The rising cost of living

[foreveryoung]

1 minute ago, Xela said:

Its a strange situation as obviously a lot of people are really struggling, but what I see is people still spending lots of money. Definitely a bigger divide between the haves and have nots. 

You're in Brum enough to see expensive sandwich shops absolutely mobbed out at lunch time, or Starbucks with 30 people in the queue for a £4 coffee. Pubs after work are busy, people eating out and knocking back £6 pints of craft lager or £10 glasses of Pinot Grigio. I keep thinking it'll all come crashing down but its not. Maybe people have their head in the sand, or maybe there is just enough people out there doing well enough that it doesn't bother them?

 

People have there head in the sand, an to be fair it hasn't hit real hard yet. We have building work starting in a couple of weeks, but Mrs said is it worth waiting?

[sidcow]

3 minutes ago, Xela said:

Its a strange situation as obviously a lot of people are really struggling, but what I see is people still spending lots of money. Definitely a bigger divide between the haves and have nots. 

You're in Brum enough to see expensive sandwich shops absolutely mobbed out at lunch time, or Starbucks with 30 people in the queue for a £4 coffee. Pubs after work are busy, people eating out and knocking back £6 pints of craft lager or £10 glasses of Pinot Grigio. I keep thinking it'll all come crashing down but its not. Maybe people have their head in the sand, or maybe there is just enough people out there doing well enough that it doesn't bother them?

 

It's all relative. Maybe they're having Pinot Grigio instead of Champagne, Starbucks instead of lunch at Purnells. 

I'm going to be pretty OK through this but I'm certainly thinking twice about things I wouldn't blink at spending on normally. 

[ender4]

49 minutes ago, Xela said:

You're in Brum enough to see expensive sandwich shops absolutely mobbed out at lunch time, or Starbucks with 30 people in the queue for a £4 coffee. Pubs after work are busy, people eating out and knocking back £6 pints of craft lager or £10 glasses of Pinot Grigio. I keep thinking it'll all come crashing down but its not. Maybe people have their head in the sand, or maybe there is just enough people out there doing well enough that it doesn't bother them?

Yes, and for more examples I need a builder and he’s still booked up for 18 months in advance with no-one cancelling jobs with him. Concrete, wood, etc all double the price but still people want the work done.

House prices are still selling at asking price or even above in certain areas.

I went out for a few drinks and the queues at bars were massive.

The chaos at the airports shows how much people are willing to spend on travel. 

I’ve just been hiring for a decent mid-level skilled job at work. Every previous year I would get 20-30 applicants, this time I got 1 CV even though I’m offering 10% more than I did 12 months ago.

The company I work for (professional service industry) has so much work we just turn away jobs as we just can’t cope.

People still getting bonuses and good pay-rises. 

The economy has been red-hot the past 8 months and needs to cool down a bit. Unfortunately the cooling down is going to hurt certain sections of the public hard.

 

[sidcow]

Halifax have just announced that house prices decreased in July for the fist time since June 2021 so I wonder if the house price juggernaut is finally stalling amongst all this as well.

[Genie]

4 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Halifax have just announced that house prices decreased in July for the fist time since June 2021 so I wonder if the house price juggernaut is finally stalling amongst all this as well.

I mentioned in another thread, for the first time in 4 years the builder near me has just reduced the price of the latest batch of houses released for sale.

[HKP90]

15 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Halifax have just announced that house prices decreased in July for the fist time since June 2021 so I wonder if the house price juggernaut is finally stalling amongst all this as well.

Great, negative equity. Bugger.

[bickster]

The Housing Market was overdue a correction.

 

[Genie]

14 minutes ago, bickster said:

The Housing Market was overdue a correction.

 

Stamp duty discounts incoming…

[markavfc40]

54 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Halifax have just announced that house prices decreased in July for the fist time since June 2021 so I wonder if the house price juggernaut is finally stalling amongst all this as well.

Down 0.1% month on month. Over the last year house prices have still risen 11.8% with average house price £30000 higher than the previous year. It needs to stall in fairness as they can't keep going up as they have or first time buyers, already struggling to get on ladder, will have no chance.

