Cheap houses?

[TimberWolf]

Five years ago the average home price in Detroit was hovering around the $100,000 (£61,000) now that has fallen to $11,500 (£7,000).
...
He said there were homes on the market for $100 (£61), but an offer of just $10 (£6) would be likely to be accepted.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...r-just-10.html

The US certainly knows how to have a house price crash. Is it coming here soon?

[tay]

Yeah everything seems to be bigger in the US. I cant think of another western country that has had quite the crash they have, It is mad.

[MarillionFan]

Yeah everything seems to be bigger in the US. I cant think of another western country that has had quite the crash they have, It is mad.

Aussie houses are pretty good value for money. Always amazed at how much you could get for £100K, maybe it's the design though.

[tay]

Was that before the pound had imploded?

In NZ 100,000 pounds used to buy a lot, now it wont buy anything in a major city.

[MrMark]

The US certainly knows how to have a house price crash. Is it coming here soon?

It may be different this time, but this is probably the reason why the US can have strong recoveries.

[HairyArsedBloke]

In a word, No. There are a lot of differences between the US and the UK. Yes, there is potential for substantial drops in the value of UK houses, but there is no way will houses become so cheap that they can be bought out of one weeks giro!

For a start, there was a massive over supply in the US market which is not the case in the UK.

The quality of the housing stock is a lot lower in the extreme cases. Those places that are going for so low values are little more than wooden shacks.

In some cases, and I am not sure on this one, just paying for the property is not the end of the matter as there may be unresolved charges associated with it that have to be paid too.

[Lumiere]

He said there were homes on the market for $100 (£61), but an offer of just $10 (£6) would be likely to be accepted.

Yep, with $100K debt bundled in the purchase ..

[AtW]

The quality of the housing stock is a lot lower in the extreme cases. Those places that are going for so low values are little more than wooden shacks.

Better than this: Buy a broom cupboard in London for £50,000: "Measuring 7ft by 6ft 3in, the room is even smaller than the average prison cell."

It was either property crash to rebalance things OR currency crash to devalue debt. The USA went the first route, whilst UK appears to go for the second option.

Consequently in the USA the biggest losers will be people who overextended themselves, just like it should be - in the UK though it is people who did not get into debt games who get shafted, savers, pensioners.

[HairyArsedBloke]

Yep, with $100K debt bundled in the purchase ..

Aye, that is what I was on about. I knew these things existed, but it had never bothered me. However, I've looked it up now and it's called Lien's.

There are loads of condo's in Florida in forecloseure and I know of several people who are thinking of buying. So if you are thinking of doing it then if there are any hints of lien's associated with a property then drop it.

[TimberWolf]

Better than this: Buy a broom cupboard in London for £50,000: "Measuring 7ft by 6ft 3in, the room is even smaller than the average prison cell."

It was either property crash to rebalance things OR currency crash to devalue debt. The USA went the first route, whilst UK appears to go for the second option.

Consequently in the USA the biggest losers will be people who overextended themselves, just like it should be - in the UK though it is people who did not get into debt games who get shafted, savers, pensioners.

Won't trashing the Pound lead to higher inflation though? I read somewhere that for every 10% fall in the value of Sterling, inflation would increase by 1%. And with inflation would come a rise in interest rates? And then a house price crash anyway. Still, that won't be bother Gordon; he sews the seeds for the next incumbents to reap the whirlwind.