How far will house prices fall [volume 4]

How far will house prices fall [volume 4]

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walm

10,632 posts

217 months

Monday 15th December 2014
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NomduJour said:
My point is only that yields are lower in London than the North because of yield compression. Not sure how anyone could interpret that as taking a position on the market.
What??? confused
That's exactly what yield compression is.
You think you will get asset price appreciation (inflation) so you accept a lower rental yield.

How is that NOT taking a position on the market?

Derek Chevalier

4,441 posts

188 months

Monday 15th December 2014
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NomduJour said:
Derek Chevalier said:
More details in on Wkikpedia
The greater fool is the one with zero comprehension skills.

My point is only that yields are lower in London than the North because of yield compression. Not sure how anyone could interpret that as taking a position on the market.
And my point was that many in London are not covering their costs and are relying on someone paying them more at some point in the future than they paid to escape above water.

walm

10,632 posts

217 months

Monday 15th December 2014
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Derek Chevalier said:
And my point was that many in London are not covering their costs and are relying on someone paying them more at some point in the future than they paid to escape above water.
Which, unless they bought in the last year or so, will be seeing them making out like bandits!

98elise

29,677 posts

176 months

Monday 15th December 2014
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Derek Chevalier said:
turbobloke said:
Derek Chevalier said:
LucreLout said:
Derek Chevalier said:
That is the problem - how many people are old enough to remember that the property market is cyclical? Yet more moral hazard introduced by the Government....
It no longer matters. Prices have risen for the best part of 25 years. There's no going back now, at least, not to a position that will bail out those who went short on housing.

Can the market retreat? Yes, somewhat. Will it? Not by much as there's no votes in that. Will it drop to 2003 levels? Not nominally, no.
Didn't they say the same thing in Japan?
The lack of an accurate parallel with Japan was covered in depth in one of the earlier house-prices-not-crashing threads.
Ah, must've missed that. Any idea what the differences were?
Entirely different concept to the UK market. Their homes are built cheap and sold to be demolished and rebuilt. The idea of a property increasing in value seems alien to them.

This is according to my Japanese SIL. Might be different in big cities.

NomduJour

20,125 posts

274 months

Monday 15th December 2014
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walm said:
How is that NOT taking a position on the market?
Obviously those buying and accepting a lower yield are taking a position, I meant I wasn't necessarily advocating it.

Derek Chevalier said:
And my point was that many in London are not covering their costs and are relying on someone paying them more at some point in the future than they paid to escape above water.
Same as anywhere, but I certainly wouldn't say most. Yields are generally lower in London but there are still people making money (just as there are people who aren't).

jonah35

3,940 posts

172 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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Most people do not have a mortgage.

Oil prices down,inflation down, rates lower for longer.


walm

10,632 posts

217 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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NomduJour said:
Obviously those buying and accepting a lower yield are taking a position, I meant I wasn't necessarily advocating it.
Doh!
Sorry.

9mm

3,128 posts

225 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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Interest rates will go up
When they do, rents will not increase to the same extent
Some landlords will find themselves paying for their tenants' accommodation
Some landlords will have to bail
More property will come onto the market
(Affordable) housebuilding will increase
Valuations will decrease

I think the only real question is the extent to which each of the above will happen. My only interest would be in whether I can rent my properties as I would have no mortgages on them. Capital appreciation, which seems to be the get out of jail card for a lot of people, is of no interest to me whatsoever, as I have no interest in >2035. Quoted yields seem like a bit of a joke to me, as they never never appear to take into account things like repairs, maintenance charges, periods where the property is unoccupied, tenancy disputes, unpaid rent, etc.

All of this just tells me that BTL is a possible investment but it's a very long way from a universal and guaranteed solution. Not sure I see any kind of catastrophic crash ahead but I can foresee a period of unpleasant stagnation.

fishballs

18,718 posts

261 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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9mm said:
Interest rates will go up
When they do, rents will not increase to the same extent
Some landlords will find themselves paying for their tenants' accommodation
Some landlords will have to bail
More property will come onto the market
(Affordable) housebuilding will increase
Valuations will decrease

I think the only real question is the extent to which each of the above will happen. My only interest would be in whether I can rent my properties as I would have no mortgages on them. Capital appreciation, which seems to be the get out of jail card for a lot of people, is of no interest to me whatsoever, as I have no interest in >2035. Quoted yields seem like a bit of a joke to me, as they never never appear to take into account things like repairs, maintenance charges, periods where the property is unoccupied, tenancy disputes, unpaid rent, etc.

All of this just tells me that BTL is a possible investment but it's a very long way from a universal and guaranteed solution. Not sure I see any kind of catastrophic crash ahead but I can foresee a period of unpleasant stagnation.
Most of what you have written is pure speculation. The fact is we are in a very benign interest rate environment with low inflation. You won't see 10% interest rates again in your life time would be my best guess. Affordable housing will always lag the demand for teh simple reason there is more money in not so affordable housing. BTL are simply part of a well balanced portfolio. By the way some posters are carrying on they are preparing for WW3 and alien invasion.

JagLover

44,709 posts

250 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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fishballs said:
Most of what you have written is pure speculation. The fact is we are in a very benign interest rate environment with low inflation. You won't see 10% interest rates again in your life time would be my best guess. Affordable housing will always lag the demand for teh simple reason there is more money in not so affordable housing. BTL are simply part of a well balanced portfolio. By the way some posters are carrying on they are preparing for WW3 and alien invasion.
I would agree we wont see 10% interest rates for the foreseeable future.

But 4% would have been regarded as low until the financial crises. At some point we will enter into a more "normal" financial environment where savers can earn a return on their money again.

jdw1234

6,021 posts

230 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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Was this discussed?

