i just wondered to what extent the housing market has overheated in the UK at the moment

for example the average house price in the UK (in us dollars) is $210,000

The average wage is approximately $30,000


in other words 7 TIMES ANNUAL SALARY just to buy a pretty poorly constructed property with absolutely no land and probably attached to your neighbour


A large proportion of first time buyers have now been effectively ruled out of the housing market!!

Is this just a phenomenon in The UK or is a nice big price crash on the horizon?
[This message was edited Mon Feb 10 10:14:15 PST 2003 by jubalH]

Crash I hope. Your so right, im on a good wage and cant part with £106,000 for a studio flat. Its a shit but im holding on.

Just paid £225,000 for a 3 bed in Surrey.
Bastards!!!
It's a friggin' joke

ONTHE1 said:

see there you go $150,000 for a ONE ROOM property id love to hear what you can buy in other countries for that sort of money

jubalH said:

Last year my friends bought a three-bedroom home, in the Detroit area, with a yard big enough for a pool, a furnished basement, driveway, garage and 2 bathrooms for $120,000.

the housing situation in the south of engalnd is times as worse as the north and even thats pretty bad!!!

applekisses said:

thanks for that applekisses, as i thought my country is a financial rip off and its all gonna end in large economic tears

I'm sitting tight... loads of my friends have gotten themselves roped into ludicrous mortgages in recent years, but I'm not buying into it. People paying half a million sterling for a pokey flat in London should be shot.

Although I agree UK prices are astranomical, if you shop around there are plenty of bargains to be found, if you're prepared to take on a little work.

I bought my home about 5 years ago for £36,000, similar properties in the same area were selling for around £70,000 but the place I bought had been empty for quite some time and needed a lot of work.

Since then I have spent no more than £15,000 renovating the place and although I still have a few more bits to do it is now worth £152,000. :rubshandstogetheremoticon:

xenon said:

Wow fair play to ya Xenon, that was very shrewd! You bought at the right time I think, and I missed that window of opportunity. Now it's like, getting a mortgage for 5-7 times my salary or some shit like that, so i'm sitting tight until the market sorts itself out. It has to ... !

ian said:

Yeah, I think its gonna bomb anytime soon, and if its any consolation I lost £24,000 on my previous home.

Swings and roundabouts I suppose.