When are house prices going to crash? (It's bound to happen sometime)?

Answer 1

Do you want them to crash?if they do many people will be left homeless or in negative equity...the prices will stabilise when the banks stop lending irresponsibly.Nobody should be allowed to borrow more than 4 times their income..I blame the banks ..to blame home owners isn't fair because they have to sell at silly prices to be able to buy another house and not every one moves to make money..sometimes people just need to move for work or because their family has gotten bigger.When houses stopped being homes and became a profit making venture egged on by TV programs then it all went horribly wrong.
If the lending was restricted then it would put a stop to overinflated prices overnight.

Answer 2

I think that we are long past the time when a soft landing will occur - it's going to be a crash when it comes.

When will it come?

When the inflationary figures can no longer be adjusted to prevent interest rates going up - the growth of the Money Supply is running at nearly 14% to August. Yet inflation is at 2.5%. The government is fiddling the figures to keep the economy on the road.

Its latest wheeze are REITS Real Estate Investment Trusts which will just invest in each other and leverage these investments (ie borrow) to keep the market going up. This is very similar to the end stages of any bubble. It is what happened to Split Capital Trusts and it happened just prior to 1929.

Answer 3

House prices normally crash when people can no longer afford to buy them any more.

This can be for one of many reasons - wage increases don't keep up with the rise in house prices and so people aren't able to borrow enough to buy a house.

Interest rates rising significantly will mean that people with large mortgages will struggle to pay them and so the market can be flooded with houses for sale, so prices will drop as supply outstrips demand.

The way in which things are now going in the UK, it's not that likely to happen any time soon as inflation is still under control and Mortgage lenders are looking at new ways to entice people to borrow, for example mortgages that you never pay off, ie you only ever pay the interest on the loan, when you sell or die the initial balance is then paid back. These new mortgages can then be passed onto other members of the family, eg children.

Answer 4

House prices are scheduled to crash on March 11, 2007.

Answer 5

I don't think it will happen anytime soon. We will have millions of more immigrants coming to Britain over the next few years and we already have a desperate shortage of housing, because of tough council planning rules, and the way the Tax system is being handled, letting people that own more than one property, rent out the other while incurring only limited taxation, so fuelling a market of either rent, or payout a ridiculous price for a property.

Answer 6

When the bank of England base rate reaches 8% or 9%, the people who have over stretched themselves with a mortgage ( probably those who have done self-certification ) and industry begins to shed its workforce a crash may follow.

Everyone should be looking at how much debt they ( except mortgage ) have and ensure its less than 5% of their annual income.

Answer 7

When the government, both national and local release land for house building. It's supply and demand. Gordon Brown and co have kept up demand and limited supply. This has led to remortgaging and a nation in debt. People are re-mortgaging to buy to let and sitting on huge assets and huge debts. the market collapses as it did in Japan and they are left with huge debts and bankruptsy. There are plans to release land in the South East , if councils release land and cash in too - maybe that will trigger the buy to let crowd to panic and start selling - then the bubble will burst - bankruptsy all around.

Answer 8

Probably when the foreclosures begin. Too many people have over extended themselves financially in an uncertain economy. You can have a good paying job today and be unemployed tomorrow. That's the nature of this age.

Answer 9

Unfortunaly not anytime soon. Blame the estate agents for fueling the price rises and the banks for giving silly amounts of money for very little to no deposit and of course the Bristish public for constantly wanting more money for their properties when they sell them.

Answer 10

Anyone who can answer that should replace Alan Greenspan in the US Treasury.

It will come. 7 year cycle ? Keep the money, let it work for you and when house prices fall .....Bingo.