Is the first rung on the property ladder broken?

[CheeseSlice]

If swine flu takes off here we could see some very cheap property !!

Ahh.. a good old plague. It'll be like a big red reset button for the economy.

[TimberWolf]

Ahh.. a good old plague. It'll be like a big red reset button for the economy.

Especially if we invest in the vaccine manufacturers.

[AtW]

Especially if we invest in the vaccine manufacturers.

Those will be taken over by Govts the second threat becomes real

[NotAllThere]

Funny statement - "For most first-time buyers the mortgage will be their biggest monthly payment."

As though this adds risk? Many of them will have been making far higher monthly rental payments.

A very niave outlook imo. With the price of the average house being roughly £175k how, are average people ie my son and the like, going to save £17.5k never mind 25% of that?...

I put down around 27% on my £500'000 house. How? From the profits I made selling my house in the UK...

IGMC.

[expat]

A very naive outlook imo. With the price of the average house being roughly £175k how, are average people ie my son and the like, going to save £17.5k never mind 25% of that?

Average people are not going to buy the average house as a first-time purchase. It doesn't work like that.

Average homeowners live in the average house.

Average first-time buyers are more likely to live in a suitable FTB property, such as a 1-bedroom flat in a cheap area or well outside town. That is the bottom rung of the housing ladder.

A few years of continuing prosperity might allow them to sell this and trade up. On average, over their life, they might live in an average house.

[OwlHoot]

Nobody has a devine right to own a house. Thatcher brought potential home ownership to the masses, but a house should only be available to those that can afford it. Otherwise, they should rent, just as they used to in bygone days.
If these people then aspire to better paid jobs they will then be able to save and one day buy. I did not buy my first house until I was 29. Far too many people expect everything to fall into their laps nowadays for very little effort, possibly because of the way Labour dish out benefits to all and sundry.

We need to return to the days of reward for effort and removal of reward for failure !!

You sound like a smug, Daily Mail reading pensioner.

Perhaps you've forgotten that people coming out of higher education these days are saddled with huge debts already, which those of your generation (however long ago that was) were not.

If first time buyers are unable to get a foothold on the property market, and this situation continues for several more years, the government (*any* government) will have to take drastic action, which will probably involve a huge annual tax on existing property owners such as (presumably) yourself.

This economic depression is ultimately about wealth redistribution from the few rich to the many (and ever increasing) poor worldwide, and also from the old to the young. So don't say you weren't warned "old" boy!

[BrilloPad]

You sound like a smug, Daily Mail reading pensioner.

Perhaps you've forgotten that people coming out of higher education these days are saddled with huge debts already, which those of your generation (however long ago that was) were not.

If first time buyers are unable to get a foothold on the property market, and this situation continues for several more years, the government (*any* government) will have to take drastic action, which will probably involve a huge annual tax on existing property owners such as (presumably) yourself.

This economic depression is ultimately about wealth redistribution from the few rich to the many (and ever increasing) poor worldwide, and also from the old to the young. So don't say you weren't warned "old" boy!

Why does the government need to tax property directly? Is it not possible just to tax second homes?

[swamp]

Average people are not going to buy the average house as a first-time purchase. It doesn't work like that.

Average homeowners live in the average house.

Average first-time buyers are more likely to live in a suitable FTB property, such as a 1-bedroom flat in a cheap area or well outside town. That is the bottom rung of the housing ladder.

A few years of continuing prosperity might allow them to sell this and trade up. On average, over their life, they might live in an average house.

Absolutely.

In the boom times people found all sorts of ways on the housing ladder. Buying dilapidated flats in the outskirts of rubbish areas, jointly with friends, bank of Mum and Dad, multiple credit cards, living in a tent/friend's floor for six weeks to save rent. Anything to get their mitts on a piece of the property inflation action.

If BolshieBastard's son really wants to get on the housing ladder he probably can. He just needs to save 25% and look to his budget, which is not unreasonable.

[AlfredJPruffock]

Especially if we invest in the vaccine manufacturers.

That would be the Bildberg group who invested heavly in TamiFlu - they made a bomb out of the SARS scare - and a few of these unsavoury characters lost their shirs at the Casino Capitalisism are now looking to earn some fast cash - thei rhope is that following this 'scare' Governments will rush to buy stocks of TamiFlu - and that means massive profits for the likes of Donald Rumnsfield and co.

Are we being manipulated ?

Nothing could be further from the truth.

[expat]

You sound like a smug, Daily Mail reading pensioner.

Perhaps you've forgotten that people coming out of higher education these days are saddled with huge debts already, which those of your generation (however long ago that was) were not.

If first time buyers are unable to get a foothold on the property market, and this situation continues for several more years, the government (*any* government) will have to take drastic action, which will probably involve a huge annual tax on existing property owners such as (presumably) yourself.

This economic depression is ultimately about wealth redistribution from the few rich to the many (and ever increasing) poor worldwide, and also from the old to the young. So don't say you weren't warned "old" boy!

Damn right! The old and the house-owners have had a massive and undeserved transfer of wealth from the young and the non-owners. This is unfair and needs to be addressed. Those who have gained a huge unearned increase in wealth for nothing more than sitting on a hose for a few years, should realise that they have no real right to this gain.

We can start by imposing CGT on sales of houses, including principal residence. There is no reason why you should profit from the less well-off coming after you and trying to get on the housing ladder, just for having lived in your own house for a few years.

Secondly, the tax system should recognise that owning the house that you live in is a benefit, so it should be taxable as income. The benefit would be equal to the amount that you would otherwise have to pay in rent for the same house.