Housing Market

It depends on where you are

In a lot of New England, there isn't anywhere to build near the cities, so even if the market crashes, the prices of houses don't go down much.

There's plenty of towns where just having a property lot is worth 300K+ because of location.

Ask yourself, "Where are the jobs?" and "Can new property lots be created near by?" and "How many?"

Here in Australia I don't think the bubble is bursting any time soon.

Me and my girlfriend had been looking and saving for over two years, we quickly realized there was little point in trying to save the 20% deposit as we couldn't physically save as quick as houses appreciate.

We finally got a place for 449k, it's a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom unit with double gararge. It's not much but it has good bones and will look great with a bit of renovation and being near the beach and close to a top school it will provide as a good investment for the future hopefully.

My advice, just get in as soon as you can. It is only going to get harder. If I have kids, I doubt they'll ever own a house.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

at 23 I was retarded making 35k per year
at 27 I had 2 kids and bought a tiny 1,000 sq ft house for 225Kmaking combined 80k per year between me and wife
now 29 have 3 kids have 1,800sq ft house for 365K and I make 70K per year wife not working anymore. Still have plenty of $ left over each month because we dialed in our spending Veeky Forums style.
Its about needing a home for your family. I have coworkers who are in their 30's and 40's and rent apartments who talk that they can't afford to own. If they needed to own like I did then they would. I'm not raising my kids in an apartment like some Mexican.

Yeah that's true, except me and my girlfriend have no kids, but we know we will have at least one child in the future.

My parents are both extremely knowledgeable when it comes to finance, and they suggest even though me and my girlfriend make very good money for out age (I'm 25, she's 24) we should start off with something small, let equity keep that house but rent it out and get something bigger once a kid comes around.

Most of our friends either rent, or have built huge houses in the outer burbs and are up to their necks in debt; I'm hoping that because I've done the complete opposite to that I should be better off in the long run.

You are going to be better off than your peers.

>a stacked-together collection of bricks is worth 320,000 USD here in western Europe
>people conform to this shit

How much did you get screwed by stamp duty and mortgage insurance though?
For a ~$400K place in Victoria, you'll end up paying the same or more up-front with a 10% deposit than with a 20% deposit because of insurance and not being eligible for stamp-duty concessions. And that's money that could have been spent of the mortgage, rather than disappearing in fees. Plus it's possible you'll get a higher interest rate for for not having a big deposit.

Or is this an investment property? In which case you wouldn't be eligible for the stamp-duty concession anyway.

>not understanding even the most basic principles

I own a 2 bed terraced house in one of the poorest boroughs of london and the price has gone up from £170k paid 4 years ago to £250k, and it collects £1,200 a month rent, shits crazy

the bubble seems massively fuelled by overseas investors, apartment blocks sell out in an afternoon, 2 years before they are even built, anything newly built by private investors do not come close to being in the possession of Londoners.

In 5 years the plans for Battersea power station saw studio flats originally purchased for £400k+, people have since sold them and doubled their money... its not even due to be built for another year or two

Seriously, a MILLION for a flat with one room....

Its so out of control its hard to imagine that no one can really tell whats going on, how can house prices go up that much and no one have a real explanation for it?