Electric Vehicles

[Bri w]

We looked at EV but there’s even less charging points in Spain than there are in the U.K., especially down here in southeast Spain. We bought a Kia Niro hybrid. Lovely car… well, at least I loved it. Mrs W only drove it twice. Great mileage but not as good as I’d hoped.

We switched to a Toyota Yaris hybrid in early October. We’re hitting around 80mpg for our local runs - it runs purely on electric up to about 40mph. Mpg drops to low 60’s for motorway runs.

[embee]

Originally Posted by svenrico

Just asking but how does that affect house prices ?

Supply and demand.

[keith_d]

Originally Posted by embee

Supply and demand.

To be specific, more demand than supply.

In London, where there is continually more demand than supply, house prices will rise until enough people are priced out of the market to bring supply and demand back into balance. The result is that a 'starter' home will sell around the amount that a working couple can borrow, with a little help from parents. The single people and low earners get priced out because couples with two salaries can pay more.

In 'pretty' parts of the country the prices are often dominated by what downsizers moving into the area can afford. There are a finite supply of 'pretty' locations and at the moment there is big pool of people who want to retire to the country. So the young and the low paid get priced out.

The places with low house prices are generally not pretty and do not have good employment opportunities. Here are some 2021 examples from a random website.

Middlesbrough, TS1, £54,978
Bradford, BD1, £58,673
Sunderland, SR1, £65,478

So if you're in the fortunate position of being able to work anywhere there's a decent internet/4G connection you could buy a couple of terraced houses in Middlesbrough and knock them together for the same price of a garden shed in London.

Just my thoughts,

Keith.

[daktulos]

Originally Posted by keith_d

So if you're in the fortunate position of being able to work anywhere there's a decent internet/4G connection you could buy a couple of terraced houses in Middlesbrough and knock them together for the same price of a garden shed in London.

If there's one good thing about Covid, it's going to be people moving away from cities. As long as the Internet keeps up, of course.

[svenrico]

Originally Posted by daktulos

If there's one good thing about Covid, it's going to be people moving away from cities. As long as the Internet keeps up, of course.

That won't be good for rural areas though - there isn't any good thing about covid !

[svenrico]

Originally Posted by keith_d

To be specific, more demand than supply

In 'pretty' parts of the country the prices are often dominated by what downsizers moving into the area can afford. There are a finite supply of 'pretty' locations and at the moment there is big pool of people who want to retire to the country. So the young and the low paid get priced out.

The places with low house prices are generally not pretty and do not have good employment opportunities. Here are some 2021 examples from a random website.

Middlesbrough, TS1, £54,978
Bradford, BD1, £58,673
Sunderland, SR1, £65,478

So if you're in the fortunate position of being able to work anywhere there's a decent internet/4G connection you could buy a couple of terraced houses in Middlesbrough and knock them together for the same price of a garden shed in London.

Just my thoughts,

Keith.

That is true but those reasons for house prices are not due to overpopulation are they ?!

[Bibio]

house prices have been pretty stable here in my street for the past 10 years or so. but prices/rents in edinburgh (30 miles away) have just gone insane.

[keith_d]

Originally Posted by svenrico

That is true but those reasons for house prices are not due to overpopulation are they ?!

Nope, overpopulation results in slum conditions as seen in London during Victorian times with the poor crammed several families to a single house.

If I was to ascribe it to anything, I would suggest that the current high prices are due to people wanting to buy their own home. It is seen as an appreciating asset, and everyone wants to get onto the housing ladder. Contrast this to many of the countries in Europe where people live in rented apartments for decades without feeling the need to buy, buy, buy!! They must think we're crazy!

If we look at somewhere like Spain, property prices there have roughly doubled over the last 25 years, which is broadly in line with inflation. So if we take out general inflation there has been pretty much zero growth in real terms property values. Sounds great, but it results in houses in some areas being very poorly maintained because there's just no reason to spend money on them. In rural areas they can even be left to collapse. All down to economics again, or maybe they're crazy!!

Just my thoughts,

Keith.

P.S. I suspect their inheritance system is also partly to blame for some of the collapsed houses. It's just too complicated, and expensive.

[svenrico]

Originally Posted by keith_d

Nope, overpopulation results in slum conditions as seen in London during Victorian times with the poor crammed several families to a single house.

If I was to ascribe it to anything, I would suggest that the current high prices are due to people wanting to buy their own home. It is seen as an appreciating asset, and everyone wants to get onto the housing ladder. Contrast this to many of the countries in Europe where people live in rented apartments for decades without feeling the need to buy, buy, buy!! They must think we're crazy!

If we look at somewhere like Spain, property prices there have roughly doubled over the last 25 years, which is broadly in line with inflation. So if we take out general inflation there has been pretty much zero growth in real terms property values. Sounds great, but it results in houses in some areas being very poorly maintained because there's just no reason to spend money on them. In rural areas they can even be left to collapse. All down to economics again, or maybe they're crazy!!

Just my thoughts,

Keith.

P.S. I suspect their inheritance system is also partly to blame for some of the collapsed houses. It's just too complicated, and expensive.

Yes ,overpopulation and cramming in one area resulted in slum conditions but there wasn't overpopulation of the whole country.
Not sure about the inflation argument, house prices ,around here at least, increased by about 10% from mid 2020 to mid 2021 .
I agree maintenance and repairs can be expensive , I live in a rural area and I haven't seen any being left to collapse around here though. In fact in a previous existence I was involved in the conversion or renovation of old buildings and in a lot of cases it would have been easier to just demolish them and build anew. They weren't left to collapse anyway.
The renting rather than buying situation you mention is interesting but that is the situation we are coming to here where young people just can't afford to buy to get on the property ladder.

[Seeker]

Home ownership has always been popular in the UK but Thatcher was keen on the idea of the individual buying property and thus started the sell-off of council houses. A significant part of the UKs GDP is generated by the buying and selling of property.
Based on older figures, the UK isn't even close to the top 10 of home ownership worldwide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ownership_rate.

It's just supply and demand, the well paid jobs are in the south so people move for employment. The better weather is on the south coast so people retire there. The more scenic places in the UK suffer from second home buyers and Cotswolds inhabitants (for example) don't want their villages expanding. Flood plains and greenfield sites also limit where houses can be built. Builders are sitting on a large amount of land waiting for prices to rise to make it worth their while to build big expensive houses - starter homes? No thanks - not enough profit.

I live in a 3 bedroom (with separate dining room or 4 bedroom without) dormer bungalow (semi) + detached garage, I doubt that it's worth more than £140k - but who wants to live in Cleethorpes? It suits me because I'm retired, there's little traffic and I'm close to the Wolds but employment opportunities are limited (and as I lay awake listening to foghorns on the Humber, the weather isn't that great either ).

It would be easy for me to have an electric car though (apart from the price tag). I'm not buying a car that costs 1/3 the price of my house (and I wouldn't buy a European car anyway - VW cured me of that).