Housing Prices

[MA1BOB]

I just got done reading the property listings on the Oban newspaper. There is a one bedroom cottage listing for 80,000 on the Isle of Easdale. With the side note that it would make the perfect holiday home. Maybe I am wrong, but at that price, it would seem that only an outsider could afford the place. I would think that someone local would find that there is a shortage of affordable housing for them and due to economics they must look to move elsewhere.

I understand the desire to make a profit, but it almost seems that profit is far outweighing the needs of the community. A holiday home will remain empty a good part of the year and with that it does not provide people to add to the economic stabilty of the Island. Am I way off target here?

Cheers

Bob

[elephantseal]

Not at all Bob, as a precis of all that is wrong with property at the moment you are 100% accurate.

[Pentlandpirate]

Show me a 1 bedroom cottage anywhere else in the UK for under £80,000?

Don't blame the seller. Finding anyone prepared to sell at less than market price is like saying, Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.
Hands up all those who will publicly state they will sell their house for less than the market rate out of "community spirit"

[elephantseal]

We are where we are, pentland pirate, but it's not always a good place.

At least the average wage in other parts of the UK is higher, meaning one can attempt to reach that £80,000 target. There is also a greater choice of areas, and accomodation types. Until Seil starts having 'quarters' (maybe the clachan quarter sounds nice?) and the average wage rises to meet the UK average, there is going to be a massive disparity.

Again, it's not the seller's fault - but the mixed, diverse, interesting community you speak of in previous mailings is in danger of dying because of housing becoming a commodity, not a resource.

[MA1BOB]

I am not sure what "Quarters" are. Is this a term for council housing? If it is, I am not sure if that is the answer to the problem. Would it not be like servant quarters? Locals live in council flats while upwardly mobile city people buy up and enjoy the wonderful peices of property on the island. It reminds me of stories from the turn of the 1900s when the wealthy land owners owned everything and everyone else begged them for scraps. This trend is not only in the UK but here also in the States. The division between the wealthy and the poor seems to be getting wider with the middle class starting to vanish from the landscape. The days of the single income family are gone. Now both parents MUST work to earn a living and pay the taxman. I hope things will change but I don't see it in the near future.

Cheers

Bob

[MA1BOB]

Pentlandpirate;

You had asked where one can get a one bedroom place under 80,000. You just need to look at the Isle of Bute.

Bute Property Ltd is offering this newly available property for sale:

26 Castle Street (Top left), Port Bannatyne £29,950
One bedroom flat in well maintained building close to all amenities with the
benefit of gas fired central heating.

26 Castle Street (top right), Port Bannatyne £35,000
Two bedroom flat in well maintained building close to all amenities with the
benefit of gas fired central heating.

The average price for a property on Bute is currently £119,863

The full property schedule for this and all our properties can be seen on our
website- http://www.buteproperty.co.uk/

Also there are alot of properties surrounding Glasgow that fall into that category. Many in the Ayrshire area.

With the ferries, the island locals have found that many people from Glasgow now commute to work everyday from the Island. Just a fact of life to them. They also share the same concerns as those from Seil that housing prices may drive younger families off the Island. It seems that all the islands have the same fears and concerns. How they deal with it will determine the future of thier communities.

Cheers

Bob

[Seil Sally]

- changing times with every day that passes.

It's interesting to see the varying dynamics.......

[DonnieC]

Just for interest, on a recent visit to Brugges I picked up information on house prices in the very beautiful old town which lies within the canal and waterway system.

There is one property on a canal side in MUCH need of repair, narrow, two storey, seen better days, but you can start the bidding at 1.75 million euros!

House prices within the old town have rocketed a staggering 80% in 6 years.

The young 'local' people cannot afford to live there and move out of the old town to live in the outer subburbs or other parts of Europe.

Very few return to their roots.

Remind anybody of somewhere familiar

[Seil Blubber]

I hear that 5 'affordable houses' are to be built down beside Clachandubh Farmhouse.

[Pentlandpirate]

Affordable? At the advertised £ 100,000 + per midget plot it's not off to a good start to provide 'affordable' housing...................for whom?

[longshanks]

The whole Clachandubh "affordable" housing scheme made me laugh so much I stopped.
They're due to be built in a pretty field overlooked by what was the last truly affordable housing on Seil. The terrace of ex-authority houses (more like sheds actually) just behind Clachandubh Farmhouse which were sold off to incomers about six years ago.
Just wait for the Sassy NIMBY squeels from them once they realise whats due to be built around them.
Like I said....I laughed till I stopped.

Bong Shanks (stoned by choice)

[NickB]

.

They're due to be built in a pretty field overlooked by what was the last truly affordable housing on Seil. The terrace of ex-authority houses (more like sheds actually) just behind Clachandubh Farmhouse which were sold off to incomers about six years ago.

We are by far the most recent incomers in the terrace referred to - our neighbours have all lived in the area much longer than us. I've not seen any plans, but if the plots are £100K each then right enough, that is hardly affordable housing. Where did you get this figure from?

I wouldn't describe it as a 'pretty field' though, more as a bog. I don't have any objections to houses being built there and even if I did it would be pointless as it is zoned residential on the local plan. I do hope the crossroads will be improved though - it is dangerous enough at the moment.

- NickMcB

[Pentlandpirate]

Nick MacB...it's just a bit further up the road http://www.dmkestates.co.uk/view_property.php?id=906

offers OVER £100,000.00 per small plot. Four plots, being sold, the fifth one being kept by the current land-owners

Plotting to make a fortune

[khartoumteddy]

SADLY ITS THE LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND

ESTATE AGENTS WHILST ALWAYS AVARICIOUS CREATURES ARE ONLY DOING THEIR CLIENTS BIDDING.

