Cheapest house/apartment

[orangeman]

This has to be shite !


House prices 'up 1.9% in January' 
 


House price surveys explained
The price of UK homes rose by 1.9% in January, ending a run of 11 monthly falls, according to the Halifax.

Despite January's rise, the annual change in house prices showed a fall of 17.2%, the Halifax said.

The average house price reached £163,966 according to the data, which is based on home asking prices.

Last week, a survey by Nationwide suggested prices fell by 1.3% in January, saying job worries were set to put people off buying new homes.
When simply comparing the average price in January with the average price a year ago, the Halifax survey suggests that prices are down by 16.8% from £197,243 in January 2008.

But the lender prefers to compare the average price for the past three months with the average price for the same period a year ago, which produces its current estimate of a 17.2% annual fall.

'Difficult year'

"There are some very early signs that market activity may be stabilising, albeit at quite a low level," said Halifax chief economist Martin Ellis.


 
"Nonetheless, continuing pressures on incomes, rising unemployment and the negative impact of the dislocation of the financial markets on the availability of mortgage finance are expected to mean that 2009 will be a difficult year for the housing market."

Estate agents have been reporting more would-be homebuyers registering with them, but these have not yet been converted to sales.

And observers say that the housing market is unlikely to improve until the economy stops shrinking, with continued restrictions on credit reducing the amount of people taking out mortgages.

The UK economy is now deemed to be in recession having recorded two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

The Bank of England has been cutting the base rate sharply in recent months in an effort to stimulate the economy.

It is expected to trim the rate further later on Thursday, with most analysts expecting a cut from 1.5% to 1%

[FermGael]

This has to be shite !


House prices 'up 1.9% in January' 
 


House price surveys explained
The price of UK homes rose by 1.9% in January, ending a run of 11 monthly falls, according to the Halifax.

Despite January's rise, the annual change in house prices showed a fall of 17.2%, the Halifax said.

The average house price reached £163,966 according to the data, which is based on home asking prices.

Last week, a survey by Nationwide suggested prices fell by 1.3% in January, saying job worries were set to put people off buying new homes.
When simply comparing the average price in January with the average price a year ago, the Halifax survey suggests that prices are down by 16.8% from £197,243 in January 2008.

But the lender prefers to compare the average price for the past three months with the average price for the same period a year ago, which produces its current estimate of a 17.2% annual fall.

'Difficult year'

"There are some very early signs that market activity may be stabilising, albeit at quite a low level," said Halifax chief economist Martin Ellis.


 
"Nonetheless, continuing pressures on incomes, rising unemployment and the negative impact of the dislocation of the financial markets on the availability of mortgage finance are expected to mean that 2009 will be a difficult year for the housing market."

Estate agents have been reporting more would-be homebuyers registering with them, but these have not yet been converted to sales.

And observers say that the housing market is unlikely to improve until the economy stops shrinking, with continued restrictions on credit reducing the amount of people taking out mortgages.

The UK economy is now deemed to be in recession having recorded two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

The Bank of England has been cutting the base rate sharply in recent months in an effort to stimulate the economy.

It is expected to trim the rate further later on Thursday, with most analysts expecting a cut from 1.5% to 1%

The devil is in the detail.
Asking prices may have went up  but what about prices on completition.
what about the actual price that houses are being sold at??

If you look at the rest of the article it is extremely cautious. 

[orangeman]

It is spin of the highest order.

[goal and a point]

My mortgage deal is on tracker and it expires in April. I will have negative equity on my house so i cant change to a different bank. Should i look for a fixed deal now or just sit on their standard variable for a few months. The trackers are about base +2.5% so all it would need would be one interest hike and i would be paying above fixed rates. Current tracker is base plus 0.7% - if only i could keep that!!

[FermGael]

My mortgage deal is on tracker and it expires in April. I will have negative equity on my house so i cant change to a different bank. Should i look for a fixed deal now or just sit on their standard variable for a few months. The trackers are about base +2.5% so all it would need would be one interest hike and i would be paying above fixed rates. Current tracker is base plus 0.7% - if only i could keep that!!

I would say you are going to have to sit at their variable rate in the short term.
They will not give you a fixed deal because most are only lending out to people who have a 15-20% deposit.
Try and overpay the mortgage if they let you.
what sort of negative equity are you taking about?

[bcarrier]

This has to be shite !


House prices 'up 1.9% in January' 
 


House price surveys explained
The price of UK homes rose by 1.9% in January, ending a run of 11 monthly falls, according to the Halifax.

Despite January's rise, the annual change in house prices showed a fall of 17.2%, the Halifax said.

The average house price reached £163,966 according to the data, which is based on home asking prices.

Last week, a survey by Nationwide suggested prices fell by 1.3% in January, saying job worries were set to put people off buying new homes.
When simply comparing the average price in January with the average price a year ago, the Halifax survey suggests that prices are down by 16.8% from £197,243 in January 2008.

But the lender prefers to compare the average price for the past three months with the average price for the same period a year ago, which produces its current estimate of a 17.2% annual fall.