[tinker]

1 hour ago, markavfc40 said:

Down 0.1% month on month. Over the last year house prices have still risen 11.8% with average house price £30000 higher than the previous year. It needs to stall in fairness as they can't keep going up as they have or first time buyers, already struggling to get on ladder, will have no chance.

Is that taking inflation into account? The pound in my pocket is worth about 10% less so I'm guessing house prices are as well.

[Demitri_C]

16 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

People have there head in the sand, an to be fair it hasn't hit real hard yet. We have building work starting in a couple of weeks, but Mrs said is it worth waiting?

I wouldnt as material prices are going up and up

[foreveryoung]

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

I wouldnt as material prices are going up and up

I think your right, an I've already had a fixed quote now. Only other  thing I could do is have it done when recession hits, as the builders might be fighting for work and maybe cheaper. Although I can't wait now anyway.

[lapal_fan]

House prices on my housing estate are through the roof.  A 4 bed detached went for £550,000 and a 2 bed dorma-bungalow has just sold for £450,000.

I would be looking to move to a 4 bed detached, but no way at these prices, I could afford to, but I'd rather keep my monthly payments below £1,500..  probably knocking £2,000!

[foreveryoung]

22 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

House prices on my housing estate are through the roof.  A 4 bed detached went for £550,000 and a 2 bed dorma-bungalow has just sold for £450,000.

I would be looking to move to a 4 bed detached, but no way at these prices, I could afford to, but I'd rather keep my monthly payments below £1,500..  probably knocking £2,000!

£1500 a month on your mortgage? 

[lapal_fan]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

£1500 a month on your mortgage? 

I currently pay £600.

If I wanted what I want, with a 130-160k deposit, I'd still end up paying £1500-£2000 for the mortgage.

Hence, I'm "stuck".

I earn pretty decent money as well.

House prices just seem to be a way hold people in certain places to me.

 

 

[Brumstopdogs]

On 04/08/2022 at 14:02, sidcow said:

Took out a 5 year fixed rate 2 years ago so still have 3 years left at 1.69%.

Just made sense as the rate was never going to go down much more and was always likely to rise eventually. Have to say I wasn't expecting the rate to rise so quickly, was more insurance just in case at a rate I was happy to budget with long term. 

Now I'm thinking phew. 

Sounds you like you did something pretty similar to us.

We went for 1.34% fixed for 5 years and that runs to end of 2025 - as you say the rate was about as good as it was going to get and with the uncertainty in the world at the time (and even more so now) it seemed like the right thing to do. 

[CVByrne]

I'm getting worried now. The jobs market in US was massively up ahead of projections. People are talking about a recession but it appears to be not a real recession as we had artificial growth which was temporary because of pent up demand caused by Covid. So this is just the economic activity dropping naturally now the spending wave has eased. This means the interest rate increases we've had aren't causing the slowdown it's just come down normally. 

So why am I worried? I think inflation is sticky now which means it's in consumer psychology that if I put off a purchase it'll be more expensive next year so demand will stay high for everything. Once that has taken hold the only way to stop it is causing a bad recession, people losing their jobs, companies going out of business type recession and interest rates going to 4/5%+ 

I'm very worried that's what we're now facing.

[wazzap24]

11 hours ago, CVByrne said:

I'm getting worried now. The jobs market in US was massively up ahead of projections. People are talking about a recession but it appears to be not a real recession as we had artificial growth which was temporary because of pent up demand caused by Covid. So this is just the economic activity dropping naturally now the spending wave has eased. This means the interest rate increases we've had aren't causing the slowdown it's just come down normally. 

So why am I worried? I think inflation is sticky now which means it's in consumer psychology that if I put off a purchase it'll be more expensive next year so demand will stay high for everything. Once that has taken hold the only way to stop it is causing a bad recession, people losing their jobs, companies going out of business type recession and interest rates going to 4/5%+ 

I'm very worried that's what we're now facing.

Forget recession, it’s going to be a depression. 

[Brumstopdogs]

Anyone going to West Ham this season better start saving now!

 

[Genie]

14 minutes ago, Brumstopdogs said:

Anyone going to West Ham this season better start saving now!

 

Outrageous prices. £2.50 for a bag of crisps.