Guest Tam o' Shantie Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 I've not had time to get my head around the mad media frenzy, so can people discuss it and I will come back to the thread once I have some knowledge? All I know is that if it is genuinely something to be worried about, then it'll probably affect me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 House prices, in Aberdeen anyway, won't crash. They just might not rise much this year.For prices to crash supply must exceed demand and there's a whole fuckload of houses and flats will need to be built in Aberdeen before that happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tam o' Shantie Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 Ok perhaps I was exaggerating - but there has been a lot of media coverage of the possibility of houses losing value in 2008. As someone who was intending to both sell and purchase a flat before the end of the years I'd like to see what people's thoughts are on the likelyhood of this happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 I'm trying to buy just now and I'm being priced out of everything, so I'm actually hoping it drops, or at least levels out. There's so many stories from the past few years of people paying almost double the asking price for pissy little flats that need completely renovated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 I guess if some big financial disaster happens (recession, another northern rock or the tories got into power in a snap election) then prices might fall but I don't think they'd fall by much and not for long. Not here anyway.I'll be remortgaging this year so I'm keeping a close eye on things as well but I don't think there's much to worry about, especially with regards to flats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 I'm trying to buy just now and I'm being priced out of everything, so I'm actually hoping it drops, or at least levels out. There's so many stories from the past few years of people paying almost double the asking price for pissy little flats that need completely renovated.One of the flats above me went for 30 or 40 percent over the asking price around this time last year and needed completely gutted. It's probably worth double what the guy paid for it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 Hmm, my mate offered 50% over the asking price for a flat in town and he wasn't even in the top 5. It's pretty mad just now, I'm renting until it calms down a bit, in saying that I've had a big pay rise since I last went to see the mortgage people so I could probably get a better one now, still I don't want to take on more than I can reasonably handle with regards to payments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
framheim Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 yea i'm looking to remortgage this year too so will be monitoring the market quite closely but as chris says the north-east of scotland is different from the rest of the country as house prices are still rising here as there's a lack of supply. the market has stalled briefly but i'd imagine it'll pick up again in the next couple of months. shame they didn't drop the interest rate today as that might have made remortgaging a bit easier but we'll just have to see what it's like in the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 yea i'm looking to remortgage this year too o_OWas your mortgage only locked for 2 years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
framheim Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 o_OWas your mortgage only locked for 2 years?yep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsby Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 yep.Not sure why you're smiling, surely you won't be able to get anything like as good a deal in the current financial climate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 Not sure why you're smiling, surely you won't be able to get anything like as good a deal in the current financial climate?We're both with Northern Rock. The initial mortgage deal they offer doesn't have very good rates but is great if you don't have enough for a deposit. Being able to now shop around means we can get a better rate and get away from the disaster of a mortgage lender that NR has become this year. I've already been quoted a much better deal from my bank without doing any serious digging yet. So you can definitely get as good a deal in the current climate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
framheim Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 Not sure why you're smiling, surely you won't be able to get anything like as good a deal in the current financial climate?yea the locked fixed rate that we're on just now is far higher than many of the deals out there just now as i couldn't afford a deposit so got a 100% mortgage. it won't save me a helluva lot to be honest but remortgaging will save a few pennies at least.it's like everything else you got to play the system as best you can for yourself and shop around. no point sticking with northern rock just for the sake of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsby Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 it's like everything else you got to play the system as best you can for yourself and shop around. no point sticking with northern rock just for the sake of it.Yeah, I'll be able to get out of my Northern Rock deal in June, it's not fixed rate but I reckon I'll still be able to get better elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 I guess if some big financial disaster happens (recession, another northern rock or the tories got into power in a snap election) then prices might fall but I don't think they'd fall by much and not for long. Not here anyway.I'll be remortgaging this year so I'm keeping a close eye on things as well but I don't think there's much to worry about, especially with regards to flats.Very true - my nephew just bought a 1 bedroom flat near Union Terrace for the "bargain" price of 132,000 - and there's not enough room to change your mind in it.My lovely detached house didn't