interest rates on hold for the first time in 2 years.
Current Affairs Cost of living…
- Thread starter peteblue
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Baines' left foot
Player Valuation: £90m
Starting to consider moving abroad. Never thought it'd get to the stage where you have to fight to even view a rental property. I naively thought that problem would be the experience in places like London, but it extends to 1 bed flats in Birkenhead ffs.
I see Australia raised their working holiday age limit to 35 earlier this year. They're taking advantage of the land of no hope our Government have architected and making no secret of it.
I see Australia raised their working holiday age limit to 35 earlier this year. They're taking advantage of the land of no hope our Government have architected and making no secret of it.
Seems to be the same here mate. A house in the street i lived in until last year was up for rent for £950 a month, which is extortionate as we were only paying £560 in a mortgage when we lived there. My mate lives 2 doors down and said on the first night viewing it was like a stampede and the house was off the market the next day.
Baines' left foot
Player Valuation: £90m
I honestly think we've not reached the peak of all this, either.
I try and keep a sensible head on all this stuff, but my gut tells me the cost of living crisis will continue to worsen until they're out of power. I don't think I've got the energy to wait around for the next 16 months in the futile hope that Labour will be able, or even willing, to stem the bleed.
bernie inn
Player Valuation: £6m
No rentals here either mate
Tipp blue
If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.
This isn't a local issue that the Labour Party will be able to fix in the UK while it continues everywhere else on the planet..
Baines' left foot
Player Valuation: £90m
I wasn’t implying they would fix it, more that they would start to tip the balance away from the rich the Tories serve in favour of a fairer society.
It’s funny how so many assumed Corbyn would ruin the economy. Well the economy is screwed, yet corporations are making more money than ever before and normal people are struggling more than ever. You can’t tell me that Corbyn’s Labour would have overseen this, regardless of your opinion of him.
The rental market has sadly extorted people for a long time. When I first met my wife many years ago, we rented a property for a year.
A year later, we bought a house a few doors down and our mortgage was 40% cheaper than the rent. That extra capital went a long way.
Not sure where to put this, but it's a well-written article on the airlines industry (mostly in the USA) and their various "miles programs" and the implications therein. E.g., 1% of USA's GDP is charged to Delta's Miles credit card...and the general monopoly they have over consumers, despite the (routinely false) promises that pro-deregulators had made about the benefits of deregulation.
Excerpt here...
Is this a good deal for the American consumer? That’s a trickier question. Paying for a flight or a hotel room with points may feel like a free bonus, but because credit-card-swipe fees increase prices across the economy—Visa or Mastercard takes a cut of every sale—redeeming points is more like getting a little kickback. Certainly the system is bad for Americans who don’t have points-earning cards. They pay higher prices on ordinary goods and services but don’t get the points, effectively subsidizing the perks of card users, who tend to be wealthier already.
Another here:
Airlines serve a vital public need, just like railroads, the electric grid, and communication networks. They also exist within a system of special privileges from the government. The public has built and paid for a substantial federal infrastructure to coordinate flights safely. Historically, these are all standard reasons to regulate an industry. A modernized set of rules could arrest the trajectory of airlines becoming financialized e-commerce platforms—and maybe even get them to focus on making air travel less miserable.
www.theatlantic.com
Excerpt here...
Is this a good deal for the American consumer? That’s a trickier question. Paying for a flight or a hotel room with points may feel like a free bonus, but because credit-card-swipe fees increase prices across the economy—Visa or Mastercard takes a cut of every sale—redeeming points is more like getting a little kickback. Certainly the system is bad for Americans who don’t have points-earning cards. They pay higher prices on ordinary goods and services but don’t get the points, effectively subsidizing the perks of card users, who tend to be wealthier already.
Another here:
Airlines serve a vital public need, just like railroads, the electric grid, and communication networks. They also exist within a system of special privileges from the government. The public has built and paid for a substantial federal infrastructure to coordinate flights safely. Historically, these are all standard reasons to regulate an industry. A modernized set of rules could arrest the trajectory of airlines becoming financialized e-commerce platforms—and maybe even get them to focus on making air travel less miserable.
Airlines Are Just Banks Now
They make more money from mileage programs than from flying planes—and it shows.
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The next 18 months has the potential to be a catastrophe in this country. As mentioned about rents, I was talking in work yesterday and we looked at current mortgage rates.
I bought my current house 3.5 years a go for £170k. The mortgage is £700 p/m.