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/dec/15/londo...

I think the Rightmove index understates declines in average asking price.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but it only registers the initial asking price in the index and does not take into account subsequent price reductions.

If so, the landreg figures should be interesting when they catch up (3 month lag).


Rovinghawk

13,300 posts

173 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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9mm said:
Quoted yields seem like a bit of a joke to me, as they never never appear to take into account things like repairs, maintenance charges, periods where the property is unoccupied, tenancy disputes, unpaid rent, etc.
They form a basis for comparison.

walm

10,632 posts

217 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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jdw1234 said:
Was this discussed?
I think you are right about the methodology but wrong about the interpretation.

They take "all new properties" each month and compare it to previous months.
So it is genuinely like-for-like.

Of course, there could be a disconnect between lowered prices of existing for sale properties and the aspirations of new sellers but it isn't clear which way that would go.
In other words, you can't possibly know whether asking price drops (on existing for sale property) in November were better or worse than the asking price drops in October.

However, what seems far more likely to me is that new listings will take those changes into account - as obviously people want to price close to what the CURRENT asking prices look like in their area.

So the VERY BEST measure would be what Rightmove give us.

Of course it could be skewed if a whole bunch of very expensive property came to market (or very cheap) in one month.

jdw1234

6,021 posts

230 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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But don't new listings every month make a small proportion of overall listings?

E.g. if 5 new properties come on at initial kite flying prices, but in the same month 100 other existing listed properties reduce by 10% then the index doesn't reflect the true decline.

I appreciate what you are saying about new listings matching existing prices, but I think there is a bit of a lag before new vendors accept the price promised by the estate agent to get a listing/last sold price on street is not realistic (for example).

What about that house on Bishop's Av. which was up initially for £100m, but is now offers over £30m!!



Mr Whippy

31,030 posts

256 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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walm said:
Derek Chevalier said:
NomduJour said:
Mr Whippy said:
OK, and my point is that oop'north properties are cheap and have yields because they are risky
No - a strong market with capital appreciation means yield compression (people will pay more for the same return, trade-off being capital growth). Not the same thing as risk vs yield per se.
More details in on Wkikpedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory
I don't think this is fair.
I think it is absolutely rational to believe in LONG TERM inflation.
(Particularly with a government printing money!)
As a result it makes sense that hard assets will also rise in price.

So if I were doing a full financial analysis of a property investment I would absolutely build in some level of inflation which would enhance my returns above and beyond the simple net rental yield.

People do this everyday. A 4% gross yield on property absolutely does not justify the risks, transaction and other costs.
You would be better off with that new risk-free 4% bond from the government or whatever it is.

So completely rational people are building in some capital appreciation to their numbers.
And with a little leverage, it doesn't have to be huge to add 1-2ppt to the yield.

Of course you can disagree and say - look at the oil price, look at wages, look at interest rates and say we will have zero to negative inflation which is most likely close to true for a couple of years.
However, it's not irrational to disagree with that view.
That's all fine if you believe the current value represents what people are willing to pay for these properties today with current credit availability and salary outlooks in the areas they are, and a new round of FTB'ers moving up (ie, a generation on without pre 2000 equity to tag along)

What my point is, is that stuff up in the North boomed for no other reason than cheap credit and a high degree of growth potential fervour, driven by probable actual growth in the south, alongside cheap credit offered based on the idea that if prices would rise then there was little risk to lenders.

How else could my property jump almost 60% in 2 years, and the two years before that it'd jumped 35%... that's a near doubling in 4yrs.

That was common at the time all over the Leeds city area.

NO boom in jobs. NO boom in salaries. NO boom in transport links. No nothing except a boom in property values, a boom which never really corrected in 2007/2008.


That isn't a good place to start from if you're buying and expecting capital appreciation in the medium term.


Even from 2000 values, at 5% growth average per year, we'd only just have doubled by now... but salaries and jobs and potential to earn in most of the North hasn't risen my 5% average per year in that intervening 15 years.

What exactly will drive house prices UP, when they're already all but unaffordable to FTB'ers today (generation rent, high unemployment, relatively poor salaries, tighter borrowing restrictions)?


Maybe if salaries were rising fairly strongly, interest rates off the bottom, and low unemployment, I'd say yes maybe houses will go up in value. But right now there is no signals to suggest anything but another decade of doldrums as the debt is devalued away for another half generation.


Dave

walm

10,632 posts

217 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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I can't disagree with any of that, other than to say that as ever it is about location.
I certainly wouldn't be building in much inflation in a market that was up 100% over 4 years!!

Mr Whippy

31,030 posts

256 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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I agree.

There will be hot spots where things just turn out to be good.

Finding them will require a significant amount of homework and some thought/risk consideration about the UK economy in the 2015-2030 period imo.


Dave

jonah35

3,940 posts

172 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
quotequote all
Every new generation wants a home and they don't care what prices are, they just want to buy.

Interest rates are more likely to go down than up.

Even just with inflation a £100k house goes up £2kpa.

Population is going up.

If a £60k house is £60k in 20 years I'd be surprised, that means the economy has had a bad run. the average wage at that time may be £50k.

no one knows what will happen

Pork

9,453 posts

249 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
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jonah35 said:
Interest rates are more likely to go down than up.
what makes you say that?

jonah35 said:
no one knows what will happen
I agree.

Mr Whippy

31,030 posts

256 months

Tuesday 16th December 2014
quotequote all
jonah35 said:
no one knows what will happen
Good post smile

But the law of averages suggests it could be terrible, just as much as it could be amazing.
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