'Difficult year'

"There are some very early signs that market activity may be stabilising, albeit at quite a low level," said Halifax chief economist Martin Ellis.


 
"Nonetheless, continuing pressures on incomes, rising unemployment and the negative impact of the dislocation of the financial markets on the availability of mortgage finance are expected to mean that 2009 will be a difficult year for the housing market."

Estate agents have been reporting more would-be homebuyers registering with them, but these have not yet been converted to sales.

And observers say that the housing market is unlikely to improve until the economy stops shrinking, with continued restrictions on credit reducing the amount of people taking out mortgages.

The UK economy is now deemed to be in recession having recorded two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

The Bank of England has been cutting the base rate sharply in recent months in an effort to stimulate the economy.

It is expected to trim the rate further later on Thursday, with most analysts expecting a cut from 1.5% to 1%

The devil is in the detail.
Asking prices may have went up  but what about prices on completition.
what about the actual price that houses are being sold at??

If you look at the rest of the article it is extremely cautious. 

Fermgael ...the article is wrong . The Halifax price survey is NOT based on asking prices but on mortgage offers and therefore agrred deals supported by independent valuations.
There may still be issues in Ireland but the overall UK market wont fall much further IMO.


The Halifax House Price Index is the UK's longest running monthly house price
series with data covering the whole country going back to January 1983. 
The Index is based on the largest monthly sample of mortgage data, typically
covering around 15,000 house purchases per month, and covers the whole
calendar month.  From this data, a "standardised" house price is calculated and
property price movements on a like-for-like basis (including seasonal adjustments)
are analysed over time.  Properties over £1 million are included (since December 2002)
and the index is seasonally adjusted with the seasonal factors updated monthly.

The indices are based on the detailed records of the prices, physical
characteristics and the regional location of all the houses on which the
organisation has made a mortgage offer in each time period.

The methodology is applied separately to produce monthly and quarterly
standardised indices for different categories of house (all houses, new houses
and existing houses) and buyer (first-time buyers and former owner-occupiers).
The U.K. national all houses, all buyers monthly index is also available as a
seasonally adjusted series.

Regional index numbers are also created (quarterly) for all, new and existing
houses and for houses bought by first-time buyers and former owner-occupiers.
The regional all houses, all buyers quarterly indices can also be provided as a
seasonally adjusted series.

It is a reliable survey and definite indication that in general the market is bumping along the bottom .


There will still be regional variations and NI in particular still has away to go.

[FermGael]

Fermgael ...the article is wrong . The Halifax price survey is NOT based on asking prices but on mortgage offers and therefore agreed deals supported by independent valuations.
There may still be issues in Ireland but the overall UK market wont fall much further IMO.

It is a reliable survey and definite indication that in general the market is bumping along the bottom .


There will still be regional variations and NI in particular still has away to go.

BCarrier i could argue with you that this rise is to do with seasonal variations.


As for your point about agreed mortgages, that is true.
But i agreed a mortgage and a price for a property before Christmas.  Though we were getting a good deal but got serious cold feet.
Pulled out and the sale did not go through.  My details will be included here even though then purchase did not go through.

As for your point about UK property being at the bottom, maybe.
But I do not think so.  Job losses are increasing, more and more people are defaulting on their mortgages.
More and more are comming to the end of there 100% interest only mortgage, to find out they owe the banks 10's of thousands plus the reduced value of their property.
This means that those FTB's who did buy and will be looking to move on to there second home will not be able to.
How many of these people might just decide to return the keys??  Sure renting would be a cheaper option for them

You have said that you do not believe that the average house price will go back to 2.5 x salary.  But over the last 300 years that is what it has been historically, on average.
Banks will now not lend any more that 3 x salary to the FTB, plus they must have a minimum 15% deposit(20% if they want a competitive rate).
So for an average house of £163,966, that means the average salary must be £46500 plus have a deposit of £24,500.
That is unrealistic in the current economic climate.  The current generation no very little about saving and with low interest rates, they will be getting no return on it.
With these prices and people unable to move house because of negative equity, who is going to buy houses?


If you look at auctions of property in the UK, prices are down 52% from the peak

This looks like a worldwide depression to me.  Just my opinion.
Its is only at the beginning stage.  We had a boom for 10 years.
Why or why does everybody think its going to be over in 18 months.
I really hope that i am wrong about this but something tells me things are going to get a lot worse before they get better

[orangeman]

Fermgael ...the article is wrong . The Halifax price survey is NOT based on asking prices but on mortgage offers and therefore agreed deals supported by independent valuations.
There may still be issues in Ireland but the overall UK market wont fall much further IMO.

It is a reliable survey and definite indication that in general the market is bumping along the bottom .


There will still be regional variations and NI in particular still has away to go.

BCarrier i could argue with you that this rise is to do with seasonal variations.


As for your point about agreed mortgages, that is true.
But i agreed a mortgage and a price for a property before Christmas.  Though we were getting a good deal but got serious cold feet.
Pulled out and the sale did not go through.  My details will be included here even though then purchase did not go through.

