Survey Reveals Housing ‘Crash’ Fears

New research reveals wavering public confidence in the housing market with fears of a crash coming within the next five years – if not sooner. An online survey of over 2,000 British adults found that while just over one in four respondents  had faith in the stability of the market, with a substantial proportion less convinced on the ability of the market to avoid another boom and bust cycle. Two thirds of respondents predicted a crash within the next decade, but many feared a  crash was even more imminent, with one in four saying there will be a crash within just two years – and 6% saying it could happen in the next 12 months. Read more on 24housing.

Why Britain's Housing Market Is Going To Crash

Britain's property market is about to combust because house prices are far too high and people are not earning enough to keep up. The house price to income ratio is completely screwed up and people need to take on more debt in order to get on the housing ladder. And it is for this reason that Britain's property market is in serious trouble, because the schism between earnings and rising house prices cannot be sustained. In fact, there is one line in a new report sums up why Britain's housing market is set for a major crash:

·         Property prices would need to fall by up to 40%, or household income grow at ten times its current pace for the next five years, in order to bring the ratio back to balance.

Read more on Business Insider.

170,000 Extra Homes Built Across England

More than 170,000 homes were added to England's housing stock in the last financial year, figures show. The total was 25% up on the previous year, but remains 26% below the peak of 223,530 recorded in 2007-08, just before building slumped as a result of the financial crash. Communities Secretary Greg Clark said the figures showed reforms had worked. Labour said they were evidence of "the Tories' five years of failure on house-building". Download the figures from the CLG website.

B Of E Warns Housing Market Boom May Turn To Crash

Britain's booming housing market could be heading for a fresh crash, the Bank of England said in its toughest warning yet about the dangers of the return of rapidly rising property prices.  As it emerged that one in 15 London homes are now selling for £1m or more, Sir Jon Cunliffe, Threadneedle Street's deputy governor for financial stability, said Britain had a history of booms turning to bust. "This is a movie that has been seen more than once in the UK." The Bank's deputy governor said that there were always risks to financial stability "blinking on the dashboard" but made clear his concern about the possibility that borrowers taking on large mortgages could find themselves in trouble when interest rates inevitably rose.  Read more on the Guardian website.