This UK market is sick. As in gross, as in disgusting, as in greedy, as in obsessive. Housing Bubble Ponzi Scheme ground zero. They even call it "the property ladder".
Well, ladders go down as well as up. I saw #s yesterday in The Business that prices in Wales fell 8.4% last year, and fell12% in South West England. London is still ponzi-scheming, mainly because of huge investment banker bonuses paid in January now plowing into property. But the rest of the UK, the housing ladder is going down... And how far, how so, so far, it has to go...
And the have-nots, the renters, the folks who couldn't afford to buy a starter home? They'll be laughing and enjoying a sick glee watching the downfall of the propertied masses...
It may be an almost universal rule of human nature that everyone craves a home. I accept that. But Britain's recent obsession with property is out of control.
The fact that most folks cherish having a little patch of earth to call their own is nothing to be ashamed of; I would fancy such a patch myself. But Britons seem less preoccupied with the warmth of the hearth than its escalating price tag. Today's property mania is all about money, and thus all about greed.
Yet the joke is on homeowners. The bugbear about rising real-estate prices is that, so long as you live in your house, you cannot cash in. Unless you die - one of the only ingenious routes to capitalising on the craze - selling involves buying another house, whose value has also risen, and costs just as much as the one you sold.
You homeowners, do you think we in the property underclass admire you? That we watch Location, Location, Location and swoon to your babble about how many more thousands of pounds your little hovel is worth this week than last? No, sorry. We hate you.
2 comments:
I couldn't agree more, and the buy to let/flipper brigade have pushed prices to such ridiculous levels.
The shit is now starting to hit the fan with an over supply of rental property that you can practically name your own terms, and if the landlord says no, walk away because there's plenty other landlords out there who will.
A friend of mine rents, and his landlord just bought a house to rent out for £120k. He rents this out for £100pw. The rent wont even cover his interest charges, let alone make a dent in his capital!!
The previous tenents left my fiends house owing 2 weeks rent, the landlord hadn't the money to pay his mortgages in full that month.
With a return on investment like this, he's looking at the poor house in the next 18mths.
The monthly foreclosure auctions are taking off big style now, and another 1% rise in interest rates will see a veritable flood of them onto the market.
fundamentals.
costs x to own, costs 1/2 of x to rent, the price of x will fall by 50% or rents will need to double.
what do you think is more likely?
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