why do houses cost so much?

Answer 1

The cost of housing has gone up because of the world market has gone up. For example. China has been buying a tremendous amount of construction materials for their economy expansion. It has never been seen before. They were buying most of the concrete in the world that they could get their hands on. That goes for most of the materials we use for construction. On the other hand, the labor in the U.S has gone up as well. The price for most of the trades in the industry has gone up and almost double. The price you pay a professional such as me an Architect for our services has gone up, no because we are greedy, but because we need to provide a more comprehensive service to our clients due to code requirements. We used to be able to do a house in a set of drawings maybe 3 or 4 sheets, now, that is gone to 20 sheets, and the liability is tremendous. That goes for all the trades. You need to carry insurance so that the lawyers can make money. It is a mess, but the US is still the best country in the world.
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

These days the lots for houses cost more than the houses themselves! People are greedy and they want to charge whatever some poor old sap will pay to do work on a home. From the framing to the carpentry. So when the house is ready to buy, you have to add the lot price, building costs, labor, and then the amount of profit whoever is selling wants to make. It sucks.

Answer 3

just the cost of the materials has gone up at least 63% in the last 4 yrs and the same can be said for the labour. it goes with supply and demand
just build a new house

Answer 4

It's simple supply and demand my friend! House prices are supposedly a reflection of the area they are in! So rich areas = high prices, poor areas = low proces!

It's not necessarily greed... Chances are when buying a house you'll be in a chain, so the owners of the house you'll be buying, will also be buying a house for an extortionate price too!

On the plus side, house prices are dropping! I'd hold out for a year before buying, and pray they're right!

Answer 5

It's all down to the estate agents we use to sell them. They can (and do) artificially inflate the prices to make sure they get a bigger commission from the sale. House prices will continue to rise until the government realise this and reign in the estate agents to stop them doing it. It's not the price of land or the value of the property that controls the market, it's purely down to the greed of the estate agents.

Answer 6

i paid £4500 for my house 30 years ago its valuation last year was £150,000 i couldnt believe it i dont wonder there are so many people that cant get a house my daughter and her husband live with me as they cant afford to borrow enough to finance anything worth having the decent houses are snapped up by developers who either rent them out or put them back on the market after a quick spruce up at a over inflated mark up

Answer 7

My daughter was seeking to buy a flat here in the U.K.
One female estate agent appeared to be really helpful promising to phone as soon as a suitable flat became available.
She phoned several times but none were to my daughters liking.
Then one was found that my daughter really liked and made an offer which was accepted, only for the said estate agent to call back saying the vendor was asking for more money.
After discussing it with me I offered to make up the difference as my daughter had offered her total budget.
We were shocked when we received a phone call from the vendor (Whom my daughter had befriended), informing us that she had NOT asked for more money.
It was a ruse to make the estate agent extra commission.
So beware of dishonest estate agents!.

Answer 8

Are you planing to buy a home?If yes you have to get more informations before doing it.Prevention is better than cure

Answer 9

cos people keep buying them if they stopped then prices would come down

Answer 10

People are so selfish and greedy