cost all that much more, has a integral garage and garden the size of a football pitch.I'm only a few miles out of Aberdeen - I just refused to pay those crazy toon prices!Like Chris says, I wouldn't worry too much about house prices up here.Ps - We just changed our mortgage a month before Northern Rock went tits up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 The Pound is still weakening against the Euro, which is a scary sign. It's never been this weak in the 9 years that the Euro's existed - and this is bearing in mind that we have higher interest rates than the Eurozone and should (in theory) be more attractive to investors. For that reason, it would take a foolish person to make bets on the housing market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tam o' Shantie Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Our Property gives free house prices from Land Registry data - OurProperty.co.uk - good site for seeing recent sale prices Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuartmaxwell Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 our property is a good siteim lucky in that dundee is still quite cheap and have just completed a deal on a good two bedroom property, after losing out on 3dundee is one of the few places where the market is gathering momentum, as a result of regeneration, an excellent reputation as a city of research & development, a central airport (of questionable standard) and a lack of affordable houses being built Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 our property is a good siteim lucky in that dundee is still quite cheap and have just completed a deal on a good two bedroom property, after losing out on 3dundee is one of the few places where the market is gathering momentum, as a result of regeneration, an excellent reputation as a city of research & development, a central airport (of questionable standard) and a lack of affordable houses being builtAll good, but on the flipside, you have to live in Dundee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 I have been researching this issue at University. My lectuer had predicted this crash for a while. When it happened dispatches contacted him - he was on that documentary on channel 4 about a month or so back.Basically we are seeing a constant cycle of lending based on future earnings. It's a societal wide problem. What happens if you keep living beyond your means? What happens to society? Well economic growth is merely credit growth. That's why northern rock crashed. Banks and financial institutions discovered that people couldn't actually afford to pay their mortgages anymore. Everythings being bought on credit and people just cannot afford to do that anymore. Similarly the price of rent is ridiculous. Buy to letters are buying properties with a view to making a huge profit off of the rent or selling up and moving up the ladder. However we are now in a position where there are too many by to let mortgages out there and not enough people to fill the homes. Everyone who wants to rent/can afford to rent are renting. Key workers were being priced out of the game because of buy to letters. Obviously this is complicated system but unless the governement steps we are to see a cyclical process (which is primarily spurred by the rapid growth of finance/speculative capital) of lending based on future earnings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuartmaxwell Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 All good, but on the flipside, you have to live in Dundee.Dundee is good, its closer to the central belt, has a better music scene for the kind of stuff I play, better for playing midweek gigs in other cities and making it to work, its not as minky as it used to be and it has world leading research in the 3 universities (ideal for my line of work)I enjoyed living in Aberdeen for over 6 years too, but its too far away from everything else, full of rotten yuppies and is very close minded (generally speaking) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Lucifer Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 I enjoyed living in Aberdeen for over 6 years too, but its too far away from everything else, full of rotten yuppies and is very close minded (generally speaking)Exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cynic Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 I like being far away from everything (but then I can't be arsed travelling to gigs etc).I agree about the closed minds though. (Although, on the upside folk here are less likely to be conned by the latest trends, IMO...unless that's just an OAP thing )The price of housing here is ridiculous....I feel heart sorry for people trying to get somewhere at a decent price. I think if I was in my 20s I'd settle for a caravan (seriously!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Anderson Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 yeh, housing here is way too steep. i tried holding off moving to a 'proper family house' for ages but after seeing constant price rises over the years i just thought - fuck it! No point waiting till i can comfortably afford that family home if my young (ever ageing) family can't enjoy it. Purchasing our new house has fair made the wife and i buck up our spending habits... i forgot that bigger homes mean bigger bills, more council tax, loads of maintenance and bloody diy! i'm a wage slave now Hopefully it's our 2nd and last move. our whole purchasing experience was horrible - never buy through grant smith law practice. anyway was there not a government initiative announced recently to help key workers get a foot on the ladder? Although aberdeen is close minded, on the upside it doesn't smell like edinburgh, isn't full of weegies and isn't too tinky... IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cynic Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 We need a new version of the old pre-fabs. Pity we can't order Stewart Milne to build 10 of them for every millionaire henhoose he throws up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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