Housing crisis? Bring it on!

I’m a house hunter, one of those beleaguered, care worn people sick of traipsing around to all these viewings just to be completely dismayed by the horribly over-priced houses on offer in my budget, writes blogger Charlie Cashdan.

I am looking for an older house with character, somewhere rural with three bedrooms and enough room for me, my husband and children, and in good condition. 

Sounds quite feasible except that the prices for something so simple are astronomical.  It’s the combination of old and rural (once upon a time such houses were cheap and unpopular) that really sets the estate agents all a quiver as they stick a stupid over-inflated price on it to attract the trendy commuter set with their Labradors, Hunter Wellingtons and a 4×4.   

We love the countryside, both grew up in a village way before such things were trendy and genuinely want to go back to the simple quiet way of life we grew up with but this simple life is now incredibly expensive to buy.

As a few examples, we have viewed a miniscule barn conversion with a kitchen so small only two people could stand in it at any one time, no dinning room, a lounge only big enough for one sofa and three tiny bedrooms priced at £265,000, and a three bed converted smithy cottage with the worst pink, nasty ancient bathroom and a kitchen that would need to be torn right out for £249,000.  

It feels like someone is just laughing at us, like they are saying “We saw you coming.  It’s got a few beams, so my God lets slap on another fifty thou!” This has to stop, the prices aren’t dropping, they are hopefully just normalising.   

All this panic about prices falling is misplaced because I search the market every week (ages on the internet when I really should be doing work!) and I assure you prices are still rising, just a bit less than they used to.  

The only few houses that have dropped their price recently have been on the market over twelve months and were just silly prices in the first place.  

Perhaps at some point certain houses will see their prices fall but that will make for a much fairer market putting the power back into the hands of the buyer and giving more people opportunities to climb the property ladder.  

It’s all just such a nightmare for first time buyers and people are losing so much of their income each month just to pay the mortgage, borrowing four or five times their salary just to afford an average home.

This has an impact on the economy with people having to use loans and credit cards and not being able to spend as much because they don’t have any money spare.

How much better would it be if houses were affordable again and we could have a comfortable amount of our wages left after paying the mortgage each month?

So, rather than being all doom and gloom, why not grasp the idea that lower house prices will actually boost the economy by givng us all a bit more cash to spend at the end of each month?

After all, isn’t it retail that drives the economy, so if people have a little extra to spend rather than borrow, wouldn’t there be some benefit to us all?

On a slightly different note, Channel Four had their political awards programme on Sunday night.  Is it just me, or should it be nurses, policeman, fireman etc who get awards not politicians who already get a fantastic salary and amazing benefits just for doing their job?  I’m guessing they’re not worrying too much about house prices with a massive £250,000 housing allowance!  

Agree with Charlie? Post your comments below.