Quote:
Originally Posted by Ignitionnet
The property market is responsible for many people's misconceptions of how wealthy they are. It's why house prices are about the only price people are happy about when it rises.
Which is odd really, if you're planning to move you won't benefit, if you're looking for a first home it's another huge wealth / debt transfer, as if the younger generation need any more.
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The wealth part is flawed.
IMO an individual is worth the sum total of their assets minus debts. I own my own house having paid the mortgage off 20 years ago. There is a lot of difference between outright ownership and the fractional ownership that some people have.
You can moan about house inflation from now until eternity but at some point lack of activity will come back to bite you big time. I struggled for years with a young family to raise a deposit and become encumbered with a draconian mortgage. Now in retirement it has paid off because judging by an identical house ( 6 doors away) I would have to pay £21,600 in annual rent to live in what I own. That would hurt
IMO retirement planning involves a cost free roof over the head as a number 1 priority.
We always have and from what I perceive will always have an imbalance in the demand\supply ratio of housing and other than relatively short term setbacks, that will always drive prices upwards.