Metropol

I want to gather your thoughts on this subject, my esteemed Loungers.

Home ownership or property ownership - there was 'Real Story' investigation tonight on BBC1.

I'm fairly comfortably off - not rich by any means, but I have a nice lifestyle and a reasonably decent amount of disposable income. I am 31 though, so that's what you'd probably expect.

I am in a flat at the moment - I bought it in Feb last year for £55K and it's now worth £85K. It's a lovely but unremarkable downstairs Tyneside flat in a terrace.

I really want to move into a house - I love the idea of going upstairs to bed. But if I were to move into a house, my mortgage payments would jump from around £370 to £600. This is a step I'm not willing to take, even though I could afford it.

I may be left-wing in this thinking, but I think the exhorbitant house prices in the UK are a breach of human rights. The right to live comfortably under a roof. My area, Gateshead, is part of the 92% of UK postcodes where average earners can no longer buy a flat, let alone a house. It's all wrong. Gateshead of all places - have you seen the place?

To the younger members of the forum, can you ever see yourself owning a house except through inheritance?

And to the older members, do you feel a bit trapped on the rung of the ladder you're currently on?

This is an official MP247 Lounge mass debate

I think personally that a crash in the property market is inevitable. My parents house was bought in 1994 for £64,995. It was recently valued at £325,000. Despite 11 years of inflation and the improvements which my parents have done to the property, it's ridiculous that it's now worth over £250,000 more than it's purchase price.

Having a house with such a value attached to it is not even of any use to my parents, since anything they might want to buy would be similarly inflated, and of course they may struggle to find a buyer for it in the first place as people in smaller properties would need to undertake a substantial mortgage to buy it, and of course it's completely out of bounds to first time buyers, even though it's only a fairly modest 3 bedroom bungalow (albeit a nice and well appointed one).

As a case in point, my parents old house sold for £47,500. Funnily enough, our old house has recently gone up for sale again - for £195,000. The price gap between the two properties has jumped from £17,495 to £130,000 - my parents simply couldn't have made that move if they were looking to do it today. How many other people are in the same boat? Too many too ignore I feel.

Looking at the other end of the scale, I have friends who are both graduates and were looking at buying a house together. They could actually afford the mortgage repayments on a 'starter home' (i.e. a one bedroom studio flat), but won't for fear of ending up in negative equity when they are stuck paying off a £100,000 mortgage on a glorified bedsit and family houses will be selling for less. They are thus renting and have no intention of becoming homeowners until these horrendous prices fall - and they're very sensible too imo.

Things clearly cannot go on this way - and of course they're not even staying static, house prices are continuing to rise. The only people who benefit are those who were able to invest in property years ago and are now reaping in the benefits, or an old couple selling up the family home and moving to something smaller. No one else benefits from having such high prices (well, except for mortgage lenders), and with it becoming all but impossible for anyone not on a graduate salary to even get onto the ladder at all, house sales will surely go into rapid decline before much longer, leading to a property market crash.

Either that, or there will be a fundamental shift in property ownership in this country and we will end up with a situation similar to that in many European countries where the vast majority of homes are owned by housing associations (or similar large scale landlords) and the vast majority of people rent, with owning your own home not being anything like the status symbol that it is here.

johnnyboy wrote:And to the older members, do you feel a bit trapped on the rung of the ladder you're currently on?

Yep, I simply DON'T know what I'd do with the £2.1M if I decided to sell.

Nick Harvey wrote: Yep, I simply DON'T know what I'd do with the £2.1M if I decided to sell.

Is that what the asking price is for Heaven, during these times of uncertainty?

Bargain!

Well house prices in Milton Keynes have more or less doubled over the last few days. My mums house back in 1998 which she purchased as new for about £73k is currently vauled around £170k. Three bed houses seem to average around the £200k mark which is a little out my price range!

A friend of mine has recently bought a house for the first time and his mortgage is around a grand a month which for a first time buyer is crazy money. Fortunately he has a salary where he might be able to manage it.