As for your point about UK property being at the bottom, maybe.
But I do not think so.  Job losses are increasing, more and more people are defaulting on their mortgages.
More and more are comming to the end of there 100% interest only mortgage, to find out they owe the banks 10's of thousands plus the reduced value of their property.
This means that those FTB's who did buy and will be looking to move on to there second home will not be able to.
How many of these people might just decide to return the keys??  Sure renting would be a cheaper option for them

You have said that you do not believe that the average house price will go back to 2.5 x salary.  But over the last 300 years that is what it has been historically, on average.
Banks will now not lend any more that 3 x salary to the FTB, plus they must have a minimum 15% deposit(20% if they want a competitive rate).
So for an average house of £163,966, that means the average salary must be £46500 plus have a deposit of £24,500.
That is unrealistic in the current economic climate.  The current generation no very little about saving and with low interest rates, they will be getting no return on it.
With these prices and people unable to move house because of negative equity, who is going to buy houses?


If you look at auctions of property in the UK, prices are down 52% from the peak

This looks like a worldwide depression to me.  Just my opinion.
Its is only at the beginning stage.  We had a boom for 10 years.
Why or why does everybody think its going to be over in 18 months.
I really hope that i am wrong about this but something tells me things are going to get a lot worse before they get better

[/b]

Certainly looks like 18 months is unrealistic alright. More like 5 years in my book.

[muppet]

ffs lads  who started this tread   George Lee

Well he is a Muppet.

And now an elected one.

[muppet]

myhome.ie has a 4 bed in Templeogue for €590!

Seriously!!

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/search/brochure/13-templeville-road-templeogue-dublin-co&-city/SSPSG400115

[Caid]

For anyone in the UK remortaging at present First Direct are offering the best deals i've ever seen.

Fixed rate mortgage rates will never be lower.

They offer a 3 year fixed rate offset at 4.09%.  This means you can overpay as much as you want and subsequently underpay as much as you want.

Think its around 75% LTV though.

The "how long will the recession last" argument is a double edged sword.  I also think things are going to get worst or at best continue along a similar terrain (the stock market already looks over valued after recent recoveries).  I think inflation will become a serious issue in the next year or two and the government can only really combat that by increasing interest rates (and the rates on govt bonds are going to rise given the huge levels of government debt).  This will all force mortgage rates upwards. So over the coming years whilst property values may fall, the cost of borrowing is likely to icnrease - so what you gain with one hand you may give back with the other.

The best thing is to buy a house for the long term, work out how much you can afford to pay, and find a deal that suits you.  Ignore and rises or falls and be happy that you have the home for you.  Speculators are a major cause of any recession (be that in stocks, oil, property etc).  We could do with being a bit more like the Japenese who predominantly all rent or like many European countries where they rent a house basically for life (and so effectively own it in any event).  The preoccupation with owning property in the UK and Ireland is not a good thing

[orangeman]

For anyone in the UK remortaging at present First Direct are offering the best deals i've ever seen.

Fixed rate mortgage rates will never be lower.

They offer a 3 year fixed rate offset at 4.09%.  This means you can overpay as much as you want and subsequently underpay as much as you want.

Think its around 75% LTV though.

The "how long will the recession last" argument is a double edged sword.  I also think things are going to get worst or at best continue along a similar terrain (the stock market already looks over valued after recent recoveries).  I think inflation will become a serious issue in the next year or two and the government can only really combat that by increasing interest rates (and the rates on govt bonds are going to rise given the huge levels of government debt).  This will all force mortgage rates upwards. So over the coming years whilst property values may fall, the cost of borrowing is likely to icnrease - so what you gain with one hand you may give back with the other.

The best thing is to buy a house for the long term, work out how much you can afford to pay, and find a deal that suits you.  Ignore and rises or falls and be happy that you have the home for you.  Speculators are a major cause of any recession (be that in stocks, oil, property etc).  We could do with being a bit more like the Japenese who predominantly all rent or like many European countries where they rent a house basically for life (and so effectively own it in any event).  The preoccupation with owning property in the UK and Ireland is not a good thing

Savers will be glad of the uplift in rates at least. So at least they'll be happy.

[muppet]

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/30-eugene-street-south-city-centre-dublin-8/1457701

€75,000.

You wouldn't have got a chimney for that 4 years ago.

[gerrykeegan]

Given the location it is still over priced by €76,000

[seafoid]

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/30-eugene-street-south-city-centre-dublin-8/1457701

€75,000.

You wouldn't have got a chimney for that 4 years ago.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/jun/03/end-of-history-barbara-mills

Deborah Orr (G2, 2 June) says the banks create wealth, but a New Economics Foundation study last year showed that banks are the biggest degraders of wealth and thus contribute only to inflation. Wealth (using energy to process materials – in other words to "add value") can come only from what we find in the ground (oil, coal, minerals) or what comes from the sun (radiant energy). Everything else is a social construct.Julian Vincent