Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

on a tangental theme, the banks have and have had access to an unbelievable amount of cheap money, but just try getting a mortgage!

There is no way to reduce the price of desirable houses. Massive new housing can ensure those in need will get provision.
Look around your city, there will always be demand for houses of a particular style, or located in a favored area. There is a limited supply of these. You can not build more of that type in that area.
You can build new housing around all cites, towns etc and if you build enough , fast enough you can satisfy housing need at affordable prices.
However no matter how many you build and how cheap you build them you will not lesson the demand on popular areas.
We may all have a desire to live in Mayfair and want someone to facilate it for us but it ain't going to happen

will - any thoughts on the revival of the 600,000 derelict and abandoned housing stock, primarily in cities?

Glad your here TANKER you always put things much more eloquently than I ever could , we need more foreign types to keep the real foreigners out .

Tanker. Very sorry my bad. You are correct 10k income, so 5% gross yield. Still bearly covers loan require to purchase the house before you rent it out.
Councils used to build houses to rent. Don't do it now.

A private rental market is a neccessity in every town/city. In my experience there is a huge demand for short term residential housing.
My clients include, students (UK and over seas) young workers wishing to be based close to the city centre ,doctors and other specialists needing short term accomadation (6 months or less) near the city centre hospital. Supply does not meet demand.

I do not own any houses. All accommodation is either above existing shops, converted warehouse, a former church and soon to be available a converted 18th century police station. No families displaced.

Back in the day landladies rented rooms in their house. London landladies rented rooms to single men and women and included meals. Many Irish building workers stayed with the same landlady for years. Not around now. But demand still there

will - my post 63130 ... any thoughts?

Cynic. Don't dispute the figures. I'd venture the reason they haven:t been done up is because it's not viable. If there is demand and the economics made sense no doubt it would have happened. House building very capital intensive. Currently big shortage of construction workers.
Three large, 200 flats+ sites in my nearest city have been put on hold after site clearance. Reason given was that construction tenders jumped 20% after easter . Materials costs dropped but labour shortage major problem

Will,

That sounds like the Heath period recurring???

Interesting.

Oil prices?

How far can they fall?
Glencore might be selling stocks to reduce debt! A couple of billion $ trade, then it should start recovering.

will - part of the problem is undoubtedly that the houses are not in the most desirable areas

my comment is along the lines of hard cheese, always assuming that your job is within say 30/60 minutes of that address ...... imo, too many first-time buyers want a 3-bed house with garden and garage and in a pretty area!

shepherds bush and portobello (and many others) were real crap areas and worse, but have since become fashionable as people realise that properties were (relatively) cheap and not that badly located

Cynic. Yes not in the desired area is one reason.
But the cost of bringing an old building up to modern building regulations may just not be economical.
Anything more than 15 years old is well behind on insulation values. If converting an old timber floor building to flats sound proofing between floors to current standards is very expensive. Modern requirements for plumbing and wiring is way above that of 20 years ago.
For vacant city centre properties the existing drainage and power supply many not be adequate to take the update required. In many cases probably best to demolish and start again.
With house building at 130k per year and about 250k said to be the requirement there is plenty of work for someone. The top 10 listed house builders combined build less than 80k a year and they have said that at best they could only raise their completion rate by Max 15% a year. But only with a large increase in construction workers.
The housing crisis is far from being addressed.

But only with a large increase in construction workers.
quite so ...... as i mentioned the other day, there was (is!) this street of victorian terrace houses in m'chester that the council (quite rightly imo) had decided to have "revived" ...... i guess in such cases the regs and rules re insulation etc are pretty much waived where sensible to do so

keir, who were undertaking the project, reckoned they need a further 100 tradespeople, presumably for that one project

============

as i understand it, someone can take a plumbing course or similar, but will then be more than hard-pressed to find a company to take him on so he can get proper experience, and presumably only once he has that, can he claim to be certified

Good read. :-))

yes DC, it's a great change and a pleasure to have a sensible and interesting discussion in progress

Fighting each other now in Croatia , Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia must love Merkel come on you million come to Europe and suck us dry..
She should take them all.

35 MILLION migrants heading to Europe, says Hungary as it builds second fence

SHOCK estimates predict up to 35 MILLION refugees could head for Europe due to hugely unstable situations across the world.
The huge figure was revealed today by Hungary's minister for foreign affairs and trade Peter Szijjártó.

Speaking as the country begins work on its second fence to stop migrants heading across its border he predicted the current crisis will continue for years.

Mr Szijjártó told Hungarian Times: "The name of the fence is 'Temporary Security Border Fence' but I think there is no question that in this case temporary means years.

"It's a self delusion to call this situation a migration crisis; it is a massive migration of nations, with inexhaustible reserves.

"I don't think that the analysis results, stating that 30-35 million people out there could possibly become migrants, would be an exaggeration

"Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are all countries with a huge population and an extremely unstable situation."

The Hungarian government also defended itself from criticism over its fences.

The first barrier was put up at its border with Serbia but, after migrants changed their route, they have now begun erecting a 41 kilometre fence at Croatia.

Migrants look to break through to Hungary as that sees them enter the European Union's Schengen Zone which offers free movement between member countries.

He said: "The recent international political decisions created an unstable situation around Europe that makes sure that the amount of people won't decrease
"This is why it's extremely important to protect our borders.

"This issue wasn't this important until now, so the European Union neglected it a little bit.

"It became clear that - though its the border of Schengen - Greece couldn't protect the border of the European Union.

cynic - 18 Sep 2015 19:17 - 63141 of 63143
yes DC, it's a great change and a pleasure to have a sensible and interesting discussion in progress

Agree Cynic, Some very good posters on here and also one or two bad and very boring ones. I did run on the thoughts of AJ Bell doing away with this thread. WHEN sensible and interesting posts are made it is good to have a break and read. Perhaps they should bring in guide lines and ban the very boring political cartoons that appear day after day after day . :-))

Cynic. Only my opinion, but firmly believe all new housing, house conversions from offices etc and major refurbishment of old housing stock should be up to current building regs. Including control of heat losses sound insulation and wiring/plumbing. Major refurbs are good for 15 plus years. Most of housing stock dates back to the Victorian boom times but a lot of the 60s houses are little better. Masses of lost heat energy.
It's said by the construction industry there is a shortage of 200k plus. This will seriously hold back the improving economy.
In our area the standard rate for self employed chippy, plumber/brickie is £150/day. (Note they have to have own tools, run a van and be responsible for making good their own work and any call backs). For a subbie on contract work they would expect to price themselves at £200/day. Not bad for 100miles from London.

Sorry double post

my own house in intrinsically from about 1845 and the property i own in london dates back to 1910 as does much of the property in that area
not a hope in hell that either could or should be either knockd down or even modified externally significantly