I think people have forgotten what happened when prices crashed in the 90's. I bought my first house - a one bed 'starter home' - just before the market imploded. I sold it 4 years later for roughly half what I paid for it. As I'd taken an endowment mortgage (they were all the rage back then) I had to pay the full difference between purchase and sale price myself. Luckily both my wife and myself had good jobs and no kids so we'd been able to save enough to do this. Wiped out our entire life's savings though, and we've been recovering from that blow ever since.

Many others will not be in the position to do what we did and will be unable to sell unless they can make at least the outstanding balance on their mortgage. And since there were so many high LTV mortgages sold this will be close to their original purchase price.

Just one more reason why the housing market is so slow. Too many people who simply can't afford to sell for what new buyers can afford to pay. It's a mess.

I worry for young people today that are still obsessed about getting on the property ladder asap "as an investment".

Sure if you want somewhere to live, have a family etc, buying a house is fair enough but for young people early in their career the sacrifice of mobility is often a bad financial decision. House prices are not going to rise like they did between the mid 1990s and late 2000s any time soon, because the two things that drive house prices up - rising wages and rising loan to income ratios, are not going to happen this decade at least.

Also a lot say they want to buy because they want to avoid "dead money" by renting but they then underestimate how much their landlord pays for the upkeep and maintenance of their property, which when they buy a house themselves, they will start being liable for.

If someone wants a place to live, especially for a family, and can get a mortgage then go for it but I think when you get people rushing to get a house early in their 20s because they are chasing the prospect of a capital investment that will give them large gains over the years I think a lot are going to be disappointed.

Isn't that a key part of the problem, though: that we're worried about 'the market' and not whether people have somewhere decent home and affordable live?

Unless you're suggesting that we build enough council housing to supply everyone who needs accommodation then the housing market - in the sense of the sale and purchase of houses - is always going to be important. The issue is not with having a housing market, it's with the way that market operates.

Well, I certainly think what Labour has mooted this week is a nonsense.

I think that we need rent regulation – and a massive social housing building programme.

Even if the market improves quickly, it still doesn't deal with the fact that we have a shortage of housing.

Mintball wrote:Well, I certainly think what Labour has mooted this week is a nonsense. I think that we need rent regulation – and a massive social housing building programme. Even if the market improves quickly, it still doesn't deal with the fact that we have a shortage of housing. My suggestion of peppercorn leasing of land and rents that reflect the build cost only - even at 50% of "market" rate, they'd still be an attractive investment and would lead to a readjustment of the rental market. Potential losers would obviously be those who rushed into Buy to let but hey, investments can go down as well as up eh? This certainly won't help matters

Mintball wrote:Well, I certainly think what Labour has mooted this week is a nonsense. I think that we need rent regulation – and a massive social housing building programme. Even if the market improves quickly, it still doesn't deal with the fact that we have a shortage of housing. My suggestion of peppercorn leasing of land and rents that reflect the build cost only - even at 50% of "market" rate, they'd still be an attractive investment and would lead to a readjustment of the rental market. Potential losers would obviously be those who rushed into Buy to let but hey, investments can go down as well as up eh? This certainly won't help matters