To buy a neighbouring house now its almost £300k. With a 10% deposit the mortgage now will be £1700 p/m!! Its unbelievable! We would never be able to buy a house now. I'm so glad we did.
There will be a housing crash within 18 months. Guaranteed. Rentals are becoming a huge problem as mortgage rates are ridiculously high. However its not necessarily the mortgage rates being high. We've had historically low rates for a long time now, however in the 80's my parents were paying almost 15% interest rates..
The problem now is that houses are massively over priced. House prices have gone up much more than pay has.
Average wage in 1980 was £6,500 a year. 2022 was £33,000. Risen by 5 times..
Average house price in 1980 was £20k. 2022 was £294k!!
Risen by almost 15 times!Obviously London can skew these a little, but the gist of it is there. Its not sustainable and will come crashing down soon...
TLDR. I'm all for moving abroad like you! Portugal here I come!
To rent our current house we'd be paying double our mortgage approximately.
That's until I have to remortgage next year! lol
A lad I know rents out a few houses.
He`s a good lad and not a shyster.
He`s had a lady in one house for the best part of ten years. She`s a single mum, good tenant and he hasn`t raised her rent in all the time she`s been there, as it`s always covered the mortgage, maintenance costs etc.
He`s having sleepless nights over the fact, that he`s got no choice but raise her rent by at least £200 per month, due to the cost of his mortgage going up and all the rest of it. He knows she won`t be able to afford it, but has no choice
Baines' left foot
Player Valuation: £90m
I wish I could agree with regards to a housing market crash, but I’ve long since given up on that. There’s far too many people unaffected by all this who are ready to buy the dip. Corporations are in on it now as well. Lloyds Bank are aiming to own 50,000 houses by 2031. They’re aiming to be one of the biggest private landlords.The next 18 months has the potential to be a catastrophe in this country. As mentioned about rents, I was talking in work yesterday and we looked at current mortgage rates.
I bought my current house 3.5 years a go for £170k. The mortgage is £700 p/m.
To buy a neighbouring house now its almost £300k. With a 10% deposit the mortgage now will be £1700 p/m!! Its unbelievable! We would never be able to buy a house now. I'm so glad we did.
There will be a housing crash within 18 months. Guaranteed. Rentals are becoming a huge problem as mortgage rates are ridiculously high. However its not necessarily the mortgage rates being high. We've had historically low rates for a long time now, however in the 80's my parents were paying almost 15% interest rates..
The problem now is that houses are massively over priced. House prices have gone up much more than pay has.
Average wage in 1980 was £6,500 a year. 2022 was £33,000. Risen by 5 times..
Average house price in 1980 was £20k. 2022 was £294k!!
Obviously London can skew these a little, but the gist of it is there. Its not sustainable and will come crashing down soon...
TLDR. I'm all for moving abroad like you! Portugal here I come!
Build to rent is also a big thing now. I was pretty disgusted to see the old TJ’s in London Road is being turned in to ‘luxury apartments’ starting at £170k. And guess what, it’s cash investors ONLY.
Unfortunately it seems these days when a place is regenerated it goes straight from crap to unaffordable and skips the middle bit entirely. You’d probably make a loss on the property as is very common with new builds. The idea is you keep it until it’s worth what you paid in many cases. This obviously suits investors but normal mortgage applicants haven’t got a chance.
House prices are lower at present and rates have started to come down since the BOE froze interest rates this month. I could get around 5.18% (according to nationwide) with a 5 year fixed term on 85% LTV. It’s driving me crazy because I’ve got the money for a deposit and can afford the monthly outgoing, I just don’t have the 2 years of tax returns to prove, so I’ll miss this opportunity just like I did before Brexit.
I fear we’re past the point of no return with regard to property. There’s too many people with too much money and influence who have invested.
I've just had a very interesting conversation in work today.
My bosses mate has just bought a very expensive house, but his mortgage broker doesn't go through run of the mill banks and lenders, he told him there's a whole new 'secret' lending market and its actually Football clubs and footballers now!!
However they set the interest rate themselves and he's got his new mortgage at 3%...I was literally blown away to hear this! But its limited to your higher end value and low LTV % mortgages..
Yet another study showing that if you give poor people unconditional money, it helps them and they don't spend it on drugs/alcohol/cigarettes (contrary to popular political narratives).
www.pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans the biological, physical, and social sciences.
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