House prices

[Moscow Mule]

A good house here is £500k+. Really nice are £750k. So, with 25% deposit one would need to pay upfront £125k and £187k in cash.

Don't forget your Stamp Duty - another 3-5% you need to find in upfront cash.

[sasguru]

Transaction levels are still low though. With the BTL brigade about to get whacked I expect more properties to come on the market. More properties = less competition from buyers = lower prices. Even in London. Also consider that banks aren't lending unless you have a 10% deposit. Even relatively well paid young people cannot afford a starter home or have to stretch themselves to the limit to get a poxy flat. The housing market is a pyramid and if no-one can join the bottom then the middle can't move up so prices fall. As for foreign investors, well it may make a little difference in London but not enough to support quite possibly the biggest bubble this economy has ever seen. With stats out that wages are falling in our country there is no way that current house prices can be supported as far as I can see. We need massive wage inflation to sustain these prices and from what I can see this is not happening.

But this London micro-market I'm talking about is not fuelled or dependent on BTLs, mortgages etc.
Mostly its paid for by cash transactions or people with massive deposits.
We are constantly being solicited by estate agents who promise "cash buyers" looking on our road. Basically there is a limit to park-facing detached houses and there's always an influx of money from one part of the world or another as the UK is still seen, rightly or wrongly as a safe haven.
The latest influx is Greeks moving money out before they are stung.

[DimPrawn]

Thanks for summarising todays MoneyWeek email. No need for me to read it now.

No wonder you never publicise your sources.

Except you'll notice from the time I posted it, it was before the moneyweek email was sent.

Sources.

[AtW]

Except you'll notice from the time I posted it, it was before the moneyweek email was sent.

You must be working for moneyweek then - in all fairness they could not have picked a better expert

[DimPrawn]

You must be working for moneyweek then - in all fairness they could not have picked a better expert

I'm working for the Illuminati

[AtW]

I'm working for the Illuminati

You are anything but enlightened

[scooterscot]

I'm selling my BTL in Glasgow at the minute. HIPS is not scrapped here still had to spend £500 on that. Interest is nil despite being a desirable location in town.