On the other hand, I'm in a position where all I can do is afford the rent and can't go anything long term as of yet. Currently, I'm wasting about £6,000 a year on rent for a one bedroom house and the only satisifaction I can take is that it gives me a roof over my house. The majority of rentals in Milton Keynes, the 2 bedroom houses seem to average about £600 a month.

If only I was on the property ladder earlier!

I rent a property in Edinburgh. I won't say how much but considering the Queen's residence and the Parliament are my near-neighbours I don't do too badly. Property prices post Parliament construction have risen astonishingly but my landlord bought at the right time. That said, it took them years to build the damn place, so the price rises are probably much as they would have been in that time span.

I registered with Edindex, a new initiative which brings all the housing associations together as well as council properties for rent. I've had to do a bit of wheeling and dealing to get my "points" increased - something which puts me on the same level as those teenage girls who spit children out by the dozen and expect houses to be given to them.

I'm going to sit tight where I am and then look to apply in the future. By then my points should have increased some more, and I'll be considered a priority.

Buying is sadly out of the question.

My dad started his mortgage in 1973/1974 when the council sold houses. He payed up for it fully in 1998 & I think they're are now worth about £135k plus fo ra two bedroom terrace with Great Eastern Railway out back!

He said he was glad his mortage was one that didn't go up in price & woul dnever ever by another house again, mainly because he couldn't afford to now!

I've decided to take the plunge and buy a house.

I acquired the amazing amount of £40K equity in this place in 14 months (price risen from £55K to £85K and I put down £10K deposit).

I'm looking at a total value for the new place of up to £120K, which means my mortgage could be as much as £560 per month. Eek.

What a crazy world the housing market has become.

You lot want to come down to Bristol - one of the most expensive places to live outside of London!

I earn a pretty decent wedge, but I simply can't afford to move out of shared houses. It's like being a student at the age of 30!

Average flat prices here are approaching £180/200k (yes, I kid you not) and house prices are getting on for an average of £350k. I simply fail to see how I can afford a flat, let alone a house.

It leaves me with the unenviable situation of trying to overstretch myself for a flat, and have no money whatsoever to go out with, or stick at where I am now and hope that the housing market crashes and I have a chance to swoop in.

I suppose the other option is to get married. Hmmm.

Uncle Bruce wrote:You lot want to come down to Bristol - one of the most expensive places to live outside of London!

I earn a pretty decent wedge, but I simply can't afford to move out of shared houses. It's like being a student at the age of 30!

Average flat prices here are approaching £180/200k (yes, I kid you not) and house prices are getting on for an average of £350k. I simply fail to see how I can afford a flat, let alone a house.

It leaves me with the unenviable situation of trying to overstretch myself for a flat, and have no money whatsoever to go out with, or stick at where I am now and hope that the housing market crashes and I have a chance to swoop in.

I suppose the other option is to get married. Hmmm.

I feel your pain, Uncle Bruce.

Although a little distance away, my younger bro lives in Bridport, Dorset, and flats there are going for no less than £140K in decent areas.

I too hope for a housing crash. While it may disadvantage me in the short term with negative equity, it will make other places far more affordable.

It's simply not fair, the current situation.

Uncle Bruce wrote:You lot want to come down to Bristol - one of the most expensive places to live outside of London!

I earn a pretty decent wedge, but I simply can't afford to move out of shared houses. It's like being a student at the age of 30!

Average flat prices here are approaching £180/200k (yes, I kid you not) and house prices are getting on for an average of £350k. I simply fail to see how I can afford a flat, let alone a house.

It leaves me with the unenviable situation of trying to overstretch myself for a flat, and have no money whatsoever to go out with, or stick at where I am now and hope that the housing market crashes and I have a chance to swoop in.

I suppose the other option is to get married. Hmmm.

I live about 45 minutes from you, Chris, near Pontypridd. My landlord bought this house in December 2002...

3 good-sized bedrooms
Kitchen
Large sitting room
Good sized bathroom
Garden garage/driveway at back
Gas central heating
Double glazing throughout
Located at the end of a quiet, leafy dead-end street

And he paid just £39,000 for it!! (I had a look on that property price website!).