Forum Topic

Property values in the area unchanged over last five years

I do not think that this is the case.The article begins (on Ealing Today):"The average price of a home in Ealing has remained more or less unchanged over the last five years according to the latest official figures leading to some concern that the area is in decline relative to other parts of West London"However, the statistical sample is very small for larger homes where it is clear that people are not moving. Eight semi-detached houses, and twenty-five terraced houses were sold in the W5 post code area in the first quarter of this year compared with 78 flats and maisonetters. This distribution I think is reflective of property speculation and conversion where larger houses are being converted into multiple flats of less value.

Marc Races ● 5435d21 Comments

Absolutely right.All we need now Peter (if I may) is to get many more people singing off the same hymn sheet.

Nigel Brooks ● 5432d

Yes in effect the encouragement to become wealthy just involves greater indebtedness. when we look at governments we see cases of so many people living well beyond their means. the commission on any deal encouraged bankers to sell us loans we did not need so that a newer 4x4 could be parked outside the palace we could not afford. then one day we woke up and found that our most recent cheque bounced and oops back to the bicycle and living with relatives.a bit like the loadsamoney 80's we never learned!! nor did our goverments. reality must be the long term goal in house pricing. money needs to get a better return in industry rather than in houses.

Peter Chadburn ● 5432d

Let's not forget "Buy to Let", too, as a distortion created by increasingly polarised wealth distribution.

Tony Sleep ● 5433d

"Supply and demand determine prices."True but equally the former (very) easy availability or mortgage funds drives prices in only one direction. As I posted, it was the greed of those advancing funds to those who could not really afford to buy that drove 'low end stock' prices through the roof.Naturally, bigger and better properties followed suit.

Nigel Brooks ● 5433d

the relationship that used to exist between house mortgages and salaries was a key control. once people offered 6 times salary mortgages then prices did become ridiculous. When i was 26 i bought a 2 bedroom house in northolt. but i could afford it on my salary which may have been slightly better than average for my age. but could a 26 year old buy a property on their own now???? not unless in a silly money job. I look at the opportunity for youngsters and there are none.

Peter Chadburn ● 5433d

What is 'artificially high'? Most properties sell somewhere near the asking price. Supply and demand determine prices.The problem is a shortage of property, especially in London, especially in family-friendly places such as Chiswick and Ealing.

Susan Kelly ● 5433d

That is a problem in that we are always at the tip of a reposession iceberg and it is not pleasant. gentle reduction in mortgage subsidys/schemes and gentle tightening up of rules would keep them stable. yes it may be nice to release capital later on but if the prices the children are paying are ridiculous then it is counter productive.

Peter Chadburn ● 5433d

The real problem(s) included self certification mortgages and the multipliers offered to those who could barely cover their household bills let alone service a mortgage.Pure greed by bankers and brokers fuelled artificially high prices and once that 'genie' had been let out of the bottle it has proved nigh impossible to put the cork back.Property prices remain articially high even if they have remained supposedly static for the last five years.

Nigel Brooks ● 5434d

But don't people usually downsize in order to release some capital, either to supplement their pensions or help their children onto the property ladder? Deterring them with the prospect of a hefty tax seems counter-productive to me.Decades of tax relief on mortgages was part of the problem for soaring house prices in the past, though not recently.

Susan Kelly ● 5434d

In the US, if you purchase a new property with the total proceeds of the previous property, the tax liability rolls over to the new place.  So, no tax to pay on the initial sale. You also get a lot of tax deductions for repairs etc.  So, not all bad but you can get hit if your property really appreciates and you downsize.

Charles Campbell ● 5434d

In Holland people would tend to rent their homes and then rent another place until they deceided to move. actually taxing the transaction would make people move less and slow down the house market as a result. it is crazy to have an obsession about house prices the way we do in britain. my house has tripled in bvalue since i bought it. however has my salary tripled??? no it has not. and anyway when i sell it i still have to buy somewhere to live.

Peter Chadburn ● 5434d

Would you have to pay CGT every time you move? That's hard on people who have to moved frequently for their jobs, while the rest of us just stay put with no tax to pay.

Susan Kelly ● 5434d

I agree.  Homes should be subject to a capital gains tax as in the USA.  That would limit their prices rises and make more funds available to the Government to provide other benefits to the public.

Charles Campbell ● 5434d

That is because there is no real strategy in ealing and the place has been successful until recently despite itself. property prices are rdiiculous anyway and reflect a distorted economy. i feel youngsters have no chance these days.

Peter Chadburn ● 5435d

It's not true that no one went to the cinema. I went regularly and I walked there to avoid the parking problem.Chiswick doesn't have the night clubs spewing youngsters out in the small hours to vomit and make a racket.

Susan Kelly ● 5435d

It's the forcing up of commercial rents which I feel is is doing quite a lot of damage to Ealing.

George Knox ● 5435d

Chiswick (and Richmond) both have a proliferation of independent shops simply because they do not have the hideous 'shopping centres' that:1. Force out the independents2. Force up rents being largely owned by pension funds or multinationals.3. Come with ruddy great car parks (and you wonder why people drive!)4. Make every High Street a clone of every other High Street.5. Destroy the last vestiges of the 'village' and locality approach to shopping.In all fairness no one went to cinema in Ealing, not because they couldn't park, but because it was a sticky seated, tatty, dump in woeful need of TLC, so much need that only the facade remains. Chiswick thrives without a cinema and the cinemas in Richmond are, from experience, busy, and you can't park anywhere near them.

Nigel Brooks ● 5435d

Is it any wonder "independant" shops close when the residents are unable to walk to a shop, opting to drive everywhere?No-one ever went to the cinema, maybe because they couldn't park the car?

G Lord ● 5435d

I wonder if Ealing is perceived as a bit shabby at the moment, compared to Chiswick: we don't have the array of independent shops that Chiswick has, not the cafés and restaurants. The closure of the cinema and the proliferation of late-night clubs adds to the less desirable feel. There is certainly a big discrepancy in price.

Susan Kelly ● 5435d

I think 10 years or so ago it was still possible to buy a home in some parts of Ealing or Hanwell as a first time buyer. Virtually impossible now.Also I feel there is an ever widening discrepancy between Chiswick and Ealing so eventually parts of Ealing may rise in property prices at a faster rate than in the last five years or so.

George Knox ● 5435d

it would be interesting to see the matching figures for terraced house, flats, and so on, for other postcodes.

Moira Bourne ● 5435d