anything other than house prices is a bad thing. But there are too many people who stand to make a lot money out of a hike in house prices, like estate agents, greedy owners, especially those that have inherited a house from a deceased relative, etc. Twas ever thus.

[emmie]

What is Inheritance Tax?
so you get screwed again

Inheritance Tax is usually paid on an estate when somebody dies. It's also sometimes payable on trusts or gifts made during someone's lifetime. Most estates don't have to pay Inheritance Tax because they're valued at less than the threshold (£325,000 in 2013-14). The tax is payable at 40 per cent on the amount over this threshold or 36 per cent if the estate qualifies for a reduced rate as a result of a charitable donation.

[douglas9401]

My opinion would be: here we go again.

[emmie]

inheriting a property, wow that is so bad, as to greedy estate agents, are they, or just responding to what the market will pay. Do they overly inflate house prices, greedy owners who have scrimped and saved like mad over the years to afford a home of their own, also wow.

[mikey4444]

Inheritance Tax isn't really a significant issue here. Hardly anybody pays IT here in Britain :::

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/intro/basics.htm#1

As new build housing is at an all-time low, its just greed that accounts for most house price inflation.

Building more Council Housing would go a long way to improve matters !

[emmie]

no it wouldn't, i have seen social housing that costs a small fortune, to build and once the people have lived in it for a bit, can sell on the open market as you well know.

[mikey4444]

Then repeal the Tory laws that let people buy and then sell their council houses then emmie...simples !

[youngmafbog]

//Inheritance Tax isn't really a significant issue here. Hardly anybody pays IT here in Britain ::: //

but surely if house prices rise then that will change.

And all of this is totally dependant on where you live. An average across the uk is a utterly useless figure.

House prices will rise because we dont have enough for the indigenous population let alone all the immigrants we have to let in. It's called supply and demand, very basic economics.(unless you are a communist of course)

[youngmafbog]

//repeal the Tory laws //

Why mention Tory? Labour were in for many years, if it is so bad why didnt they repeal it. by not doing so it is a Tory/Labour law effectivley.

[emmie]

Labour were selling off social housing long before Mrs T, and they are still doing it, our borough is Labour run, and has properties for sale all the day long.

[emmie]

sure i could find other sources, did before when the same nonsense was trotted out

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/09/labours-claim-of-being-the-party-of-council-housing-is-in-tatters/

[whiskeryron]

I could never understand the differences involved in house prices in different parts of the country. If buying a car for instance it doesn't matter where you live a car will be valued at a certain price. If I buy a housebrick surely it will be the same price wherever I buy it, so why is it a different price to buy say a house in Northumberland & the same size & layout in Kent they are both built with bricks & in my opinion should be the same price wherever. I feel that if there was legislation dealing with this anomaly it would go a long way to dealing with inflation.

WR.

[ummmm]

The houses may cost they same to build but the land certainly doesn't cost the same.

[modeller]

This was inevitable , the moment you make the initial deposit low on anything , the genie is out of the bottle. The rest of the package is not so important. People lie about their income and potential but finding the initial deposit is another matter. This is true for all major purchases e.g TVS and Cars , as happened throughout the post war period. That's why we had the cycles of boom-slump, inflation and the final house bubble.

The only time we had a fairly stable market was in the 1950s and early 60s when the minimum initial deposit was around 10% and the maximum morgage period was 20 years or before the age of 65 which ever was the shortest.

It also was the case with a young married couple , only the income of one person could be considered ,usually the man's. The arguement was that the woman's income would be interrupted by having children.

This changed in the mid 60s when both incomes were accepted and with it the inevitable upsurge in morgage take ups . Which led to higher personal debts , demands for more pay and inflation.

[Gromit]

// our borough is Labour run, and has properties for sale all the day long. //

It has to, it is the law. The word 'right' in right to buy means the tenant can use the law to force the sale. And the council is not permitted to use the money from the sale to build more property. The sale price is determined by the number of years in occupancy, so the properties are heavily discounted, so the council couldn't afford to replace hoysing stock, like for like, if it wanted to.

It is a pipular policy which is why Labour didn't repeal it during their 13 years in power. The only losers are the very poor, who have a diminishing number of affordable properties to rent.

[DrFilth]

depends on where you live there are plenty on the market up here that have had to lower their prices and even then they struggle to sell.

when these people give out this info i think they base it on house prices down south, deep south past birmingham

[ToraToraTora]

I suppose I agree a litlle bit with gromit and even mikey to some extent. The right to buy was a brilliant scheme it gave thousands a chance to buy and the self respect and pride that comes with it. Slum council estates where transformed, but, here is the but, it was a catastrophic error to prevent the councils from building new properties with the proceeds, that is why we find ourselves in this predicament. Regular readers will know that I have great admiration for the late MrsT but I think this was a mistake, fortunately it's changable. they should keep the right to buy but they should repeal the bit that prevents new houses to be built with the proceeds. It's not a quick fix but I think it will slowly help.

[Gromit]

Tora
Not sure that would help much, the discounting often reduces the proceeds. I know someone whose house was valued at £40K (about 12 years ago) and she got £26K knocked off for her occupancy. The council got £14K. They would only be able to build one new house if they sold off 15 existing ones.

[mikey4444]

TTT........I completely agree with you here, and that is something you don't see every day !

We have a serious shortage in affordable rental housing and this needs to be addressed asap. It isn't, or shouldn't be a party-political issue. Council Houses was built in huge numbers by post-war Governments of both hues. Its a pity that we can't seem to form a consensus on this issue and proceed forwards.