WE MOSTLY LIVE ON CREDIT WE CANNOT AFFORD

EVEN THE RBS LOST A FORTUNE RECENTLY ON PAPER

GREAT STUFF THIS FREE PITCHING FOR TENTS;WELL IIT`S ALL WE RETIRED PEOPLE CAN AFFORD

THAT AND MOBILE HOMES
TEDDY

[NickB]

.
PP, that is a completely separate planning application further up the road on land around Cnoc Fennaig, and is a private development with the sole objective of making as much money as possible for the owner of the land. No-one ever suggested that was affordable housing.

The Clachandubh development gives a build price for each dwelling which includes the plot price. Kathy tells me that the figure can be seen if you view the plans in the PO - she can't remember what it is, but thought it was over £100K per house. (The only figure I can find on the online planning documentation is a development cost of £540,000, which is £90,000 per dwelling). In any event, the plots are obviously very much less than the 100K mentioned in connection with the other development.

So - it looks like these 3-bedroomed terraced houses could be on sale at what is a sensible price by current local standards. Whether they are 'affordable' is a matter of semantics - I doubt if the average farm worker or fisherman could afford the mortgage on one, but then it has always been so.

Below are some details from the Clachandubh planning application - as you can see they are terraced and completely different from the Cnoc Fennaig development PP refers to. The whole planning application and supporting documentation can be seen HERE







- NickMcB

[Pentlandpirate]

That's more like it. They will ADD something to the community, just by the very nature of their design and location, but I can't help thinking the addition of 4 or 5 'executive' style houses crammed on a small development further up the road will start to make it look a small, mishapen village that takes something away from the beauty of the area.

[NickB]

.
I agree 100% PP

The two developments are chalk and cheese. The Cnoc Fennaig development appears to have turned into four plots for sale rather than a finished development - lets just hope it doesn't end up worse than the original drawings, i.e. a collection of mismatched random houses like the corner at Clachan Seil. At least the Clachandubh development will balance things out a bit.

Do you think Balfour Beatty might be good enough to lay a pavement from the crossroads to the shop when they reinstate things?

- NickMcB

[longshanks]

As far as I know there are seven houses for sale on Seil at the moment;

Next to Balvicar Pier: £555,000 (on the market for last nine months)
Next to Willowburn: £450,000
Opposite Willowburn: £380,000
Atlantic Cottages: £250,000 the pair
Clachan Seil: £170,000 (on the market for six months)
Balvicar Farm Road: £70,000 (holiday chalet)

Then there are planning applications at various stages;
Two houses in Clachan Seil
Four Houses at Oban Seil
Five Houses at Cnoc Fennaig
Six houses at Clachandubh corner
Two houses at Winterton

Meanwhile we have a house price crash in progress and a tightening, rationing, of mortgage availability (not to mention an imminent rise in sea levels of at least seven metres and the collapse of civilisation coming sooner than we thought, but I digress).

I think we may be looking forward to a future where a drive across Seil reveals a succession of abandoned, half completed building sites. Who is going to buy all these houses?

Finally; affordable housing is a total red herring. There is no Right to be able to buy a house, that is a throw back to a folly of our only female P.M. who gave us the disastrous Right to Buy. There can be an aspiration to own your own home but not a Right. What we do have, though, is the expectation that our Local Council will make available housing for all who need it at a reasonable (affordable) rent.

The last affordable rented Authority properties on this island went into private hands several years ago. We should not be pressuring the Local Authority to build affordable housing for purchase, but for rent. That will keep (or at least encourage) the young people on the island.

A £100,000 Clachandubh terrace house might seem affordable to buy, but not with the current mortgage availability. The young person would need to stump up £25,000 deposit (equity) to qualify for the mortgage in the first place. The same terrace house at £350 pm rent is affordable to the young person and gives the L.A. a reasonable 4.2% return on capital.

Karl Shanks (Marxist by choice)

[NickB]

Finally; affordable housing is a total red herring. There is no Right to be able to buy a house, that is a throw back to a folly of our only female P.M. who gave us the disastrous Right to Buy. There can be an aspiration to own your own home but not a Right. What we do have, though, is the expectation that our Local Council will make available housing for all who need it at a reasonable (affordable) rent.

The last affordable rented Authority properties on this island went into private hands several years ago. We should not be pressuring the Local Authority to build affordable housing for purchase, but for rent. That will keep (or at least encourage) the young people on the island.

A £100,000 Clachandubh terrace house might seem affordable to buy, but not with the current mortgage availability. The young person would need to stump up £25,000 deposit (equity) to qualify for the mortgage in the first place. The same terrace house at £350 pm rent is affordable to the young person and gives the L.A. a reasonable 4.2% return on capital.

Good grief what is happening here? I find myself in total agreement . . . the provision of affordable housing with the right to buy leads to the properties ending up back on the open market where they are no longer affordable. Housing associations should forget all the politically motivated 'shared ownership' nonsense and concentrate on building decent properties to rent in areas where they are needed.

And if wishes were horses beggars would ride . . .

- NickMcB

[longshanks]

Forgot to mentiom two things;

1. There are five plots with permission (two remaining from the original three from a couple of years ago and three new ones) along the Ardmaddy road on Ardshellach land which almost qualifies as Seil.

2. The Ganavan effect.
Nineteen pretty fine new houses on a fantastic site. I've had a viewing of the showhome and, tell you what, despite the attractions of Seil, if I was looking to spend between £350,000 and £600,000 around here I would probably go for Ganavan.......if others are likeminded we are definitely looking at an oversupply of upmarket houses on this island.

Long MacShanks (Nick McB by choice)